Misplaced Pages

And to me it looks all wrong not to add the apostrophe "s". All of the journals I have written or reviewed papers for require the added "s". The Misplaced Pages style guide mostly wants consistency throughout the article. I will note, however, the style guide's comment: "Most respected sources require that practically all singular nouns, including those ending with a sibilant sound, have possessive forms with an extra s after the apostrophe. Examples include the Modern Language Association, The Elements of Style, and The Economist. Such sources would demand possessive singulars like these: Senator Jones's umbrella; Mephistopheles's cat." A very few exceptions are generally agreed upon, and Peters is not one of them. Strebe (talk) 23:19, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I will also note there is no audible way to distinguish between Peter's (the name is Peter, and he's got something) and Peters' (the name is Peters and he's got something) if you do not pronounce the second as Petersez. The English possessive comes from the archaic usage "noun + his", as in, We ogled Peters his map a long while. Contracted, that is pronounced Petersez, not Peters. Hence there is no historical justification for eliminated the added "s", either spoken or written. Strebe (talk) 23:25, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

That's not historically correct -- see English possessive#History... AnonMoos (talk) 15:39, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Interesting. Apparently I've read too much Elizabethan literature. The usage was in fashion then. Strebe (talk) 19:23, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

The Real Deal

From Bob Abramms, Peters Map publisher for North America: "I interviewed Dr. Arno Peters on videotape for over 25 hours during October of 2001. I can clarify some of the misconceptions that abound in the above exchanges. (1) Peters did acknowledge the existence of the Gall projection, but he only discovered it some time after the cartographic community took him to task for allegedly plagiarizing Gall's work. Gall's work was mathematical in nature as are nearly all map projections. (2) Peters initial work to create his projection was a cumbersome, laborious hand-drawing of the world, taking each quadrant of the graticule and stretching and squeezing the landmasses to fit a rectilinear map. (3) Only after his projection generated intense controversy with his exaggerated claims, did he turn the cartographic duties over to Terry Hardaker at Oxford Cartographers in Oxford UK. (4) Oxford Cartographers then took Peters “construction” and transformed it into a map based upon mathematical formulae. I argued with Arno Peters at length attempting to get to him modify some of the exaggerated claims printed on the right side of his wall map. It was to no avail. When I discussed this with Terry Hardaker at Oxford Cartographers, even Hardaker admitted he didn’t fully understand or agree with Peters claims. But Peters was a bit stubborn, and he refused to modify the map surround text to accommodate either Hardaker or myself. I recognized from a very early point that Peters’ overblown assertions were hurting the credibility of the map. Only after Arno Peters death was I able to revise the map text to make it more accurate. I believe it currently is cartographically accurate and entirely defensible. My documentary film, based on the Peters interviews in Bremen Germany, is now complete (Arno Peters: Radical Map, Remarkable Man). Bob Abramms www.ODTmaps.com 413-549-1293

˜˜˜˜Denis Wood

Denis, now that ODT's DVD is published I added a citation. But I don't see that the DVD narrative contradicts the Misplaced Pages text as it stands or demonstrates any "misconceptions" or even adds anything relevant. Of course you or Bob Abramms or anyone else is free to edit as you see fit. Strebe (talk) 05:53, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

It seems Peters rediscovered the cyclindrical equal area map and the notion of standard parallels. The standard parallels make it eurocentric (ironically) but they also make it a viable map. The standard cylindrical equal area turns Europe into a roadkill. I don't see why anyone should try to insist that cylindrical maps should not be used for the world. Sure it has bad distortion but that is unformly oriented- unlike Mollweide-type that bend continents in a funny way-usually Australia suffers worst.

