Kucklick 1

Steven Kucklick
Exam 1 Take Home Essay
GEO 561
So much of our world relies on the use of maps. Even though technology is replacing
much of the common uses of maps, they are still a very important part of the world. In fact, some
sort of map can be found almost everywhere. Yet maps, world maps in particular, face an
interesting dilemma; there is no way to take our sphere-like world and put it on a rectangle piece
of paper without distorting it. Map projections attempt to solve this problem. Map projections, in
short are just different ways to represent our spherical world. Because there is no true way to
take our round, 3-D world and transpose it onto a 2-D map, all map projections are inherently
flawed in one way or another. However, this is a tradeoff for showing one or more aspects of our
world more accurately. Most map projections serve a limited number of purposes and are created
specifically for this. Because no one map projection claims to be perfect in every regard, it is
okay for them to distort one or more areas of the world in order to keep the aspect of the map
that they aim to represent more accurate. Some maps aim to get small areas correct, like
Equidistant Cylindrical Maps; while others, like the Peters Maps, attempt to server as accurate
world maps by showing the correct size of continents. Still, both of these map types distort one
aspect or another.1
One of the more common maps used is the Mercator map, shown in Map One. This map, like all
map projections, gets some things right, but also gets some things inherently wrong. This
projection was developed in 1569 to serve mainly for navigational purposes. The reason it is so
useful when it comes to sailing a ship is because the latitude, longitude, and meridians are all
1 Melita Kennedy, Understanding Map Projections, Environmental Systems Research
Institute, (2000). http://kartoweb.itc.nl/geometrics/map
%20projections/understanding%20map%20projections.pdf

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straight lines. This is different from some other maps where these lines curve to represent the
curvature of the earth. Because these lines are straight, navigators are able to plot straight lines
and know that they are true.2 Of course there are some down sides to the Mercator projection.
Because the latitude, longitude, and meridian lines are all straight and do not show the curvature
of the earth, country and continent sizes get increasingly disproportionate as they get farther
away from the equator. This can be easily seen by looking at the country of Greenland. On the
Mercator projection, Greenland is seen to be almost the same size as Africa and bigger than
South America. However, Greenland is extremely skewed because of the fact that it is so far
away from the equator. The same is true with Antarctica which looks huge compared with the
rest of the continents.3
Map number 2 is a prime example of maps misrepresenting information. Map 2 shows the
potential threat of North Korean missiles and the countries that they could potentially reach. In
this map we see that the United States is pretty much in the clear, save about a third of Alaska. To
most, this seems great for the US and makes the North Korean ballistics program look like a
joke. However, someone who knew anything about maps would be able to tell that this is
extremely misrepresented and does not account for the fact that we live on a spherical world, not
a flat one. In reality, North Korea could reach all of the US with its missiles, not just Alaska.4
Therefore, its fair to say that the Mercator projection was not the right choice of projection for
this map. Yet, it is likely that this was the point of the map, to misrepresent information and make
2 Robert Israel, trans. Mercators Projection.
http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel/m103/mercator/mercator.html
3 Kennedy, 77
4 North Korea, When Bluff Turns Deadly. The Economist, May 2003.
http://www.economist.com/node/1748566

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North Korea look weak and the US safe from them. The sad truth is that once someone knows
how to work with map projections, they can be easily exploited.
Map projections serve as a useful tool to showcase our 3-D world on a 2-D piece of paper. But, it
is impossible to truly show our world perfectly on a map. Therefore, each type of projection has
some sort of limitation to it, whether it be distance, size, or shape. Because of this, it is important
to pick the type of map projection that best represents the data given without compromising it.
Map projections, like the Mercator, are useful for those needing to navigate across the world, but
can fall short in other instances, as seen in the North Korean missile map. This map is a perfect
example of why a proper understanding of map projections and critical thinking is so important.

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Works Cited
Israel, Robert. Translated. Mercators Projection. 2003.
http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel/m103/mercator/mercator.html
Kennedy, Melita. Understanding Map Projections. Environmental Research Institute. 2000.
http://kartoweb.itc.nl/geometrics/map%20projections/understanding%20map
%20projections.pdf
North Korea, When Bluff Turns Deadly. The Economist. 2003.
http://www.economist.com/node/1748566