Gall–Peters projection
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The Gall–Peters projection is a rectangular, equal-area
map projection In cartography, map projection is the term used to describe a broad set of transformations employed to represent the two-dimensional curved surface of a globe on a plane. In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longit ...
. Like all equal-area projections, it distorts most shapes. It is a cylindrical equal-area projection with latitudes 45° north and south as the regions on the map that have no distortion. The projection is named after
James Gall James Gall (27 September 1808 – 7 February 1895) was a Scottish clergyman who founded the Carrubbers Close Mission. He was also a cartographer, publisher, sculptor, astronomer and author. In cartography he gives his name to three differe ...
and Arno Peters. Gall described the projection in 1855 at a science convention and published a paper on it in 1885. Peters brought the projection to a wider audience beginning in the early 1970s through his "Peters World Map". The name "Gall–Peters projection" was first used by
Arthur H. Robinson Arthur H. Robinson (January 5, 1915 – October 10, 2004) was an American geographer and cartographer, who was professor in the Geography Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1947 until he retired in 1980. He was a prolific ...
in a pamphlet put out by the American Cartographic Association in 1986.American Cartographic Association's Committee on Map Projections, 1986. ''Which Map is Best'' p. 12. Falls Church: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. Maps based on the projection are promoted by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
, and they are also widely used by British schools. The U.S. state of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and Boston Public Schools began phasing in these maps in March 2017, becoming the first public school district and state in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
to adopt Gall–Peters maps as their standard. The Gall–Peters projection achieved notoriety in the late 20th century as the centerpiece of a controversy about the political implications of map design.


Description


Formula

The projection is conventionally defined as: :\begin x &= \frac = \frac\\ y &= \frac = R \sqrt \sin \varphi \end where ''λ'' is the longitude from the central meridian in degrees, ''φ'' is the latitude, and ''R'' is the radius of the globe used as the model of the earth for projection. For longitude given in radians, remove the factors.


Simplified formula

Stripping out unit conversion and uniform scaling, the formulae may be written: :\begin x &= R\lambda\\ y &= 2R\sin\varphi \end where ''\lambda'' is the longitude from the central meridian (in radians), ''\varphi'' is the latitude, and ''R'' is the radius of the globe used as the model of the earth for projection. Hence the sphere is mapped onto the vertical cylinder, and the cylinder is stretched to double its length. The stretch factor, 2 in this case, is what distinguishes the variations of cylindric equal-area projection.


Discussion

The various specializations of the cylindric equal-area projection differ only in the ratio of the vertical to horizontal axis. This ratio determines the ''standard parallel'' of the projection, which is the parallel at which there is no distortion and along which distances match the stated scale. There are always two standard parallels on the cylindric equal-area projection, each at the same distance north and south of the equator. The standard parallels of the Gall–Peters are 45° N and 45° S. Several other specializations of the equal-area cylindric have been described, promoted, or otherwise named.Snyder, John P. (1989). ''An Album of Map Projections'' p. 19. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1453. (Mathematical properties of the Gall–Peters and related projections.)Monmonier, Mark (2004). ''Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection'' p. 152. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Thorough treatment of the social history of the Mercator projection and Gall–Peters projections.)Smyth, C. Piazzi. (1870). ''On an Equal-Surface Projection and its Anthropological Applications''. Edinburgh: Edmonton & Douglas. (Monograph describing an equal-area cylindric projection and its virtues, specifically disparaging Mercator's projection.)


Origins and naming

The Gall–Peters projection was first described in 1855 by clergyman
James Gall James Gall (27 September 1808 – 7 February 1895) was a Scottish clergyman who founded the Carrubbers Close Mission. He was also a cartographer, publisher, sculptor, astronomer and author. In cartography he gives his name to three differe ...
, who presented it along with two other projections at the Glasgow meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (the BA). He gave it the name "orthographic" and formally published his work in 1885 in the ''Scottish Geographical Magazine''. The projection is suggestive of the Orthographic projection in that distances between parallels of the Gall–Peters are a constant multiple of the distances between the parallels of the orthographic. That constant is . In 1967, German filmmaker Arno Peters independently devised a similar projection, which he presented in 1973 as the "Peters world map". Peters's original description of his projection contained a geometric error that, taken literally, implies standard parallels of 46°02′ N/S. However the text accompanying the description made it clear that he had intended the standard parallels to be 45° N/S, making his projection identical to Gall's orthographic.Maling, D.H. (1993). ''Coordinate Systems and Map Projections'', second edition, second printing, p. 431. Oxford: Pergamon Press. . In any case, the difference is negligible in a world map. The name "Gall–Peters projection" seems to have been used first by
Arthur H. Robinson Arthur H. Robinson (January 5, 1915 – October 10, 2004) was an American geographer and cartographer, who was professor in the Geography Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1947 until he retired in 1980. He was a prolific ...
in a pamphlet put out by the American Cartographic Association in 1986.American Cartographic Association's Committee on Map Projections, 1986. ''Which Map is Best'' p. 12. Falls Church: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. Before 1973 it had been known, when referred to at all, as the "Gall orthographic" or "Gall's orthographic." Most Peters supporters today refer to it only as the "Peters projection." During the years of controversy the cartographic literature tended to mention both attributions, settling on one or the other for the purposes of the article. In recent years "Gall–Peters" seems to dominate.


