https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/04/world/un-vote-new-world-map-intl-scli

you must be kidding

Does it say which projection they're actually going to use?

The Mercator map, which has been in common use since the 16th Century, has come in for criticism as it shows Africa as similar in size to Greenland, even though it is 14 times larger.
Critics say this leads to the development needs and potential for countries near the equator to be minimised.

I think that’s got more to do with the systemic legacy of colonialism than with which world maps people look at.

Waterman butterfly

The Mercator projection is also a systemic legacy of colonialism, so doing away with it doesn't hurt.

And of course, nobody is surprised.

The Mercator projection is a legacy of people needing a world map in which local regions preserve accurate directions and proportional distances (i.e., people who need a map for navigation instead of a global dick-measuring contest).

In the times of GPS, global navigation isn't reliant on this specific map projection. On a local level (City or State/Province level), where most navigation for non-experts is taking place, the chosen map projection doesn't matter that much. The people who are navigating distances where these things become relevant (pilots and ship navigators) are also expert enough to deal with most map projections. But for global issues, a map projection that actually represents land masses as they are in reality matters a lot.

Edit: I am aware about issues regarding GPS jamming. The latest tests regarding quantum navigation (which uses differences in earths gravity fiels) were working very well, so if jamming becomes a very common issue, these systems will proliferate quickly.

Rare US-Israel disagreement

Every map projection has some inaccuracies and thing that they're good and bad at. The Mercator is good at preserving shape and distance, which used to be quite important for navigating around the world, which was important for colonization. Other maps have accurate size but inaccurate shapes. The Mercator projection isn't the worst, but less suited for the needs of today. We should all probably just use globes. The UN should also use globes.

No corresponding maximization of development needs and potential for Greenland either.

I'm more surprised that Russia voted Yes

According to this Guardian article:

the UN general assembly officially retired the 16th-century Mercator projection in favour of one based on the more accurate 2018 Equal Earth design

UN resolutions are non-enforceable, so I'm sure countries will implement it in different ways (some may not implement it at all). France has already said they will be using Eckert IV which is close to Equal Earth:

Oh, yeah, well Donald signed a new order changing every country’s name to America.

I thought Serbia was controlled by Russia and the students were protesting for freedom. What happened?

Mercator projection was favoured because it was useful for navigation due to preserving rhumb lines, representing them as straight lines on the map, and has been around for like 400 years.

Given that barely anyone does navigation like this any more it's not that important to keep it as the default view for world maps that aren't used for navigation such as a simple wall map. Web maps and the use of pseudomercator have definitely kept it relevant in modern times and as the most recognizable projection.

There isn't much basis to say it's used to "make colonial countries look bigger and Africa look smaller" except for people virtue signaling in blog posts over the last decade. If anything then it's a psyop by Big Greenland.

As this post explains, you can just look at a globe if you want accurate size representation, because all map projections are distorted and there is always a tradeoff.

E: Oops I can see several people already explained this since refreshing the post.

it's used to "make colonial countries look bigger and Africa look smaller"

I dont disagree, but I think if the case was opposite and a useful projection made the countries in power look smaller they wouldn't have picked it as their favourite projection. The distortion is in favour of the (small) powerful countries, which may not have been the main reason but you can't call it a happy coincidence either.

Guess they will soon not only have their own system of measuring distance, weight and temperature; but also their own system of displaying Earth. They want to live in their own version of reality i guess.

Good luck keeping a globe in the glove box.

The projection they went with is the Equal Earth.
See a few comments below me for the projection itself.

A good choice, but tbh I feel the modified Dymaxion map would've been the best choice if only displaying land; or the Waterman butterfly.

If also water, then Tobler hyperelliptical., or Aitoff.

See here for a full list of map projections. I also like the Hao projection on there, but yeah.

Eckert and Equal Earth are fine, but I much prefer Peirce Quincuncial as more representative of the globe. All of the land distortion is minimal and equal, and it's tileable to get a better image of distance across hemispheres

The Equal Earth projection, the one they voted for, kinda sucks IMO. It vertically stretches every country in order to make sure everyone gets equal area, but it's trading horizontal area for vertical area. Robinson is better.

