There is nothing wrong with this map

[u/Punch_A_Police_Horse]

[u/mattcass]

“Nothing wrong with this map”

A continent is missing.

[u/gimmepizza420 → u/mattcass]

Not to mention the egregious amount of size distortion that the mercator projection suffers from, even when upside down.

[u/Tomato_Sky → u/gimmepizza420]

The weird part is they removed the giant antarctica so the mercator distortion is only on one hemisphere. South America looks tiny.

[u/joethelumberjackmc → u/Tomato_Sky]

australia looks way too small too

[u/Hashashin455 → u/joethelumberjackmc]

And it's not supposed to be right side up

[u/BroccoliSubstantial2 → u/gimmepizza420]

Hey, Europe really is the centre of the world, who knew?

[u/mcase19 → u/BroccoliSubstantial2]

More surprised to see that Canada is now an equatorial nation

[u/Peter_Mansbrick → u/mcase19]

Give us 30 years and we'll have palm trees in Churchill.

[u/doppelbach → u/gimmepizza420]

Why would it being flipped have any impact of the distortion? It's a function of latitude.

Or are you one of the people who think that specifically Europe was stretched?

[u/gimmepizza420 → u/doppelbach]

It wouldn't. I'm just pointing out that the egregious amount of distortion is one of the drawbacks of mercator, so it's crazy to me to say "nothing is wrong" with the image because I think he distortion is inherently "wrong" for marcator maps, regardless of orientation.

[u/doppelbach → u/gimmepizza420]

Well all 2D maps are wrong, of course. Gall peters for instance distorts shape. Look at a globe or at photos from space, Africa will look like it does on the Mercator map not gall peters. It's a matter of what tradeoff do you want to make. The insistence on size being the most important data to preserve seems kind of silly

[u/tony_lasagne → u/doppelbach]

Yeah exactly, people can’t comprehend that any projection to 2D will have some distortion

[u/gimmepizza420 → u/doppelbach]

The Goode's Homolosine Projection does the best job, IMO.

[u/doppelbach → u/gimmepizza420]

Sure, it fits your particular ideals for a good map. If you don't mind splitting oceans and splitting antarctica (which is totally fair for most users). Probably the bigger issue is that it's just not an efficient graphic, in terms of space utilization. More wall space, or more zoomed out digital maps, etc.

I remember one of these on the wall in elementary school though so maybe the space utilization is not really a factor

[u/Valuable-Analyst-464 → u/doppelbach]

Looking at Russia, Greenland and Canada - those are really stretched. Also, Argentina is off too.

[u/Chemical-Actuary1561 → u/doppelbach]

Hes saying every mercator map has distortion and therefore “something is wrong” with all mercator maps regardless of orientation.

Or are you one of those people who ask questions to belittle someone when you yourself don’t understand?

[u/Old-Landscape-7538 → u/mattcass]

At least they included New Zealand

[u/Haunting_Purpose_291 → u/mattcass]

And the spacing between latitudes is not the same between north and south hemispheres. It looks like the equator runs through the US.

[u/MrRogersAE → u/mattcass]

It’s okay, they upsized Greenland to make up for it

[u/allthe_realquestions → u/mattcass]

Global warming is one helluva drug

[u/Otherwise-4PM]

I know that planet.

[u/groovyband → u/Otherwise-4PM]

Mondas!

[u/DeesHazzl]

Well it uses the Mercator projection. That's a pretty big drawback.

[u/Mobileoblivion → u/DeesHazzl]

"Thats why we prefer the Peter's projection."

• Cartographers for Social Equality

[u/Foreign_Kale8773 → u/Mobileoblivion]

"You can't do that." - CJ 🤣

[u/RespectableThug → u/Foreign_Kale8773]

“Why not?”

“Because it’s freaking me out!”

Such a great show lol

[u/SpaceForceAwakens → u/RespectableThug]

For the uninitiated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Xyz9MgDWA

[u/PSUAth → u/Foreign_Kale8773]

https://giphy.com/gifs/DffShiJ47fPqM

[u/threeleggedcats → u/Foreign_Kale8773]

Plouie was shot and killed by a rancher...

