We have been viewing the world incorrectly for 500 years.
The traditional world map, designed by Gerardus Mercator in 1569, has long been criticised for its severe distortions. It exaggerates the size of regions in the northern hemisphere, such as Europe and North America, while diminishing areas near the equator. For example, on many maps, Greenland appears as large as Africa, despite being 14 times smaller in reality.
In the 1970s, German journalist Arno Peters publicly denounced the Mercator projection, arguing that it perpetuated a Eurocentric worldview. Even modern alternative maps often fail to accurately depict landforms like Antarctica.
Today, Tokyo-based architect and artist Hajime Narukawa has received Japan’s prestigious Good Design Award for his "AuthaGraph World Map," a groundbreaking projection that preserves the true proportions of continents and oceans. Narukawa achieved this by dividing the globe into 96 triangles, transforming it into a tetrahedron, and then unfolding it into a rectangle. This method eliminates the distortions found in Mercator and Dymaxion projections.
<https://narukawa-lab.jp/archives/authagraph-map/>
Remarkably, the map can be seamlessly pieced together, allowing users to reposition any region to the centre while maintaining accurate geographical relationships.
The creator of the AuthaGraph map points out that traditional maps prioritise land masses, whereas today’s global challenges demand greater attention to oceans and polar regions. Issues such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and territorial claims over marine resources call for maps that depict the Earth’s surface accurately and impartially.
The AuthaGraph map offers a new perspective, helping people better understand the interconnectedness of the Earth’s land and water systems. Additionally, this innovative map reshapes how we perceive 600 million years of continental drift.
Wikipedia for AuthaGraph Projection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthaGraph_projection