Which of these map projections is centered on either the north or south pole?
Featured image: Did you know that the United Nations flag has a map of the world with the Arctic on the top? This is a polar azimuthal equidistant projection. Show
I’m here at the University of Minnesota’s Polar Boot Camp, which is run by the on-campus Polar Geospatial Center (PGC). The PGC was established in 2007 and is funded by the National Science Foundation, a United States government agency. Though it’s only seven years old, the PGC already provides a large amount of support in the way of mapping and remote sensing services for scientific research in the Arctic and Antarctic. They’ve produced maps on everything from trails around McMurdo Station to mummified seals in the area. This is the PGC’s first-ever boot camp, and its purpose is to teach students skills in GIS, cartography, and remote sensing as they apply to the poles. Today, Brad Herried, a cartographer and web developer at the PGC, gave a talk on polar mapping. Producing accurate maps of the poles is arguably more difficult than it is for other areas of the world such as the equator. Herried explained that this is due to four main reasons. First, all lines of longitude converge at the poles. 0 degrees west becomes the same as 180 degrees west. Two, you cross the “dreaded” 180° line in mapping. Three, north is not always north; on many polar maps with the North Pole at the center, for instance, going towards the center (as opposed to going “up”) is going north. And four, some defaults and standard projections aren’t appropriate for the poles, such as the Web Mercator projection. This projection makes Greenland appear larger than Africa even though the world’s largest island is a mere 1/14 the size of the continent, an issue which has been called “the Greenland problem.” Consequently, Web Mercator should never be used for mapping the Arctic or Antarctic, unless you really want to give some disproportionate cartographic weight to these parts of the globe. Some projections are better than othersExample of WGS1984 NSIDC Polar Stereographic North projection. From NSIDC.
Herried didn’t mention the Polar Azimuthal Equidistant projection, but many use it – most famously the United Nations on its flag. Azimuthal equidistant projections are able to depict the entire planet’s landmass while maintaining accurate distances and directions to all points along a straight line from the center of the map. In a polar azimuthal equidistant map, the center is either the North or South Pole. In the case of the UN flag, it’s the North Pole. It’s no surprise that the countries of the more powerful Northern Hemisphere (the Global North, anyone?) are at the center of the map. Deliberate distortions of the ArcticThe media may focus on maps such as this (in)famous map produced by Durham University’s International Boundaries Research Unit on disputed and potentially disputed Arctic areas. But it can be just as interesting to look at the maps produced by various stakeholders since they subtly reveal the cartographer’s priorities in and visions of the Arctic. While no overt political conflicts are depicted in these maps, by choosing to include some things and not others, a mapmaker asserts his or her own way of viewing the world while silently contesting all others.
Asian maps of the ArcticSecond, it’s interesting to look at Asian-made maps of the Arctic. The above map published by the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration and designed by Hao Xiaoguang is instantly disorienting. It portrays China’s view of the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage and was widely disseminated following the release of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s 2010 report by Linda Jakobson, “China Prepares for an Ice-Free Arctic” (PDF). The map uses a version of the Molleweide projection (as one reader helpfully pointed out), managing to incorporate the Arctic, Antarctic, and China all on one page. China, in vivid fuchsia, also manages to remain sort of near the center. This is a map in which north is definitely not always north. The main ports shown are Shanghai, Rotterdam, and New York. The red and yellow labels used for these cities bear testament to the increasing presence of Chinese ships in each of these harbors – a cartographic color revolution, if you will. Map found on enha.kr. Created by JoongAng Daily.
Greenpeace’s uninhabited Arctic mapThird and last, it’s worth examining an infographic made by a non-state actor: Greenpeace, the environmental non-profit organization. In 2012, it launched its Save the Arctic campaign, for which it distributed an infographic, made by the design company Column Five. The infographic includes two maps that illustrate the journeys that year of the NGO’s ships, Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise. A simple white and teal color scheme gives the sleek graphic an icy, pure feel. Compare this to the neon party that is the Chinese map. Notice how all of the political boundaries are erased as the Arctic becomes a uniform, white landmass free of even any dots that might demarcate points of human settlement. The only living creatures in the map are cute, innocent-looking animals: narwhals, owls, whales, walruses, and foxes. The infographic is beautiful in its simplicity, but this minimalism comes at the expense of depicting the more complicated nature of life in the Arctic – life which includes four million humans.
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