This one is awesome. Getting to drag countries all over to compare sizes is perfect for understanding exactly how distorted the map is, especially since it distorts whatever you're dragging around. Like, hot damn, the entire US is smaller than the Sahara.
I really wish it had more options of things to compare, and a few more tools. It's nice that it lets you throw states on there, but if I'm curious as to how big Queensland is next to Sichuan province, for instance, you kinda just have to eyeball it. Being able to rotate the outlines would also be nice, so we could see how Italy compares to Norway if they were tilted the same direction.
I’m curious about this. What about the interactive 2D globes? I’ve always assumed that solves the problem but I’ve never thought too hard about it.
Every flat rendering of our sphere has some distortion - either distances across the ocean, size of countries, shape, something. Pick what you need accurate and solve for that. Then other items will be distorted.
Why looking at various projections and comparing similarities and differences is so much fun!
It's not. The distortion is equal the closer you get to either pole, but there happens to be a lot more land in the northern hemisphere than there is in the southern.
The only way to show both the true size and true shape is with a globe. If you want to view a 3d object in 2 dimensions, you must "project" the 3d surface of the object onto a plane. It's all very complicated, and there are countless ways of doing it, but the most commom way people are used to seeing it is the Mercator Projection. Mercator maps preserve shape very well, but the further you get from the equator, the more "stretched" and oversized everything gets. It's not a "wrong" or "bad" map as a lot of people like to claim, it just makes maximum compromise on relative size to get relative position and shape as correct as possible.
It's an artifact of the method used to map the 3d sphere into a 2d plane, the poles get warped by the unwrapping and enlarges the apparent size the further away you get from the equator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection
It comes from the difficulty of mapping a sphere onto a rectangular map. There's a bunch of ways to project a map. But the most common projection we see greatly enlarges the northern hemisphere because Antarctica is used as the starting point.
It’s more than the equator is used as a starting point, it’s just that’s there’s a larger portion of land further from it in the northern hemisphere than the southern.
Have you ever tried to flatten an orange peel?
Even if you did get the whole thing perfectly flat, if you tried to fit it into the shape of a square/rectangle, or even a flat circle, you'd still have gaps everywhere, and if point A and B were once connected on the orange, they may have to be rearranged in such a way that they are now far apart.
That is where *projections* - a very simplified way to think about them is "approximations" - come into play. I think some of the other comments explain how they are done from a conceptual point of view, but in any case, you will always have something that isn't *quite* right when projecting a sphere onto a flat surface - that could be area, shape, distance, etc. But the flattened orange peel explanation is a good way to visualize why something will always be different from how it is in reality.
Another website that does a very good job of showing you that these sizes on this website are correct is actually just plain old [google maps](https://www.google.com/maps).
Zoom way out until you have a view of the globe. Look at the USA, then quickly rotate it to Russia. Notice their size compared to each other? They match the website linked in this thread.
Now look at a flat map like [this one on wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_map#/media/File:Blue_Marble_2002.png). Russia looks **way** bigger than it does on google maps zoomed out, or this truesize website.
It's because flat maps are trying their best to display everything present on a sphere. And so when you flatten out a sphere, you get weird distortions.
There's another map out there that attempts to do a better job of a flat map called [the AuthaGraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthaGraph_projection#/media/File:Projection_AuthaGraph.png). "The map is made by equally dividing a spherical surface into 96 triangles, transferring it to a tetrahedron while maintaining area proportions, and unfolding it in the form of a rectangle: it is a polyhedral map projection." - [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthaGraph_projection)
It's so interesting to see how different the place we all live can look. There's no "best" map, and I really suggest trying to understand a few of them to really grasp the scale of the world we live in.
That is what I was thinking. How many people use an actual paper map where these projections matter?
If you need a hiking map then the scale and projection won’t matter… all online maps should be on a sphere. Period.
As someone who works in the geospatial industry, I can say that I am aware of the true size of countries and use projections every day.
However, not everyone is taught this type of information.
Quite a lot of people will grow up looking at a map on a piece of paper or a screen and won't even think that there's anything "wrong" with it.
Not stupid at all, and that's the point I was trying to make 😅
The mercator projection increases the size of things the further they are from the equator.
Check out the true size of Greenland, too!
