this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026
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Mildly Interesting

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This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

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[–] ytg@sopuli.xyz 9 points 45 minutes ago

Even Israel voted differently to the US, that's way funnier than it should be

[–] gergolippai@lemmy.world 2 points 30 minutes ago

the UN, fighting the important fights /s

[–] Lanske@lemmy.world 6 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Did the US vote no, because they are smaller on new maps?

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 13 minutes ago

Or because China looks bigger?

[–] Mikrochip@feddit.org 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I understand the intention behind using equal earth projection, but personally I still find the Robinson projection more pleasant to look at. Or, of course, the wonderful Waterman Butterfly projection.

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 1 points 24 minutes ago

The Robinon projection makes Canada look nearly smaller than Australia.

[–] los0220@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Maybe the US has a broken voting button, they would want to click "yes", but it ends up as "no" every time.

/s

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 2 points 25 minutes ago

They, like clockwork, vote against everything. They were one of maybe 3 countries that voted no that water is a human right.

They're just a contrarian nation.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Why the us voted against? In the new map they look bigger than Canada, it should appease the baby in command.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 15 points 2 hours ago

They don't want Trump to see how small Greenland actually is. I think he reckons it's about half the size of the United States because he's an idiot. Not that this map projection is at all new, or has been a secret or anything, but trump isn't exactly the investigating type and so he probably hasn't seen it before, but if the information is shoved in his face he might become upset.

[–] onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

WOW. I did NOT know Africa was so long, America so small, and India so thin...

[–] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Every projection deforms either size ot shape. The projection that this resolution proposes stretches everything vertically (but preserves the sizes). You can see it by looking at intersections between meridians and circles. The spaces between them are supposed to be closer to squares.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 4 points 2 hours ago

India used to be a long thin Island and then it smashed into the rest of the continent to the North and sort of smushed out on the northern's edge. Eventually it will be completely flattened against the uppercontinent.

[–] heartSagan5@lemmy.zip 24 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, the mercator map was meant for ship navigation, not as a geopolitical bat.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Exactly, which is why it really grinds my gears when people try to present the map as intentionally amplifying some countries at the expense of others. That's not the point, it's just a side effect of inventing the first map that could actually be used for long-distance navigation.

For the UN it makes complete sense to use a different projection.

[–] AAA@feddit.org 1 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

How does an inaccurate map work in favor of long distance navigation? Genuinely curious because I fail to see any benefit.

The only advantage I see is you can read all the small countries on the map, which you may not be able to on more realistic maps.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 4 points 32 minutes ago

The maps were very accurate in terms of latitude (north/south position) which meant ships could find a particular port or harbor even if they had only a rough idea of their longitude (east/west position) by sailing along the latitude lines until they hit land. How big it made a particular piece of land look was irrelevant.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 hours ago

Or everyone can just do their own projection where their house is the centre of the Earth.

https://niy.ai/worldmap/

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

i would've thought russia would be the one against it

[–] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 hour ago

Russia didn't use Mercator in textbooks even in Soviet times. As well many other countries I suspect (IDK about USA), it doesn't require a great mind to see how flawed is it.

[–] lambipapp@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago

99.9% of the use cases of maps are digital anyway. Why do we not just adopt a globe as the official world map?

[–] thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

WHY did the USA vote against it

[–] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 17 points 5 hours ago

Because it would make Greenland look far smaller and uninteresting for Trump.

[–] OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 27 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Racism and white supremacy. Typical.

Some critics of the Mercator projection suspect it has remained widely used because it enlarges and centers Europe, as well as other Western regions such as North America, perpetuating ideas of European superiority.

The UN resolution notes “with concern that this distortion contributes to minimizing the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and perpetuating an unbalanced view of the world.”

[–] ragepaw@lemmy.ca 29 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Because it makes them look smaller. Because reality.

[–] DrunkenDuckling@lemmus.org 2 points 2 hours ago

Trump no like feel small :((

[–] HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world 57 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Why do we always have to vote the dumbest possible way in these things?

"UN vote on whether we should eat glass: 99% against, US stands alone as In Favor ."

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

IT GIVES MY HAIR A HEALTHY SHINE

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