Debunking Flat Earth Misconceptions
All map projections distort Earth’s surface in some way. They attempt to preserve some properties at the expense of other properties. A conformal map preserves shape at the expense of area. On the other hand, an equal-area map preserves area at the expense of shape.
Conspiracy theorists incorrectly claim that maps are designed to lie to us about the real area of countries. In reality, equal-area maps exist if we need a map that preserves area by sacrificing accurate shape.
Flat-Earthers copied the shape of the azimuthal equidistant map centered on the North Pole and claim it as their “flat-Earth map.” The real azimuthal equidistant map is not the so-called “flat-Earth map, and not necessarily centered on the North Pole.
On the azimuthal equidistant map, all points on the map are at proportionally correct distances from the center point, but only from the center point. Other distances are distorted.
Continue reading “Center of the Azimuthal Equidistant Map Projection”
The flag and emblem of the United Nations is a map of the world in the azimuthal projection centered on the North Pole. Flat-Earthers wrongly claim that the UN uses the so-called “flat-Earth map” in their emblem and use it as “evidence” that the UN “knows Earth is flat.”