POV issues in Controversy section

The 'controversy' section of this article, as discussed above, has some POV issues. It does not read like a neutral assessment of the debate, but rather a criticism of the Gall-Peters projection from someone opposed to it. I've edited it in an attempt to remove the non-neutral language; explanations of my removals are below:

• 'Crusaders' > 'Campaigns' - while perhaps accurate in this case, I don't think it's neutral to describe a political campaign as a 'crusade'.
• Removed '... for the simple fact that it lacked any remarkable properties. Peters's co-option of it did nothing to change that.' The fact that we discuss this map in such detail here suggests that it does have 'remarkable properties'; at least, some people thought it did, which is why there was such an effort to promote it in the 1970s. The amount of attention the projection has received makes it remarkable, if nothing else does. (Also, 'co-option' implies Peters 'borrowed' an existing projection rather than coming up with it himself.)
• 'eerily similar' > 'similar' - arguably an insertion of POV.
• 'any other of the long line of (perhaps) well-intentioned, zealous, but poorly informed predecessors' > 'any of his predecessors' - the inserted 'perhaps' here is a weak attempt to make this description more neutral. Not everyone who has proposed a new map projection in the past was 'zealous' and 'poorly informed' and it is POV to argue otherwise.
• Removed entirely: 'Indeed, most ironically, the only region lacking distortion happens to be along a latitude just south of Arno Peters's native Germany (and the opposite latitude in the southern hemisphere), not anywhere in the technologically underdeveloped world.' 'Ironically' is one of the words editors are specifically advised to avoid in Misplaced Pages articles, because its application is almost always disputed. This particular observation adds nothing to the article, and reads like an attempt to mock Peters and his political agenda.

The rest is basically acceptable, and I'll leave it for now. If you disagree with any of these edits, please discuss them below rather than just reverting. Terraxos (talk) 05:19, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I disagree that the rest is basically acceptable. It still reads like an attack against Gall-Peters rather than a description of the controversy itself. I don't really contribute to Misplaced Pages at all and yet, reading this I felt compelled to make a comment here. It's pretty bad. 60.242.32.137 (talk) 07:44, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, it's objective that Peters didn't bother to consult with any professional geographers and cartographers before launching his publicity blitz -- and therefore reinvented an 1855 map projection without understanding that that's what he was doing, and held a completely untrue and blatantly factually false misimpression that professional geographers and cartographers supposedly loved Mercator. And it's fairly objective that Peters gave forth with a lot of grandiose bombastic pompous rhetoric about how his projection was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but very few of these claims (other than the projection being equal area) held up and/or were relevant to choosing which map projection to use. Peters seems to have had very good intentions in some respects, but his belief that no-one before him had ever thought as deeply as he did about the social implications of map projections, and his unwillingness to listen to people who knew a lot more than he did about certain technical issues, meant that he stirred up a lot of antagonism which hindered his stated goals. AnonMoos (talk) 16:14, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

If presenting the facts as documented by the sources amounts to an attack, then there is no way to fix the article. We can deal with any specific problems someone wants to moot. Strebe (talk) 21:09, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

the entire class of equal-area cylindric projections

I see that Gall–Peters_projection#Discussion lists a bunch of slightly different equal-area cylindric maps.

My understanding is that this entire class of maps -- the entire class of equal-area cylindric projections -- has been named Lambert cylindrical equal-area projections. Each map in that class has a width/height ratio of ${\displaystyle \pi cos^{2}\phi _{0}}$ where ${\displaystyle \phi _{0}}$ is the particular standard of latitude picked for this map.

In particular, the Gall-Peters projection is a special case of the Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection with a standard latitude of 45°.

Is there a more specific name for the special case of the Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection with a standard latitude of 0°?

Is there any reason not to move most of the general discussion of this class of maps out of this Gall–Peters projection article and into the Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection article? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 07:59, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

The map projections literature nomenclature generally assigns "Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection" only to the case where the standard parallel is the equator. The more general name is "cylindrical equal-area". The redirect from "Cylindrical equal-area projection" to "Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection" is not good and needs to get fixed.