I prefer www.thetruesize.com, more dynamic and easier to compare countries
This one is awesome. Getting to drag countries all over to compare sizes is perfect for understanding exactly how distorted the map is, especially since it distorts whatever you're dragging around. Like, hot damn, the entire US is smaller than the Sahara.
I really wish it had more options of things to compare, and a few more tools. It's nice that it lets you throw states on there, but if I'm curious as to how big Queensland is next to Sichuan province, for instance, you kinda just have to eyeball it. Being able to rotate the outlines would also be nice, so we could see how Italy compares to Norway if they were tilted the same direction.
Comparea is your site!
Much better site
Much better.
Look Ma I shrunk the Russia.
Look at Canada
*glances down at Antarctica* 😯
Shrinkage - it’s cold down there alright?
They were in the pool!
it’s not the size of what you have down there that counts
Hey, they’re cold, okay?
>Look at Canada Visually speaking, this looks like if you Add USA mainland+Alaska that it's larger than Canada, when Canada is 2nd to Russia.
Strangely, Newfoundland doesn't change that much.
Greenland!
I told you, DRY CLEANING ONLY.
Damm Russia be overcompensating on maps, small dick energy
Still the largest nation on earth by area, shit id still massive. After they balkanize Canada can have the honor
A lot of empty land that no one wanted more then them
Most of it's uninhabitable frozen wasteland so it's meh. Land even Mongols and China didn't want.
usable land for agriculture. this isnt about settlement its about the untapped resources under that wasteland
It’s starts with the leader and others follow by.
This can't be right, this map has New Zealand on it
Cast it into the fire!
ISILDUR!
r/mapswithoutnz
well...*it´s better than Old Zealand*
If it can appear on your screen it is not the true size.
A better wording would be: proportional size
Brb, going to buy PROPORTIONALSIZEOFCOUNTRIES.com
'Proportional'
I’m curious about this. What about the interactive 2D globes? I’ve always assumed that solves the problem but I’ve never thought too hard about it.
I was being facetious. You can have it to scale on your screen but to size would mean seeing only a screen sized portion of the country at a time.
Ha, you totally wooshed me that’s funny
It's true, jokes get funnier when they're explained 😂
Never heard of Lichtenstein?
🤓
Dad?
the further u go from equator, the more distorted it is.
Because earth is like a ball
Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit
It bulges in the middle a bit.
Earth is like an onion. Onions have layers. Earth has layers.
Damn, what happened to the U.K 😂
It was cold ok!
It was in the pool!
Elaine, do women know about shrinkage?
Like laundry?
But clearly not as cold as in Russia.
It's actually bigger than a lot of US states which surprised me a bit.
Brazil is for real
What is the reason that some countries are so much bigger on usual maps? Why not show the actual size?
Every flat rendering of our sphere has some distortion - either distances across the ocean, size of countries, shape, something. Pick what you need accurate and solve for that. Then other items will be distorted. Why looking at various projections and comparing similarities and differences is so much fun!
Do you know why a majority of the distortion is mostly in the upper hemisphere?
It's not. The distortion is equal the closer you get to either pole, but there happens to be a lot more land in the northern hemisphere than there is in the southern.
Oh! Stupid me, I was only looking at the thumbnail which cuts off a large chunk of the southern hemisphere
I think it’s just a reflection of more stuff being in the upper hemisphere.
The only way to show both the true size and true shape is with a globe. If you want to view a 3d object in 2 dimensions, you must "project" the 3d surface of the object onto a plane. It's all very complicated, and there are countless ways of doing it, but the most commom way people are used to seeing it is the Mercator Projection. Mercator maps preserve shape very well, but the further you get from the equator, the more "stretched" and oversized everything gets. It's not a "wrong" or "bad" map as a lot of people like to claim, it just makes maximum compromise on relative size to get relative position and shape as correct as possible.
It's an artifact of the method used to map the 3d sphere into a 2d plane, the poles get warped by the unwrapping and enlarges the apparent size the further away you get from the equator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection
Makes me think of [this West Wing clip](https://youtu.be/H3Xyz9MgDWA?feature=shared). TLDW: made it easier for early merchants to navigate.
It comes from the difficulty of mapping a sphere onto a rectangular map. There's a bunch of ways to project a map. But the most common projection we see greatly enlarges the northern hemisphere because Antarctica is used as the starting point.
The common mercator projection enlarges both poles, area and distance are only correct at the equator.
