SU lecturers believe the newly passed Equal Earth projection will be largely inconsequential. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution to adopt a new revised world map, on 4 September. The preferred map replaced the Mercator projection, and is said to show land mass more accurately, according to professor Adriaan van Niekerk, a lecturer in the department of geography and environmental studies at Stellenbosch University (SU).
The Equal Earth projection is the new revised world map, passed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 4 September. “It’s a reasonable choice if area is what matters most to you, but it’s not an objective upgrade over Mercator, just a different set of compromises for a different purpose,” says professor Adriaan van Niekerk, a lecturer in the department of geography and environmental studies at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Sourced/Screenshot/Compare Map Projections
Correct the map
“The outlines of continents [on the Mercator map] are correct […]. What Mercator was never designed for is comparing areas, and geographers have always understood that,” said Van Niekerk. “Equal Earth, the projection the UN has now endorsed, was specifically modified to be equal-area.”
Dubbed “Correct the Map”, the initiative was brought forth by Togo on behalf of 54 African countries, according to an article published by ABC News.
Aimed to show Africa, Latin American and Oceania in true proportion, the resolution passed 164 votes to one, with six abstaining – with the United States the sole vote against, as stated in the article.
The Mercator projection was replaced by the Equal Earth projection on 4 September by the United Nations General Assembly. The Mercator is not often used outside of navigation as it is “conformal, true to shape”, says professor Adriaan van Niekerk, a lecturer in the department of geography and environmental studies at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Sourced/Screenshot/Compare Map Projections
Despite these modifications, Van Niekerk is not hopeful that the influence of the revised changes will be far-reaching or useful.
“I don’t believe it will make much difference to how Africa, South Africa or Stellenbosch are perceived. The actual size of these places hasn’t changed because a committee resolved to use a different projection for the reference world map,” he said. “If anything, I’d call the resolution a bit silly: there is no “correct” world map. Every projection is built for a particular purpose, and if the purpose is showing continents’ correct shapes, Mercator remains the better choice, more correct than Equal Earth for that job.”
He added that SU students in the geography and environmental studies department are taught how map projections are formed and distinctly intended, rather than to hand them “a correct map”.
“Maps can be emotive and powerful, but they can also be informative,” said Dr Suzanne Grenfell, a professor in the department of geography and environmental studies at SU. “Geography students are taught to be critical of how space is constructed and visualised in a map. It’s a central tenet of our degree programme.”
“I really don’t see how [the Equal Earth projection] changes much, beyond showing landmass sizes more accurately, at the cost of shape accuracy,” said Van Niekerk. “That’s the trade-off built into any equal-area projection: gain accuracy in area, lose accuracy in shape.”
“It is nice that [the Equal Earth projection] has been formally adopted, but in scientific circles and in progressive NGO’s/societies, the Mercator has not been the preferred projection for a long time. For instance, National Geographic has been using a projection that tries to balance accurate area and shape since the late 1980’s,” says Dr Suzanne Grenfell, a professor in the department of geography and environmental studies at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Grace Henderson
For the South African context, it has changed little, said Grenfell.
“If you compare the way South Africa is illustrated in different map projections, you’ll see it doesn’t look that different,” she said. “I suppose the perception is for people in these regions to recognise and compare the relative size of Africa to their own countries.”
The views of professor Janis van der Westhuizen, a professor of political science and comparative politics at SU, echo this: “I think for a very small number of people – mostly outside Africa – it will come as a surprise to see how much larger Africa is, but otherwise it will have no significance, and it will have no impact on the department’s curriculum.”