This article discusses how the projection is constructed and its relationship with other projections so that the reader can reach "his" own conclusions on how significant a development the projection is and can grasp the arguments in play in the controversy. There is no reason the information could or should not be repeated in the article on the cylindric equal-area projection, but I do not think the fact that it appears there argues that it should not appear here as well. Strebe (talk) 19:39, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree that cylindrical equal-area projection should link to an article that discusses the general mathematics that apply to all cylindrical equal-area projections to that article.

The current version of the Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection article leads me to think that "Lambert cylindrical equal-area" is a synonym for the entire class of "cylindrical equal-area projection". Can we improve that article so that people like me understand that Lambert is the specific "standard parallel is the equator" case?

I'm a bit confused -- you mention "the article on the cylindric equal-area projection", but as far as I can tell that article does not yet exist.

Are you referring to the "cylindrical" section of map_projections#Cylindrical or list_of_map_projections#Cylindrical?

Or are you suggesting that Misplaced Pages ought to have an entire article that covers all the cylindrical equal-area projections?

That other article would be analogous to Weisstein's Cylindrical Equal-Area Projection article.

Should we create that article by WP:SPLIT this Gall–Peters projection article into two articles -- an article that covers the general mathematics that apply to all cylindrical equal-area projections, and this Gall–Peters projection article that covers Mr. Peters and the history of his specific map, repeating some of the information from that other article? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 19:27, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

"Cylindric equal-area projection" = "Cylindrical equal-area projection", which presently redirects to Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection. "Cylindrical equal-area projection" and "Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection" articles ought to get split into two. The former should contain information common to all cylindric equal-area projections, including listing the specializations. Lambert is a specialization. It needs only information specific to the specialization.

I do not favor removing the Gall-Peters projection#Description section from Gall-Peters. The information in its Discussion section should be repeated in the cylindric equal-area projection article, but the latter ought to provide much more information about the entire family of projections. Strebe (talk) 01:18, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

 Done. As you suggested, I built up the cylindrical equal-area projection article (formerly a mere redirect) by copy-and-paste from a few Misplaced Pages articles (see article history for details).

I thought it would be easier to copy big chunks from those articles and then edit it down, rather than build it up a line at a time.

Like all Misplaced Pages articles, I hope later editors will continue to edit and improve it. --DavidCary (talk) 19:38, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Map artwork

I agree a new illustration is needed. The processed satellite imagery used in many of the map projection illustrations throughout Misplaced Pages are not suitable because the dark color of the terrain obscures anything else that might be needed on the map. Hopefully we can move to something similar to what is on the Transverse Mercator page, for example, although a good deal of discussion should precede any such move. The image User:Tjic has twice inserted is unusable, however.

• The text is an illegible mess strewn about the map.
• The stated rationale for using it, “changed from a photo image to an actual map, for consistency with other pages about projections”, is wrong because no other map projection page uses maps with illegible text.
• The stated rationale is wrong because most projection pages do, in fact, use processed satellite imagery: c.f.
  • Aitoff projection
  • Azimuthal equidistant projection
  • Bonne projection
  • Craig retroazimuthal projection
  • Cylindrical equal-area projection (which is the generalized Gall-Peters).
  • Dymaxion map
  • Equirectangular projection
  • Goode homolosine projection
  • Hammer projection
  • Kavrayskiy VII projection
  • Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection
  • Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection
  • Mercator projection
  • Miller cylindrical projection
  • Mollweide projection
  • Peirce quincuncial projection
  • Polyconic projection
  • Robinson projection
  • Sinusoidal projection
  • Two-point equidistant projection
  • Van der Grinten projection
  • Wagner VI projection
  • Werner projection
  • Winkel tripel projection

I only found two projection pages that use political boundaries.

