The United Nations General Assembly has voted to promote a new approach to world mapping that more accurately reflects the true size of Africa and other continents.
On September 4, the UN backed a resolution promoting the Equal Earth projection, an equal-area map that gives a more accurate representation of the relative size of landmasses. The vote passed 164–1, with six abstentions, following an African-led campaign spearheaded by Togo and supported by the African Union.
For centuries, the widely used Mercator projection has made regions farther from the Equator appear much larger than they actually are. One striking example: Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, despite the two appearing similar in size on many traditional maps.
The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection. Instead, it encourages the use of more accurate equal-area maps in education, media, technology and other settings where understanding the true scale of the world matters.
A map may not change the geography of the world, but it can change how people understand it.
Source: @LoniLove
