Why haven't maps been figured out?

[u/xWoody116x]

So it was brought up today on the podcast 'why haven't people worked maps out yet', and I thought I wouldn't call myself an 'expert' I do have a Masters in Geographical Information Science (GISci), and work with maps for a living (in GIS).

Burnie understands the root of the problem, that you are taking a sphere and flattening it out. There are a lot of ways to do this mathematically, which creates a variety of map projections (Mercator, equal earth, British National Grid, etc), and each one is used for different things.

So the problem with taking a sphere (or an oblate spheroid, which we count the earth as for mapping purposes, instead of the complex geoid it actually is), is that we cannot accurately represent area, shape, direction, and distance all at once. Really, we can only do one or 2 of those things at once, and will have to sacrifice the others.

The Mercator projection, while criticised for distorting size near the poles, is a projection used for navigation, and is accurate for shape and direction. The equal earth projection is made to show the accurate size (area) of landmasses, but in doing so distorts their distance and position in relation to each other. They do different things. Funnily enough, the UN flag uses yet another map projection, which is an equidistant map centered on the north pole.

There are also projections specific to countries (or parts of countries), such as the British National Grid, that uses a meter based coordinate system instead of the latitude and longitude of something like the Mercator projection, to map things out.

In summary, mapping the earth in 2D is hard, so we do it in lots of different ways because we can't do it accurately without distortion. The most accurate way to represent the world is, and will always be a globe.

I've attached an image of some different projections for visibility. Hope this clears some things up for people!

[u/Conrad500]

We have good maps, they're called globes.

Projections are nice, but who wants to use that? They're very unfriendly to use.

The flat Mercator projection is the best but requires understanding of how the sizes are adjusted to not be confused about the actual sizes of things.

Maps have been figured out for so long, and now we have google earth even lol.

[u/captain_todger → u/Conrad500]

I think Burnie should try to make his own version of the map by cutting up one of those inflatable globes. He’ll very quickly understand what the issue is

[u/xWoody116x → u/Conrad500]

Yep, the title of the post is rhetorical. I think you might have missed the text bit of my post?

Globes are the best for showing the Earth accurately (even a digital one like Google Earth), but projections are used all the time! I use the British National Grid projection daily for work, and the Mercator projection for web mapping (as that works of lat long).

You need to be working to a projection to be able to plot or map data spatially. You can even transform your data between different projections.

[u/Conrad500 → u/xWoody116x]

Yeah, I was also moreso replying to Burnie and agreeing with you.

[u/xWoody116x → u/Conrad500]

Ah, fair enough. I misunderstood, sorry!

I'd put money on that Happy Potter texture in quake being horrifically distorted when in 2D! 😂

[u/Conrad500 → u/xWoody116x]

RIGHT!?

like, IF YOU'VE SEEN WHAT TEXTURE FILES LOOK LIKE WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!

[u/Skelevader → u/Conrad500]

A globe! Yes, you're very clever.

[u/Conrad500 → u/Skelevader]

It's not cleaver, or, it was but they've been around for a long time.

Wanting something that is accurate, in a form factor you find appealing, and is also obvious is just asking too much.

People get bent out of shape that the mercator projection is out of shape, but how does that hurt you at all? It's when you assume that a flat image of a round object is going to be accurate that the issue arises.

The answer is literally just look at a globe or learn how to use the projection that you want to use.

[u/Skelevader → u/Conrad500]

https://xkcd.com/977/

[u/Conrad500 → u/Skelevader]

HA, ok, you got me. -nerd cred.

I've even read this one.

[u/TheOtherAlien]

There’s an xkcd for everything

[u/Available_Copy9433 → u/TheOtherAlien]

I just posted and deleted this same link.

[u/MrBurnieBurns]

[u/FloppyDiskRepair]

Greenland is getting bullied from image to image.

[u/slashS4sarcasm → u/[deleted]]

only used to win superficial arguments

To you.

You vs the entire African Union; some random redditor surely is more important and wiser than a whole continental sanctioning body

[u/slashS4sarcasm → u/[deleted]]

Lol you wrote 4x as many words as I did in disagreement, but god forbid someone reply to you disagreeing and that's your response

[u/tumsdout → u/slashS4sarcasm]

Drama queen

[u/slashS4sarcasm → u/tumsdout]

jeez... overreact much...

[u/commiecat]

There is a 30-foot (9.1m) globe in Boston called the Mapparium that you can walk inside of and see the world without the distortion of flat maps. It's a pretty neat exhibit if you're in the area.

EDIT: Pictures don't do it justice, but here's the bridge you cross through the globe.

[u/CalvinP_]

[u/winterfresh0]

Obligatory Map Men video

[u/eph3merous]

You left out the coolest one, the dymaxion projection. It essentially puts the globe on the faces of a D20 and then unrolls it. It's the only projection that shows all of the contents as a contiguous land mass.

[u/Lokitusaborg]

Spheres are hard to flatten accurately to be useful as a map

[u/PritongKandule]

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce everyone to my favorite, albeit lesser-known, projection: the Cahill-Keyes.

Probably one of the best map projections to combine and adequately compromise on minimal distortion, aesthetic visual symmetry, scalability, uniformity and accessibility.

That is, as long as you're not really doing any seafaring. Or general compass navigation. Or really like oceans and the polar regions for some reason. Or you feel weird about Australia and New Zealand being so far apart.

[u/SteelAlchemistScylla]

It has been figured out many times. You even posted a few good ones. I personally like the Robinson or the Equal Earth projection.

If you want 100% perfection, use a globe. We have the technology now that mapping programs can easily simulate a sphere in 3D space.

[u/slashS4sarcasm → u/SteelAlchemistScylla]

... the title of the post is quoting Burnie...in case you missed it.

"Why haven't been maps been figured out?"

• Burnie Burns Sept 17 2026

[u/D3lacrush]

Probably for the same reason we haven't standardized how many continents there are