It is reported that the Mercator map, which has influenced the way we have perceived the world for centuries, does not accurately represent the actual sizes of continents.Oxu.Az reports that on September 4, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the use of more accurate world maps. A total of 164 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while six abstained. The United States was the only country to vote against the document.Although the resolution is not legally binding, it is expected that it could influence maps used in schools, educational materials, and everyday technologies, and could contribute to the wider use of map projections that represent the land areas of the Earth more accurately.

One of the main points drawing experts’ attention is the fact that, despite the issue having been debated for many years, the decision was supported by the UN only now.Hasan Nabiyev, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Geography, PhD in Geography and Associate Professor, spoke to Oxu.Az about the characteristics of the Mercator map and commented on the extent to which such changes could affect maps and educational materials used in schools.He noted that the projection created by Gerard Mercator, one of the most famous cartographers of the 16th century, began to be used in maps designed for easy navigation, particularly by sailors.“Although the Mercator projection offers a major advantage in terms of accurately representing directions on a map, it causes significant distortions in the size of areas. Despite this, the projection was preserved for many years as a standard mapping system.

In recent years, one of the main reasons for the various debates surrounding the Mercator map has been the inaccurate representation of the actual sizes of countries and continents. For example, Greenland has an area of approximately 2.2 million square kilometres, while Australia covers approximately 7.6 million square kilometres. Nevertheless, on the Mercator map, Greenland appears larger than Australia.

As we know, representing the Earth’s spherical surface on a flat plane is extremely difficult. When the Earth’s surface is transferred onto a map, various types of distortion occur. These include distortions of distance, angles, shape, and area.

Different types of map projections are used to reduce these distortions. In some projections, distances are represented more accurately, but this may result in distortions of angles or shapes. Other projections prioritize the accurate representation of areas. In other words, there is no map projection that can represent all these parameters with complete accuracy at the same time.

The main problem with the Mercator map is the significant distortion that occurs, particularly in areas close to the North and South Poles, when the spherical surface of the Earth is transferred onto a flat plane. As a result, huge continents such as Africa appear smaller than their actual size, while areas located at higher latitudes, such as Greenland and Europe, appear larger than they really are.

For example, although Russia has a vast territory, its northern and northeastern parts are shown on the map as considerably wider and more exaggerated than their actual size.

It can also be seen that North America and Europe, which are located at higher latitudes, appear larger on the map than they actually are. Meanwhile, areas closer to the Equator, such as Africa, China, Pakistan, and South America, experience comparatively less distortion in the Mercator projection.

Therefore, although the Mercator projection is highly convenient for navigation, it is not considered an ideal map for comparing the actual areas of continents and countries,” H. Nagiyev said.

Regarding the issue of replacing maps in schools, the associate professor believes that such a change would not be particularly significant for the maps currently used in Azerbaijan:

“Because the way the sizes of North America, South America, and Australia are shown on the map does not have such a significant impact on our children. For us, the main issue is that they know the correct location of Azerbaijan on the map.

Azerbaijan is located at mid-latitudes, and for our children it is more important to correctly identify their own country and the territories where neighboring countries are located. I believe there is no need to change this projection in Azerbaijani schools.”

oxu.az