The centuries-old problem of mapping the world
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The Mercator projection is the map widely used across the globe but inaccurately depicts the sizes of countries and continents The UN has just called for the predominant world map to be replaced with one that more accurately reflects the true size of continents such as Africa.
墨卡托投影是全球广泛使用的地图，但不能准确地描绘国家和大陆的大小 联合国刚刚呼吁用一张更准确地反映非洲等大陆真实面积的世界地图来取代主要的世界地图。
The "Correct the Map" resolution adopted by the General Assembly aims to fix the discrepancy on the Mercator map, in which the African continent is shown as being of similar size to Greenland - even though it is in reality about 14 times larger.
大会通过的“修正地图”决议旨在解决墨卡托地图上的差异，该地图显示非洲大陆与格陵兰岛大小相似，尽管实际上它大约大14倍。
It adopted a new map, the Equal Earth projection, which better represents the true sizes of landmasses - but comes with problems of its own.
它采用了新的地图，即平等地球投影，它更好地代表了陆地的真实大小，但也有其自身的问题。
There have been many prominent attempts over the years to solve the problem of accurately representing the surface of a sphere on a flat rectangle, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.
多年来，为了解决在平面矩形上精确表示球体表面的问题，人们进行了许多著名的尝试，每种尝试都有其自身的优点和缺点。
The Mercator projection has been around since the 16th Century and was vital for navigating the oceans The now widely used Mercator map was created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
墨卡托投影自 16 世纪以来就已存在，对于航海至关重要 现在广泛使用的墨卡托地图是由佛兰芒制图师 Gerardus Mercator 于 1569 年创建的。
Its main purpose was to help European sailors navigate the oceans, as cartography Professor James Cheshire at University College London explained.
正如伦敦大学学院制图学教授詹姆斯·切希尔（James Cheshire）所解释的那样，其主要目的是帮助欧洲水手在海洋中航行。
"He wanted a straight line to be drawn on a map to look like a straight line in reality if you followed a compass bearing," he told the BBC.
他告诉英国广播公司：“他希望在地图上画一条直线，如果你遵循罗盘方位，看起来就像现实中的直线一样。”
"That was what it was intended to do, and that's what it does brilliantly well."
“这就是它的目的，而且它做得非常出色。”
To keep those angles correct on a flat map, Mercator had to stretch the grid lines wider as they moved away from the equator toward the poles. His map accommodates for the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem much smaller than they are, with countries nearer the poles appearing stretched.
为了在平面地图上保持这些角度正确，墨卡托必须在网格线从赤道向两极移动时将其拉得更宽。 他的地图适应了地球的曲率，使赤道附近的国家看起来比实际小得多，而靠近两极的国家则显得被拉伸。
The distortion is a result of it being impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart.
这种扭曲是由于无法在二维图表上准确表示地球表面而造成的。
More than 450 years on, Mercator's creation is still the basis for many of the maps we see in classrooms, on TV and online, including Google Maps.
450 多年过去了，墨卡托的创作仍然是我们在教室、电视和网上看到的许多地图（包括 Google 地图）的基础。
But critics of the Mercator map say there is a psychological effect to viewing some places as smaller than they actually are and others as larger, as we instinctively view bigger things as more important.
但墨卡托地图的批评者表示，将某些地方视为比实际小而将其他地方视为大会产生心理效应，因为我们本能地认为更大的事物更重要。
For Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo, this has implicitly downplayed Africa's vast resources, population and investment opportunities.
对于肯尼亚地理学家 Kioko Muendo 来说，这暗中淡化了非洲丰富的资源、人口和投资机会。
"Maps are more than just guides for travellers - they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically," he told the BBC.
他告诉英国广播公司：“地图不仅仅是旅行者的指南，它们还塑造了人们对地区政治和经济的看法。”
The Equal Earth map aims to represent landmasses' area more fairly The Equal Earth map aims to address this problem with the Mercator projection.
平等地球地图旨在更公平地代表陆地面积 平等地球地图旨在通过墨卡托投影解决这个问题。
It was developed by a team of cartographers in 2018 to present the size and shape of landmasses more accurately.
它由制图师团队于 2018 年开发，旨在更准确地呈现陆地的大小和形状。
It was inspired by the 1963 Robinson projection - a map that shows the entire globe's surface at once.
它的灵感来自 1963 年的罗宾逊投影 - 一张同时显示整个地球表面的地图。
The Equal Earth map was adopted by African Union members in February.
非洲联盟成员于二月份通过了平等地球地图。
But it sacrifices the straight lines that made the Mercator projection perfect for navigating with - and it cannot be used for measuring the true distance between different places. "You can preserve area, or you can preserve shape, or you can preserve distance and direction, but not everything at once perfectly, because otherwise you'd be back to a sphere," Cheshire said.
但它牺牲了使墨卡托投影完美用于导航的直线 - 并且它不能用于测量不同地点之间的真实距离。 “你可以保留面积，或者你可以保留形状，或者你可以保留距离和方向，但不能同时完美地保留所有内容，因为否则你会回到一个球体，”柴郡说。
The Peters map projection gives a fairer idea of land area but distorts shape The Peters world map was designed by German historian Arno Peters in the early 1970s.
彼得斯地图投影可以更公平地了解土地面积，但会扭曲形状 彼得斯世界地图是由德国历史学家阿诺·彼得斯于 20 世纪 70 年代初设计的。
The rectangular map is based on the projection first described by Scottish cartographer James Gall in 1855.
该矩形地图基于苏格兰制图师 James Gall 于 1855 年首次描述的投影。
The projection sacrifices accuracy of shape in favour of accuracy of scale.
该投影牺牲了形状的准确性以支持比例的准确性。
So, polar regions are squished, while the bits near the equator are stretched.
因此，极地地区被压扁，而赤道附近的地区则被拉伸。
This fixes the Greenland-Africa size issue, allowing those who use it to get a sense of the comparative size of different landmasses, all while preserving straight lines of longitude and latitude. However, the map severely distorts the shapes of Earth's landmasses, making them all look slightly off.
这解决了格陵兰岛-非洲的大小问题，使使用它的人能够了解不同陆地的相对大小，同时保留经度和纬度的直线。 然而，该地图严重扭曲了地球陆地的形状，使它们看起来都略有偏差。
Russia, for instance, looks much smaller. The straight lines on the Peters map do not represent true constant compass bearings and so are useless for navigation.
例如，俄罗斯看起来要小得多。 彼得斯地图上的直线并不代表真正的恒定罗盘方位，因此对导航毫无用处。
The UN flag is centred on the North Pole And there are, of course, other ways of mapping the globe.
联合国旗帜以北极为中心 当然，还有其他绘制地球地图的方法。
For instance, the "Azimuthal equidistant projection" places world regions at proportionally correct distances from a single, chosen centre point. The UN flag is a good example of this, with the world map centred on the North Pole.
例如，“方位角等距投影”将世界区域放置在距单个选定中心点的正确距离处。 联合国旗帜就是一个很好的例子，世界地图以北极为中心。
On this type of map, all points are at the correct "azimuth" (horizontal direction) from the centre point.
在这种类型的地图上，所有点都位于距中心点正确的“方位角”（水平方向）处。
And not to forget the south-up (or upside-down) map orientation that shows the world's southern regions on top.
不要忘记南上（或颠倒）的地图方向，将世界南部地区显示在顶部。
So, it is a 180-degree rotation of a traditional north-up map.
因此，它是传统北上地图的 180 度旋转。
UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size
联合国投票通过新世界地图以反映非洲的真实面积
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