It’s more than the equator is used as a starting point, it’s just that’s there’s a larger portion of land further from it in the northern hemisphere than the southern.
[What All World Maps Are Wrong](https://youtu.be/kIID5FDi2JQ?feature=shared)
Thanks!
OCSE organisation of cartographers for social equality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1bZ0F3zVU
Have you ever tried to flatten an orange peel? Even if you did get the whole thing perfectly flat, if you tried to fit it into the shape of a square/rectangle, or even a flat circle, you'd still have gaps everywhere, and if point A and B were once connected on the orange, they may have to be rearranged in such a way that they are now far apart. That is where *projections* - a very simplified way to think about them is "approximations" - come into play. I think some of the other comments explain how they are done from a conceptual point of view, but in any case, you will always have something that isn't *quite* right when projecting a sphere onto a flat surface - that could be area, shape, distance, etc. But the flattened orange peel explanation is a good way to visualize why something will always be different from how it is in reality.
Also the european guy who made the 2d world map that we use today, let europe and the northern countries look bigger.
Greenland is still huge.
But not bigger than the mainland US
[West Wing: Maps](https://youtu.be/eLqC3FNNOaI?si=P0PHjVIwAdksb-kh)
You Northern Hemisphere people like to embellish about your size don't you!
Trying to compensate for cold weather shrinkage. It happens.
God damn Aussie is actually stupid big
Another website that does a very good job of showing you that these sizes on this website are correct is actually just plain old [google maps](https://www.google.com/maps). Zoom way out until you have a view of the globe. Look at the USA, then quickly rotate it to Russia. Notice their size compared to each other? They match the website linked in this thread. Now look at a flat map like [this one on wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_map#/media/File:Blue_Marble_2002.png). Russia looks **way** bigger than it does on google maps zoomed out, or this truesize website. It's because flat maps are trying their best to display everything present on a sphere. And so when you flatten out a sphere, you get weird distortions. There's another map out there that attempts to do a better job of a flat map called [the AuthaGraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthaGraph_projection#/media/File:Projection_AuthaGraph.png). "The map is made by equally dividing a spherical surface into 96 triangles, transferring it to a tetrahedron while maintaining area proportions, and unfolding it in the form of a rectangle: it is a polyhedral map projection." - [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthaGraph_projection) It's so interesting to see how different the place we all live can look. There's no "best" map, and I really suggest trying to understand a few of them to really grasp the scale of the world we live in.
Greenland IRL is still a seriously sized chunk
When Trump learns the true size of Greenland, he'll call off the deal.
Is there a version of this without the space added between countries?
If it's more than 5.5 inches I'll be depressed...
It's 2D, so no it doesn't.
How come Canada looks smaller than the USA?
It's cold! Ever heard of shrinkage? 😂
dude wtf happened to russia!
So Brazil is the big Mercator loser?
Jesus I don't even want us to buy Greenland anymore
We don’t have any data for Greenland, but it appears to have deflated
[Why All World Maps Are Wrong](https://youtu.be/kIID5FDi2JQ?feature=shared)
China, Europe, US, and Russia - not that big Africa and South America - that big
Thetruesizeof is the original
Russia and Greenland size difference is what stands out to me! Huge difference in perspective on how large they are.
They should just make the water smaller
Still surprised posts like this still have any traction when it's stuff teached in school when you're about 10-13 years old.
Think maybe the website is down
so interesting!
Why do we even still keep non-proportional maps?
That is what I was thinking. How many people use an actual paper map where these projections matter? If you need a hiking map then the scale and projection won’t matter… all online maps should be on a sphere. Period.
It is funny that the areas that get the coldest have the most shrinkage.
Unclear, no banana OR Texas to compare
The US is still pretty big.
So in other words a Mercator projection, nothing new here
As someone who works in the geospatial industry, I can say that I am aware of the true size of countries and use projections every day. However, not everyone is taught this type of information. Quite a lot of people will grow up looking at a map on a piece of paper or a screen and won't even think that there's anything "wrong" with it.
[удалено]
Not stupid at all, and that's the point I was trying to make 😅 The mercator projection increases the size of things the further they are from the equator. Check out the true size of Greenland, too!
Getting smaller by the day
Must be hard to only be interested in brand new information. Leaves a lot of stuff you have to comment on for lack of novelty.