On a local level (City or State/Province level), where most navigation for non-experts is taking place, the chosen map projection doesn’t matter that much.

Yes, it does, because on a local level you want real-world right angles to be right angles on the map, which Mercator does, but other projections might not…

Mercator is bad as a world map, but the reason why it's used on most online maps is that those online maps are usually used as local maps, where Mercator is a very good projection. It would be good if online maps switched projections if you zoomed out beyond a certain level.

Just gotta inflate it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Earth_projection

I feel like these projections make Antartica looks significantly larger than it reality. Is this thought correct?

Most navigation software doesn't show the map from the top, but from behind looking forward, and it communicates turns and lanes to choose regardless if your angles are 90° / 95° / 85° or what map projection is used. If you are still using paper maps in your own city - welcome to the future.

Edit: And to top it off, the crossroads being 90° is a uniquely american thing - every city in europe has a naturally grown layout. Since the US doesn't give a fuck about anyone else (as seen in the vote and their renaming stuff into America) I also don't give a fuck about what maps they use.

Edit 2: If you use your current position as the center of the projection, anything close enough to be relevant stays at 90° - or so close that i dare anyone to see the difference.

Most navigation software doesn’t show the map from the top, but from behind looking forward

only when navigating, not when looking at the map

You still use paper maps while driving inside of your own country? Free navigation software is ubiquitous. Noone cares about the projection used there, as long as it signals turns and lanes correctly, and long distance most countries have something called "signs" which tell you where the road you are on goes.

Russia's been cozying up to Africa for a long time. And it was the AU which spearheaded this initiative.

Do you really think that the distortion over the short distance shown while navigating matters? I don't know many drivers that actually use their geometry kit when using a navigation app.

People use digital maps for all kinds of purposes, not just navigating while driving.

For example I often look at digital maps as a pedestrian in order to know which direction to walk (even without actually entering navigation mode), or in order to find out where places of interest are around me, and there it definitely helps that the angles are the same in reality as on the map.

It’s both/and.

Let’s say you’re trying to convince a populace of an unpopular war to invade, I dunno, Greenland. You want to convince the country of its massive land & untapped riches.

Which map would you use?

Since Russia is actually very large, they're probably thinking they'll look even bigger than they already do!

I didn't know you live so close to the arctic that you can't identify the direction you need to go when looking at a paper map.

With navigation software that simply uses your current position for the center of the projection all corners stay so close to reality that i dare you to see the difference (we are not living on a globe the size of a tangerine). There's also the hint you get from the small arrow pointing out the direction you are currently facing.

This might be the first time in history Israel voted differently than the United States of America

I hope they make the map of USA really small and Canada and Mexico really big.

This may or may not be true—in fact I'll just assume that it's true, fuck it—but I will say that it's kind of like being asked to have an opinion on whether this person or that gets top billing on the theater marquee: is it going to be Rose & Krants or Krants & Rose? Which do you think, morally, is the superior option? I really, really don't care.

And it bothers me a smidge that people do only because I feel like they're being distracted by jangling keys. But oh well, whatever. Not my business, I guess.

https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=west+wing+cartographers

Feels like a fun math challenge to seamlessly convert between map projections based on zoom level.

Don’t they? At least Google Maps has for a while.

Dumbass United Stat...

How many different directions can you go in where the skewing of angles would cause you confusion?

Russia doesn't care because they're big as fuck on any projection.

So is the US, but we voted no because we're contrarian little pissbabies.

My one question is why

One where the United States is bigger than Russia.

The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality was a group of map-makers who favored the adoption of an inverted Peters Projection map as mandatory for all education within the United States. They felt strongly that traditional Mercator maps gave undue focus on the nations and peoples of the Northern Hemisphere.

https://westwing.fandom.com/wiki/Organization_of_Cartographers_for_Social_Equality

@Canada government, please make this for us!