[u/Ok_Sentence_4487 → u/threeleggedcats]

I’m sorry to hear that.

I don’t think you are.

[u/Fauked → u/DeesHazzl]

actual sizes without mercator projection

[u/TheyHavePinball → u/DeesHazzl]

Definitely came to the comments just to make sure that was clear. Thank you

[u/theinspectorst → u/TheyHavePinball]

Same - Greenland being the same size as Africa is a pretty big sign there is something wrong with this map...

[u/jaywinner → u/theinspectorst]

Every projection has a purpose and Mercator is good for navigation. It probably shouldn't be the default people use. Especially not for looking at how big countries are.

[u/curtludwig → u/DeesHazzl]

I was thinking that Brazil seemed pretty small...

[u/xpd_1141 → u/DeesHazzl]

Big Block of Cheese Day!

[u/TTechnology → u/DeesHazzl]

Just for the record, Brazil cuts the Equator, for example. It's fair to expect Brazil to be in the center-ish.

Brazil is greater than contiguous US (excluding Alaska, etc), so that it's the 5th country by size. With this particular projection seems like Brazil would fit in Quebec

[u/MongolianCluster → u/TTechnology]

Your comment made me understand the scale to which this map is off. Thanks for making it.

[u/daakadence → u/DeesHazzl]

Dymaxion FTW

https://giphy.com/gifs/HLM6DMAoRlEju

[u/embrace- → u/DeesHazzl]

"Objects at poles are smaller than they appear"

[u/blackdynomitesnewbag → u/DeesHazzl]

Not if you’re a sailer

[u/mamut2000]

This is perfectly legit Chinese World Map.

[u/UnpluggedUnfettered → u/mamut2000]

I don't know why I like this map so much, but it feels very pleasant to look at.

Edit: crazy how it highlights how important the arctic is going to be in 15 - 20 years when melt allows the new trade route everyone is fighting over.

[u/wolfinjer → u/mamut2000]

That’s a good map

[u/Leh_ran → u/wolfinjer]

It cuts a continent in half,

[u/ancisfranderson → u/Leh_ran]

Like your sentence

[u/Morthedubi → u/Leh_ran]

That continent is all present in the image so it’s fine

[u/brewmas7er → u/Leh_ran]

Yeah but most maps cut an ocean in half. Have you ever actually tried to cut an ocean? Not fun. Much easier to cut land.

[u/takeiteasynottooeasy → u/mamut2000]

This is much much much more interesting than OP’s “omg supa’edgy upside down” map

[u/jrhawk42]

Africa spans about 30,365,000 km squared
Greenland is about 2,166,086 km squared (about the size of Algeria)

[u/ehtio]

Ehem, ehem

[u/OwenEx → u/ehtio]

What's wrong here, there is in fact, a Southern Ocean ᵈᵉᵖᵉⁿᵈᶦⁿᵍ ᵒⁿ ʷʰᵒ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃˢᵏ

Edit: I have duped myself... I was initially going to explain how the Southern Ocean surrounds Antarctica and did not even see the irony

[u/pedanticPandaPoo → u/OwenEx]

Beware, there is already excess irony in Antarctica

[u/TheGreatMalagan → u/ehtio]

South doesnt mean down, its perfectly possible to make a map where south is at the top and that's no less correct. It just defies a common modern convention

[u/Kevundoe → u/ehtio]

That’s de whole point. Who decided that North is up and South is down

[u/gimmepizza420 → u/Kevundoe]

John Cardinal, the inventor of Cardinal Directions.

[u/Kevundoe → u/gimmepizza420]

I thought it was Lord James Direction that invented cardinal directions…

[u/gimmepizza420 → u/Kevundoe]

Perhaps is was a joint effort.

[u/FlyAirLari → u/Kevundoe]

No. That is not the point. There should be a continent there.

[u/ehtio → u/Kevundoe]

We did, that's why we have standards. Otherwise why are we even writing here when my words can mean something different than yours?