• Albers projection
• Behrmann projection

Neither of them had illegible text, or any text at all. There is good reason to put both a physiographic map and political map on a page, but not one with illegible elements. Illegible elements are confusing, visually disruptive, not informative, not cartographic, not æsthetic, not professional, and not precedented. Strebe (talk) 19:34, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Replace low-contrast images

I will be replacing images on the various map projection pages. Presently many are on a satellite composite image from NASA that, while realistic, poorly demonstrates the projections because of dark color and low contrast. I have created a stylization of the same data with much brighter water areas and a light graticule to contrast. See the thumbnail of the example from another article. Some images on some pages are acceptable but differ stylistically from most articles; I will replace these also.

The images will be high resolution and antialiased, with 15° graticules for world projections, red, translucent equator, red tropics, and blue polar circles.

Please discuss agreement or objections over here (not this page). I intend to start these replacements on 13 August. Thank you. Strebe (talk) 22:39, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Circles -vs- Spheres

"Maps based on the projection continue to see use in some circles." -- shouldn't that be "in some spheres"? Xardox (talk) 01:48, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Cute… but confusing. :-p Strebe (talk) 20:54, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

West Wing details

(Moved from User:Strebe's talk page.) I would argue that a 180-degree rotation is quite a relevant difference. Furthermore, the article opens the door to explaining the reasoning behind the use of that specific map by stating that "prominence to countries in less technologically developed parts of the world that are otherwise underestimated". Finally, while I understand that you strive for editorial cohesion, the strength of Misplaced Pages lies in the non-linear connections made between various articles, rather than being just a straight forward encyclopedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.217.20.146 (talk) 20:56, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

I have reverted your edit again. No scholarly articles bother to mention the West Wing appearance; the entire West Wing paragraph is already unsourced trivia constituting WP:OR and lacking WP:NOTABLE credentials. It’s also too detailed already even allowing for a little trivia. The fact that the map is south-up is not important to the article in any sense: regardless of any spherical coordinate rotation, the map projection is the same. I don’t follow your other justifications. Meanwhile “affective associations between vertical position and valence of traditional maps” sounds like buzzword babble and an over-the-top attempt at intellectualism, which fails in this article since it is unexplained and means nothing to anyone who hasn’t read Meiers et al, who made it up. Claims like this have to be sourced—but but in some other article where they are relevant. Strebe (talk) 07:58, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

If the map's South-at-top nature is as important as its Gall-Peters nature in trying to shake up things that are commonly taken for granted, then I don't see any harm in mentioning it (though not discussing it at any length)... AnonMoos (talk) 18:45, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Again, mentioning the West Wing appearance at all is dubious, as is the whole “In popular culture” section, since nothing in it is sourced. I have restored mention of south-up, but I reiterate its irrelevance. The article is about the Gall–Peters projection, not about shaking up things that are taken for granted. Strebe (talk) 19:02, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Irony

The word "irony" should almost always be avoided because it is so often misused, as it is in this article. In the 'Controversy' section it states that "Several scholars have remarked on the irony of the projection's 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". That is not ironic so the word "irony" should be removed.

Ciao for now! FillsHerTease (talk) 08:52, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

It’s not helpful to proclaim something is wrong without explaining why. On the face of it, that is a correct use of “irony”. New Oxford American Dictionary: “A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects.” Strebe (talk) 11:02, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi. Sorry for the delayed response AND for not explaining why it isn't irony. In the first place you have pretty much covered it yourself with your definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary. There is nothing "deliberately contrary to what one expects" in a distorted two dimensional map projection. All two dimensional map projections are distorted in one way or another. The reason it is being referred to as ironic is that this particular projection makes Peters' native country appear larger than others. That simply isn't ironic, it's just a coincidence. The best example of irony I have ever heard is that when there was an assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan, none of the bullets which were fired hit him directly. However the car he was about to get into was bullet-proof and as a result one of the bullets ricocheted - which wouldn't have happened if the car WASN'T bullet-proof - and hit him. That is ironic! In that song 'Ironic' by Alanis Morissette, none of the examples she sings about are actual examples of irony. The fact that a song entitled 'Ironic' attempts to give examples of irony but fails to do so does in fact make the song ironic after all. Now THAT'S ironic! One of the examples she gives is an old man who wins the lottery but dies the next day. That is not ironic, it is just a terrible coincidence. Much the same way as the map projection distorting Peters' home country is a coincidence, not irony. If an old man played the same lottery numbers every week for 50 years, then finally gave up because he decided he was never going to win, then his numbers came up the next time around, then THAT would be ironic. Does that all make sense?FillsHerTease (talk) 02:32, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

