Projections: Gall-Peters VS Mercator

Producing maps that represent the world accurately and fairly is a difficult task. It is important to have a basic understanding that a map will always be a representation of the world, countries, regions or cities. The reason for this is that the maps produced are an attempt to represent a three-dimensional earth, on a two-dimensional plane. It cannot happen without a change in form. Therefore, it is important to reflect on what a map should be used for, as different map projections have different advantages and disadvantages due to the different technical characteristics they possess. The following section illustrates a comparison between the Gall-Peter projection and the Mercator projection, two different projections that have different advantages and disadvantages.

By Strebe - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16115242

Gall-Peters projection

In 1855, James Gall presented the map that is now known as the Peters map projection. During this time, the map was generally unknown until Arno Peters advocated for this projection over the Mercator projection in the 1970s. Peters argued that the Mercator projection distorted the relative size of regions, resulting in a misleading image of the world (The Cartopgrahic Institute, no date).

The Gall-Peters projection is, like Mercator, a cylindrical projection, but unlike the Mercator projection, it maintains area proportions across the map. The projection preserves area proportions by scaling the map along the longitudes and latitudes, ensuring that each area on the map corresponds to the same area on the globe. This rectangular map preserves the size of areas but distorts shapes, particularly near the poles (The Cartopgrahic Institute, no date).

Some advantages:

Represents equal area
Represents a more balanced world

Some disadvantages:

Distorts shapes as the areas of continents and countries are stretched
Criticized for a less aesthetically pleasing appearance.

By Strebe - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17700069

Mercator projection

In 1569, the cartographer Gerardus Mercator created the so-called Mercator projection. This projection was revolutionary at the time, as no previous map projections had successfully met the navigational needs of sailors. The Mercator projection is, like the Gall-Peters projection, a cylindrical map projection; however, unlike Gall-Peters, the latitude lines are spaced further apart the farther they are from the equator. This method preserves angles and shapes over small areas, making navigation easier as compass lines appear as straight lines (The Cartographic Institute, n.d).

However, this distortion of the latitude lines has its disadvantages. Unlike the Gall-Peters projection, the Mercator projection does not preserve the relative size of continents and countries; that is, land areas are distorted. If we look at the southern and northern parts of the map, we can see that the land area of Antarctica appears much larger than it actually is. A similar phenomenon occurs with Greenland, which appears to be the same size as Africa on the Mercator map (The Cartographic Institute, n.d).

Some advantages:

Meets navigational needs as the map contains lines of constant compass direction,
represented as straight lines.

Some disadvantages:

The map distorts the relative size of continents and countries, producing a misleading image of the world.
Criticized for reinforcing colonial and imperialist worldviews. For example, the land area of Europe appears to be the same size as that of Africa, which perpetuates a sense of dominance. This distortion is problematic as it can influence political and cultural attitudes

References:

The Cartographic Institute (n.d) The Gall-Peters projection. https://thecartographicinstitute.com/the-gall-peters-projection/ [2024-09-24]

The Cartographic Institute (n.d) The Mercator Projection: History, Implications, and Drawbacks. https://thecartographicinstitute.com/the-mercator-projection-history-implications-and-drawbacks/ [2024-09-24]

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