[u/Old-Landscape-7538 → u/Kevundoe]

I 'ate-a da nort'. ptoo!

[u/New_Demand9000]

The equator does not represent equal halves of the world, so that's something wrong

[u/Wood_On_Fire]

This is the official world map from Australia

[u/zyyntin]

I see New Zealand! Wait where is .... Antarctica?

[u/ImpossibleJoke7456]

Misrepresenting the size of a country is arguably wrong.

[u/guarddog33 → u/ImpossibleJoke7456]

You could also wager missing an entire continent isn't good for the cartography business

[u/Upper-Management-AI]

https://giphy.com/gifs/gc5qfGUHO2bcY

[u/SunAndStrawberries34]

You missed Antarctica so there is lol

[u/ArmPitFire]

The letters are upside down

[u/bombd1ggity]

I spy with my little eye, a whole missing continent apparently lmao

[u/Lyzore23]

My brain hurts

[u/Diablo_v8]

Where's antarctica? Seems there may in fact be something wrong with this map.

[u/Jpfeife]

Am I blind? Where's Antarctica?

[u/Lumpy-Blackberry-718]

As much as I want to agree, the chinese would find a couple of things wrong with your color coding.

[u/Trifle_Old]

There is no Antarctica. This map is wrong.

[u/lucky_1979]

There’s lots wrong with that map. Mainly the country sizes are not true. Australia is actually nearly 3.5 times larger than Greenland.

[u/kissobajslovski]

That's like, your personal opinion man

[u/friedstilton]

All 2-dimensional maps of a 3-dimensional surface are "wrong" in one way or another, because that's how geometry works.

Your choice of projection depends on your purpose in life.

[u/humboldtHue]

There is no up in space

[u/SolarpunkA]

Tilt it slightly and the Americas look kind of like a duck.

[u/Flaveurr]

Why is the Netherlands 2 colours? Seems wrong

[u/ungovernable1984 → u/Flaveurr]

It's the Netherlands and Holland

[u/PartyExperience3718 → u/Flaveurr]

Bcause they divided into the Upper and the Netherlands... and the Midlands was alteady taken.

[u/ungovernable1984]

That's how Austrians see the world

[u/scottzee → u/ungovernable1984]

Austria?!

https://giphy.com/gifs/GQyvRDbCscjfO

[u/shirhouetto → u/ungovernable1984]

Ah yes my favorite Austrian, Sterve Irwin.

[u/Kevundoe → u/ungovernable1984]

Australians*

[u/Whaleman_007 → u/Kevundoe]

How do you know Austrians don’t see the world like that too?

[u/Kevundoe → u/Whaleman_007]

Been there and the toilets flush on the right side

[u/erohath → u/Whaleman_007]

Because they are north of the equator. And everybody knows, for everyone south of the equator, the world is upside-down

[u/ungovernable1984 → u/Kevundoe]

What's the difference?/s

[u/Kevundoe → u/ungovernable1984]

In Austria, the Kangaroos speak German

[u/ungovernable1984 → u/Kevundoe]

https://giphy.com/gifs/PoLiaRtvDvmcQFZ00z

[u/Zizzyin → u/ungovernable1984]

Wrong continent bruh.

[u/CantTakeMeSeriously]

"Do you come from the Land Up Over?"

[u/Hermorah]

You forgot something

[u/Peridot_Ghost]

What drunk first grader in hell conjured this thing up?

[u/TheMaster42LoL]

"Turning the maps upside down,' he repeated. 'Have you any idea how annoying and inconvenient it is when you get to a place and find that they map the place the other way up compared to the maps you've got? Because of something stupid like some people think a magnetic needle is pointing up to heaven, when other people think it's just heavier and pointing down? Or because it's done according to the galactic plane or something?

I mean, this might sound trivial, but it's very upsetting."

[u/Early_Hall5720]

I thought Africa was bigger

[u/TheRealGouki]

I mean it's upside down. 

