Hello, cartographer here while a lot of the things she says are right as someone who makes maps for a living I will never use the Equal Earth projection for a world map. The point of a world map is to easily see all ~180 countries at a glance. The new map is objectively worse at it because it basically shrinks everywhere but the countries on the equator and then speeds out. So that mostly means Africa and Oceania and South America stay roughly the same size. That means North America, Europe, and Asia are all a lot smaller and less legible. That’s like 80% of the world’s population you just made less legible. While true land scale is important it doesn’t necessarily mean it provides the best map. This is then exacerbated when whatever map in question is shrunk down to be a figure in a textbook. So frankly I just see this as political posturing with very little substance.
Furthermore if we did change it there are better options like Winkle Triple.
How work as a cartographer? Honestly thought it would be a dead job by now. What with satellite and internet and all. How many new maps are people really buying?
I knew someone who was a cartographer. Out of genuine curiosity I asked him how he does his job - like, does he look at other maps and re-draw them? He got offended and just turned and walked away. I still don't know the answer, but I highly doubt he's out there on the high seas navigating with a sextant and what not.
We use computers and a lot of behind the scenes math. There are different levels too. Like someone can just be getting all their data from other sources (administrative boundaries, demographic data, road networks, etc) or they can be producing it themselves from their organizations historic data. Some maps dont require analysis, like a hunting map that shows hunters where their tag allows them to hunt.
The software looks fairly similar to a CAD software or Photoshop. We use python or r as programing languages to process large datasets and then use statistical analysis to determine patterns or trends that can inform decision making.
He drew his maps by hand - and I didn't see any computers in his work area. I think he was actually anti-computer, as I recall him making cracks about how his wife (graphic designer) would use one "to do her work for her."
This was back in the 1990s, and I knew him via a group of artist friends who were all very traditional in materials, etc. (I was the odd one out being a photographer, even being before digital photography). I have no idea who his clients were, but I imagine they were much more 'niche' than say, textbook publishers. It was just a funny interaction and the guy seemed to always have a problem with me after that.
Ahh ok yeah stuff where scale and accurate distance wasn’t as important as just the conceptual placement of things.
Yeah think he might just have been a weird dude cause I’m asked that question all the time. It was even more niche in the 90s so he was probably pissy with a lot of people!
It depends on what you want to map and for what purpose. There is still plenty fo on the ground measuring going on for stuff like local construction maps.
For cars you got self driving cars now.
A lot of stuff for farming or environmental measures etc is done with satelites with all kinds of different sensors.
Lidar satelites have for example lead to discovering a loth of not obviously visible enciant earthworks.
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u/Narpity 23h ago
Hello, cartographer here while a lot of the things she says are right as someone who makes maps for a living I will never use the Equal Earth projection for a world map. The point of a world map is to easily see all ~180 countries at a glance. The new map is objectively worse at it because it basically shrinks everywhere but the countries on the equator and then speeds out. So that mostly means Africa and Oceania and South America stay roughly the same size. That means North America, Europe, and Asia are all a lot smaller and less legible. That’s like 80% of the world’s population you just made less legible. While true land scale is important it doesn’t necessarily mean it provides the best map. This is then exacerbated when whatever map in question is shrunk down to be a figure in a textbook. So frankly I just see this as political posturing with very little substance.
Furthermore if we did change it there are better options like Winkle Triple.