The reason it is being referred to as ironic is that this particular projection makes Peters' native country appear larger than others. No, it’s an equal-area map, so everything is precisely the correct size, and there isn’t any particular illusion in play to make it seem larger. Unlike most of the world, Germany is correctly shaped. Given that Peters’s intent was to eliminate the “favoritism” he saw in the the Mercator representation of Europe and North America, the fact that his map represents those areas more favorably than the regions he purported to “empower” illustrates the very definition of irony. I don’t care to speculate on whether the effect of Peters’s choice is coincidence or deliberate, and if deliberate, why he did it. Those considerations are irrelevant to irony, the definition of which I will not debate any further beyond suggesting that the constraints you put on the definition are not generally accepted. The complete definition (#3) from Oxford English Dictionary says, “A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what was or might be expected; an outcome cruelly, humorously, or strangely at odds with assumptions or expectations.” Strebe (talk) 06:48, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

There are many definitions of irony available, including one on Misplaced Pages itself, which clearly show that the definition used in the article is incorrect. What you would call ironic, but which isn't, is the fact that the very definition you provide yourself flies in the face of your own statement. The word 'deliberate' appears in the definition and yet you completely ignore it, immediately after stating that you "...don’t care to speculate on whether the effect of Peters’s choice is coincidence or deliberate, and if deliberate, why he did it. Those considerations are irrelevant to irony...". I obviously have no hope against that level of determination so I give up! :-) FillsHerTease (talk) 11:34, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

No, sorry; the article on Irony defines the word in the lede, and that definition matches the usage in this article. But that’s irrelevant. You could simply have registered your dissent by saying you disagree with the word “irony” encompassing situational irony, and I would have said English has long since expanded beyond the word’s etymology, and the conversation would have been over unless you had tendered some better proposal—but of course you cannot, which is why the meaning of the word “irony” has expanded over the centuries. In particular it is disingenuous to keep calling “incorrect” that which is accept by modern usage, by any modern dictionary, and by the blessings of many modern scholars. Strebe (talk) 20:25, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

Well ... as I said I obviously have no hope arguing against a level of determination which keeps referring to definitions which prove me right but then claims the opposite. Once again, you would call that 'irony' but it isn't. The lede in the 'irony' article very obviously shows that the usage in this article is wrong. Exactly the same as the one from the Oxford English Dictionary that you provided. There is no definition of irony which fits the article and there are no modern scholars who would agree that it does so, no, I'm not being disingenuous at all. What is happening here is that you are defining irony to mean coincidence, just as many people do (e.g. Alanis Morissette, as described above). The fact that many people don't understand the correct usage does not mean the definition has changed and the incorrect usage does not have the blessing of any modern scholars. There is no modern dictionary definition which defines irony as coincidence, which is all that is being referred to in the article. I do not disagree with the word "irony" encompassing "situational irony", I disagree with using the word "irony" incorrectly, as it is in this article. I thought that my position was clear? My proposal was, from the very beginning, and still is, that the word 'irony' should be removed because it is used incorrectly. However I understand the futility of arguing with someone who wants to be right so badly that they provide definitions which clearly show them to be wrong but insist on the opposite. It's just not that important so I resign, congratulate you on your victory, and bid you good day sir! :-) FillsHerTease (talk) 19:03, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Naturally you ignored the dictionary definition’s continuation an outcome cruelly, humorously, or strangely at odds with assumptions or expectations because it does not suit your wish for the definition not to exist. Situational irony does not include “deliberate”; that is why it is situational. From Irony#Situational_irony: Situational irony, ... is most broadly defined as a situation where the outcome is incongruous with what was expected, but it is also more generally understood as a situation that includes contradictions or sharp contrasts. That’s precisely how the term is used in this article. Your continued insistence that I define irony to mean coincidence is inexplicable. Firstly, whether or not this particular situation is a coincidence is unknown, and secondly, it does not matter if the situation is the result of coincidence in order for it to constitute irony. From that section of the article on irony, Hinckley’s bullet striking Reagan as a consequence of the automobile being bullet-proof was a coincidence, but the outcome was ironic. In Gift of the Magi, the fact that both husband and wife sold their most precious possessions at the same time is a coincidence, but the outcome is ironic. Hinckley did not deliberately fire at the vehicle in order to strike Reagan. Neither the husband nor the wife in Gift of the Magi intended to derail each other’s gift-giving. Not just any coincidence is ironic, so no, I nor anyone else defines coincidence to mean irony. I really do not understand what you are not getting here, but at least we agree this conversation has lost any value. Strebe (talk) 23:54, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