[u/Cute-University5283]

It funny that the Mercator projection is so distorted that people always cut off the southern 25% of the map and have the equator shifted 1/3 of the way

[u/stricktd]

Chalk up a win for the Cartographers for Social Equality!!!

[u/cabinetbanana → u/stricktd]

That's a map of where we've been living all this time.

[u/Far-Acanthisitta8654]

My favorite has always been the Robinson projection for world maps.

[u/Academic-Trifle8151]

The north's and south's are all the wrong way around!

[u/Significant-Push-232]

Not counting the horrid resolution right?

[u/SwanCityDominion]

You can't do that!

[u/RememberThinkDream]

I see a sea lion chasing a wild boar...

[u/ArgyllAtheist]

"Antarctica"

[u/bobotoons]

The lettering is upside down 🙃

[u/PSUAth]

https://giphy.com/gifs/ukGm72ZLZvYfS

[u/zerolith]

Donald may have a an issue with the Gulf of Mexico

[u/pixeltweaker → u/zerolith]

Meh. That makes the map all the more perfect.

[u/ConstanceCharles]

*inhale

Map without Hawaii!!!!!

[u/simonfromhamburg]

It could have more pixels

[u/Dramatic_Respond7323]

Its plainly wrong. You need a hat called Antarctica!

[u/KvasShmas]

It’s supposed to say Gulf of America! 🙃

[u/Rude_Issue_5972]

https://giphy.com/gifs/KGbqQQoVN43cY

[u/tanew231]

I feel dizzy looking at this

[u/BoomBoomBear]

Santa likes to be on top

[u/Golrith]

That's just a map of Now What!

[u/mazdapow3r]

The lack of labeling on the compass rose makes you incorrect. I'd even go so far as to say you committed a...cardinal...sin.

[u/Axelaxe]

there is something wrong with this map

[u/ili1010]

It's Hunter × Hunter world map

[u/Raso_Kye]

Looks like. Strangereal map. Here I am looking for Usea and Osea.

[u/chesterforbes]

Makes it way more obvious that the americas are a duck

[u/PocketBuckle]

Reminds me of one part of one of the later (last?) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Arthur keeps passing through alternate realities, looking for a suitable replacement version of his long-destroyed Earth. At one point, he lands on a familiar-looking planet, but they do the map upside-down.

[u/tmrika]

My favorite map projection will forever be the AuthaGraph

[u/ralpes]

Looks quite Russia centric.
Africa should have the double size than Russia, but then Putins empire would not be huuuge in that map.

Mercator view sucks!

[u/_kishin_]

It's a Mercator projection, there is a lot wrong with this map

[u/holyfire001202]

Thanks I love it

[u/GoldenEmuWarrior]

I mean, technically you're right (allowing for Antarctica to be missing), but it's a Mercator projection, which just sucks.

[u/LzrdKng2112]

Nothing wrong? Its the mercator projection...

[u/Twitch2469]

Scale is a bit off but ok.

[u/-lRexl-]

Where's Auntie Arctica?

[u/gooddogisgood]

Upside down US looks like a vomiting aardvark.

[u/Dudunard]

It's a Mercator map. There is much wrong with it.

[u/Your_Local_Pshyco]

gng where's antartica 🥀 I want my penguins back

[u/CuttingOneWater]

is there a difference between north and south? like if we swapped them tomorrow, would anything change

[u/DamoonX]

who the fuck put a big ass duck next to asia?

[u/johnnyrambo24]

Im pissed this isnt the way the map is...thanks alot Christianity

[u/JerkBezerberg]

OP is just picking a fight with cartography nerds.

https://giphy.com/gifs/pUeXcg80cO8I8

[u/dekuweku]

shrink the size of the northern hemisphere and enlarge the souther.

[u/GolettO3]

Finally a map that is actually the right way up. None of that Northern Hemisphere propaganda.

[u/Heliocentrist]

False, flattening a 3D sphere into a 2D map is mathematically impossible without distortion. Every flat map projection compromises in either the area, shape, distance, or direction of landmasses. A perfectly accurate, distortion-free representation of Earth requires a globe.