Peters world map controversy

The Gall–Peters projection initially passed unnoticed when presented by Gall in 1855. It achieved more widespread attention after Arno Peters reintroduced it in 1973. He promoted it as a superior alternative to the commonly used Mercator projection, on the basis that the Mercator projection greatly distorts the relative sizes of regions on a map. In particular, he criticized that the Mercator projection causes wealthy Europe and North America to appear very large relative to poorer Africa and South America. These arguments swayed many socially concerned groups to adopt the Gall–Peters projection, including the
National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Un ...
and the magazine ''
New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned and run by a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known for its strict editorial and environmental pol ...
''. His campaign was bolstered by the inaccurate claim that the Gall–Peters projection was the only "area-correct" map.(1977) ''The Bulletin'' 25 (17) pp. 126–127. Bonn: Federal Republic of Germany Press and Information Office.Snyder, John P. (1993). ''Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections'' p. 165. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. . (Summary of the Peters controversy.) In actuality, some of the oldest projections are equal-area (such as the sinusoidal projection), and hundreds have been described. He also inaccurately claimed that it possessed "absolute angle conformality", had "no extreme distortions of form", and was "totally distance-factual". Peters framed his criticisms of the Mercator projection with criticisms of the broader cartographic community. In particular, Peters wrote in ''The New Cartography'', As Peters's promotions gained popularity, the cartographic community reacted with hostility to his criticisms, as well as to the inaccuracy and lack of novelty of his claims.Snyder, John P. (1993). ''Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections'' p. 157. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. . They called attention to the long list of cartographers who, over the preceding century, had formally expressed frustration with publishers' overuse of the Mercator and advocated for alternatives.Edwards, Trystan (1953). ''A New Map of the World''. London: B.T. Batsford LTD.Hinks, Arthur R. (1912). ''Map Projections'' p. 29. London: Cambridge University Press.Steers, J.A. (1927). ''An Introduction to the Study of Map Projections'' 9th ed. p. 154. London: The University of London Press.Kellaway, G.P. (1946). ''Map Projections'' p. 37–38. London: Methuen & Co. LTD. In addition, several scholars criticized the particularly large distortions present in the Gall–Peters projection, and remarked on the irony of its undistorted presentation of the mid latitudes, including Peters's native Germany, at the expense of the low latitudes, which host more of the technologically underdeveloped nations. The increasing publicity of Peter's claims in 1986 motivated the American Cartographic Association (now
Cartography and Geographic Information Society The Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) is a learned society in the fields of cartography and geographic information science. It includes the U.S. National Committee for the International Cartographic Association (ICA). It starte ...
) to produce a series of booklets (including ''Which Map Is Best'') designed to educate the public about map projections and distortion in maps. In 1989 and 1990, after some internal debate, seven North American geographic organizations adopted a resolution rejecting all rectangular world maps, a category that includes both the Mercator and the Gall–Peters projections,''American Cartographer''. 1989. 16(3): 222–223. though the North American Cartographic Information Society notably declined to endorse it. The two camps never made any real attempts toward reconciliation. The Peters camp largely ignored the protests of the cartographers, and did not acknowledge Gall's prior work until the controversy had largely run its course, late in Peters's life. While he likely devised the projection independently, his unscholarly conduct and refusal to engage the cartographic community undoubtedly contributed to the polarization and impasse. In the ensuing decades, J. Brian Harley credited the Peters phenomenon with demonstrating the social implications of map projections, while Jeremy Crampton considers all maps to be political, and sees the condemnation from the cartographic community as reactionary and perhaps demonstrative of immaturity in the profession.


See also

* List of map projections *
Gall stereographic projection The Gall stereographic projection, presented by James Gall in 1855, is a cylindrical projection In cartography, map projection is the term used to describe a broad set of transformations employed to represent the two-dimensional curved surfac ...
: another of Gall's projections.


References

Notes Further reading * Snyder, John P. (1987), ''Map Projections—A Working Manual: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395'', Washington: Government Printing Office. https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1395.


External links


The Size of the Matter
An article in ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' on why the Gall–Peters projection should be more widely used.
Peters Projection vs. Mercator Projection
A critique of the importance of the Gall–Peters projection. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gall-Peters projection Map projections Equal-area projections