Map projections determine how people view the world, the political and economic relationships between different countries, and the importance of certain regions on a global level. We rely on them for navigation, for international research and analysis, and for reference purposes. Since different types of projections skew different aspects of the globe, it is of critical importance that we are aware of these distortions.
Some maps skew the areas of regions across the globe, making the northern hemisphere look much larger than the southern hemisphere. These images have influenced our Western tendencies towards egocentrism, and have reinforced global efforts for Western domination. For example, in the Mercator projection, Greenland looks as though it is almost the size of Africa. In both equal area projections, however, it is clear that it is in fact much smaller. This discrepancy may inflate our perceptions of Greenland’s importance in the geopolitical scene.
Other maps distort distances. These are dangerous in the field of flight or naval navigation, since using the wrong type of map projection could send a navigator many miles away from his/her intended destination. Navigators must refer to map projections that preserve direction and distance, such as the Equidistant Conic Projection (which is useful for polar navigation) and the Equidistant Cylindrical Projection.
Mapping is a complex art, since it involves projecting 3-dimensional objects onto 2-dimensional planes. Any map projection will include distortions. By referring to multiple types of map projections and taking all distortions into consideration, we can more accurately represent the globe in plane forms.
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