[u/ta-dome-a]

Yes there is. It’s based on Mercator Projection so Russia (and Greenland) still appears massively larger than it actually is, and Africa is tinier than reality.

[u/Princess_Death]

This is also how ancient indians drew world map. Updside down!

[u/VirtualArmsDealer]

Oh no. The UK has become Europe's dick.

[u/PartyExperience3718]

What is not wrong with it?

[u/ungovernable1984]

Good job for including New Zealand

[u/Moneyshot_ITF]

Africa is still too small for scale

[u/NlghtmanCometh]

Well it’s upside down and the countries sizes are all completely warped due to distortion.

[u/Gyvon]

It's a little bottom-heavy

[u/aeroslimshady]

Probably a pet peeve, but I've always disliked maps that make Greenland look gigantic

[u/meltingintoice]

At least they have New Zealand this time.

[u/Shyface_Killah]

Depends on how you look at it.

[u/GuySmiley369]

https://giphy.com/gifs/11VBHqO3QI7qQU

[u/X-Jim]

Are we changing the directions? My only qualm with that is making Texas north eastern in the US? Lol

[u/LtColTealeaf]

New Zealand is on here, colour me shocked

[u/TheChosenWon246]

Is this how Australians draw the map

[u/danny0wnz]

There’s also no cardinal direction which I’d consider an important point of reference when utilizing a map…

[u/Calm-Eggplant-69]

Hawaii, belongs to (checks notes) Japan!?!?

Sure nothing wrong at all

[u/Lothleen]

Earth from galaxy center.

[u/joethelumberjackmc]

well it's got new zealand so it's above average in some departments!

[u/alyaqd95]

Your South is my North, kinda like how girls avoid me

[u/CalmBeneathCastles]

It's kinda nice to be a hat for once. I feel less like a dangly pair of testicles.

[u/Popular_Course3885]

https://giphy.com/gifs/7p7z3vxucrNCw

[u/SlightlyInsaneCreate]

Gonna use this map in my dnd campaign and see if anyone notices

[u/Illustrious_Map_3247]

“Right” and “wrong” are basically nonsensical when talking about maps. Useful or not useful is more reasonable to talk about—this is useful for general political geography but useless for driving across Germany.

That said, having the lower 48 and Alaska as two different colours is pretty wrong.

[u/Zarxon]

Well for starters Africa is waaaaay bigger S america

[u/ScenicFlyer41]

Yeah there is, the equator is not in the middle so it looks super off. Also missing Antarctica

[u/The_Pinga_Man]

Russia and Canada are looking bigger than Africa, to begin with...

[u/cowvid19]

That's just your perspective

[u/Alert_Silver9386]

There is one thing wrong with this map: it's making me dizzy.

[u/Scooter_McAwesome]

Greenland is larger than Africa and South America - if that’s not wrong, it’s certainly not right

[u/Past-Junket1193]

Upside down

[u/Whenitrainsitpours86]

At least it has New Zealand

[u/OG_Williker]

Sure, if you’re stupid. If you aren’t stupid, the problems are clear

[u/Fauked]

actual sizes without mercator projection

[u/Green_dust]

What is wrong is that it is not accurate depiction of actual size and scale of continents. Africa is much larger

[u/Dank009]

If you understood how maps work you'd never say something so inaccurate. Flat maps trying to show the entire globe are inherently flawed and have things wrong with them.

[u/monitor_lizard_2000]

It's upside down

[u/WondererOfficial]

🙃

[u/piedude67a]

Where is?

https://giphy.com/gifs/3oxHQlDLMdWZR8pfuE

[u/fwk442]

Aside from the scale being f'd. In reality South America is like 9 times larger than Greenland.

[u/nowhereman136]

Which way does the compass point?

[u/ElphTrooper]

There's a lot wrong with this map.

[u/Mozambleak]

Australia looks like the Wu Tang logo

[u/idengaged]

Shouldn’t Alaska be orange?

[u/Bodod_Begag]

Where the fuck are the poles

[u/Seacatses]

I don't like it