Time to create a map! Making a map of the entire Earth is tricky, because paper is flat, and planets are curved. There are lots of different ways to ‘flatten’ Earth, and each way produces a different shaped map. This method is super spiky as it involves triangles.
Making maps is a challenge. Although the ground looks flat, it’s actually curved. That means the only accurate maps of the whole Earth are globes!
Of course, having a flat map is very useful. So people have developed lots of different ways to make flat maps of Earth. These are known as ‘projections’ because they project the sphere of Earth onto a flat surface.
Most online maps use the Mercator projection, which is very good at keeping countries the same shape. However, it makes countries near the equator look smaller than they really are, and areas near the poles are much bigger.
The Gall-Peters projection is a popular alternative. It’s an equal-area projection, which means every country is the right area. Unfortunately, it’s not good at preserving shapes. Countries near the equator are stretched up and down, and areas near the poles are squished.
This map is known as an octahedral map. It’s based on a shape called the octahedron, which has eight triangular faces. This map is pretty good at preserving both shapes and areas. But it leaves gaps in the map and depending on how you put the pieces together, it might be hard to see which direction is north.
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