There are many ways to make a flat map of the world—each of them a unique distortion
BLUF
Although it may be easier to view the world as a whole on a flat map, it will never be as accurate or correctly proportioned as when displayed on a globe.
Summary
This 1947 vintage, educational movie animation demonstrates how every flat map of the world represents a grand compromise, which means including inaccuracies and disproportions. The narrator makes the following points:
- Initially using a grapefruit and then a turnip, the animation dissects these roundish objects to flatten the world.
- The object is to see the globe on a flat surface instead of just a rotating globe.
- This demonstration shows that regardless of the shape or design of the flat map, some parts of the world will never represent their true shape.
- The narrator concludes that there is no possible way to show an accurate picture of the world on a flat map.
- It is only possible to draw an accurate flattened picture of one small part of the world at a time.
- The narrator concludes that that is why a globe is still the only way to show the entire world map accurately.