The United Nations General Assembly recently adopted a non-binding resolution on September 4, 2026, to encourage shifting from the traditional Mercator map projection to the Equal Earth projection for a more accurate size comparison of continents.
I have been asked by the community about my response to this, and I submit those below in a series of questions-and-answers. I look forward to your reactions.
Equal Earth projection. Source: https://equal-earth.com/equal-earth-projection.html
How has the Mercator projection distorted people’s views of the world?
All map projections are distortions of the world. Because we live on an oblate spheroid (wider around the Equator than the Poles) and because we want to represent that imperfect sphere on 2D paper maps and computer screens, we must “project” the world. We do so using cones, cylinders, and other shapes through mathematical geometric transformations. In fact, all maps are SADD; they distort Shape, Area, Distance, and/or Direction—sometimes all four. The Mercator projection is very useful for a variety of reasons, which is why it is used as the default basemap in Google Maps, ArcGIS Online, MapQuest, and other tools. But it has the disadvantage of distorting the shapes and size of areas near the North and South Poles, in particular, and in so doing, since much of the land mass of the Earth is north of the Equator, gives people an over-inflated view of the Northern Hemisphere and a distorted view of polar regions.
How much of this is symbolic versus something that really distorts textbooks, software and geography?
1. Maps are imperfect representations of reality. They are very useful representations, but representations nonetheless. They shape our perception of the world and all issues and themes portrayed on them—ocean currents, ecoregions, population density, natural hazards, or anything else. 2. Because maps are so useful, they are among the most frequently referred to and used items in our world—in everyday life, in research articles, for recreation, and to manage human-built and natural systems—transportation networks, habitat, natural resource extraction, utility line management, and so much more. People’s view of the world through these maps hinges in part on the projection used.
Will the vote really have any impact on education? If so, how?
It is my hope as a geographer focused on education across multiple disciplines and levels from primary through university level, that any advancement we can make in helping people to think spatially, critically, and holistically, whether it is through a more suitable map projection, or engaging students in solving problems through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or through other means, will result in a more knowledgeable, thoughtful global community that is empowered to make the resilient and sustainable decisions that are needed.
What strengths and weaknesses does this new projection have?
All maps and map projections have strengths and weaknesses, and we must be honest about those and teach and learn about those. In so doing, we can learn about the active processes on our planet that can be mapped, including those that are human-created such as urbanization, energy generation, and mineral extraction, and naturally-created, such as ocean currents, natural hazards, and weather. My colleagues and I, in our recent book Teaching Mathematics with Interactive Mapping, explore the mathematics, advantages and challenges, behind map projections.
What was your reaction to this story?
Anytime something to do with mapping and understanding our world is addressed at a level such as this, I am encouraged. I encourage all educators to use maps and spatial thinking to teach any subject dealing with change over space and time--geography, certainly, but also economics, history, data science, behavior, human health, earth science, business, natural resource management, and others, as shown in my new book Teaching Spatial Thinking with Geographic Information Systems.
When did you first find out about the distorted map and how did you feel about it?
Geographers have always known that maps are distortions of reality, and teach these concepts regularly from primary to university level. Maps have been drawn on clay tablets, wood blocks, pieces of silver, film, and on other media through the millennia. As the maps were created, and our perspective grew from the local to the global, map projections were developed and refined, and are still refined to this day. Map projections have been developed in large part with input by geographers, mathematicians, surveyors, and others to the point where today, thousands of map projections exist. So many projections exist because there is such a diversity of needs from local to global scale; one map projection does not meet all needs. Through symbols used on maps, map projections, classification methods, and other means, maps help us understand something on our planet—a pattern, relationship, trend, or something else.
Anything else you'd like to say?
The topic of map projections illustrates why GIS is such a powerful teaching and learning tool. ArcGIS Pro, for example, supports 106 different map projections and 6,000 projected coordinate systems. A helpful illustrated graphic that I show frequently in instruction is in the ArcGIS documentation, here:
https://doc.esri.com/en/arcgis-pro/latest/help/mapping/properties/list-of-supported-map-projections.html
I frequently ask students to solve a problem with a specific workflow but in an unprojected space, then measure the length and area of their results. I then ask them to complete that same workflow after projecting the data, comparing their projected measurements to the unprojected measurements. I believe these hands-on activities cement the notion that projections matter more than my lectures ever could (though certainly I also provide foundations).
Maps and spatial thinking are more relevant to understand our world and solve problems in our world now than ever before. I host a monthly podcast entitled Thinking Spatially via www.josephkerski.com, write daily about geo-data, maps, Geographic Information, and societal issues on https://spatialreserves.wordpress.com and have created nearly 10,000 geo-related videos on my Our Earth channel,
https://esriurl.com/ourearth
for any reader of this essay who wishes to dig deeper into the “what’s where, why is it there, and why should we care” issues that are critical and relevant to our 21st Century world.