FillsHerTease -- I would not personally insist on the word "irony", but whichever word one chooses to use, there's a glaring discrepancy between Peters' sweeping grandiose rhetorical claims that "his" projection was more South-friendly than Mercator in every single way, and the reality that in one very prominent respect the Gall–Peters projection favors mid-latitudes (including much of Europe and most of North America) over tropical/equatorial regions (including most of Africa). Some (including myself) would be inclined to use even less flattering terminology. By the way, just yesterday I saw in a used bookstore a sociology textbook published in 2007 which had a world map using the projection (and it was just as ugly as it always is...) AnonMoos (talk) 11:38, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Could be a polite way of saying "hypocrisy", considering Peters' sweeping grandiose claims that his projection was the greatest thing since sliced bread in every way, and especially in being South-friendly... AnonMoos (talk) 18:16, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

It could simply be an innocent failure to notice the effect of his choices. Since irony is in the eye of the beholder, it’s not only polite, it doesn’t come with the risk of being wrong. ;-) Strebe (talk) 22:51, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

The "In popular culture" section seems worthless to me

Neither seem interesting or notable to me, I think it adds little apart from clutter.Halfhat (talk) 22:34, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

There is a reference to this map projection type in the XKCD comic http://xkcd.com/977/ 104.12.204.201 (talk) 02:52, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Saw that, but not sure that it's relevant to anything but Munroe's personal opinions... AnonMoos (talk) 18:36, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Has it been referenced by any notable 3rd parties? HalfHat 02:11, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

The West Wing mention crops up frequently in diverse quarters. Really, I’d just rather get rid of the whole section. It’s a magnet for trivia. Strebe (talk) 06:06, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

File:Gall–Peters projection SW.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Gall–Peters projection SW.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on December 15, 2015. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2015-12-15. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 23:48, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

As usual, all good, Chris Woodrich. Thanks! Strebe (talk) 05:36, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

New subsection for adoption by UNESCO, Boston Public Schools?

The page and the projection have been the subject of renewed interest in the wake of the recent adoption of the projection by the Boston Public Schools (BPS; an article in The Guardian published on March 19th about the switch had over 2,000 comments and 75K shares on Facebook, as of April 17). This development, and the claim that the projection has been adopted by UNESCO, are both featured in the current summary paragraph, but there is no further discussion of either pieces of info, i.e. in the body of the article. These details seem rather more relevant to the core topic than the pop culture mentions, such as they are. Okay to create a sub-section on adoption by UNESCO and BPS? Chicagoshim (talk) 23:02, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Chicagoshim. I don't know of much to say about the UNESCO usage—at least, nothing I could cite. UNESCO publishes maps using the projection. Do you have references to reliable material that elaborates on it somehow, and in a way that aids understanding? As for Boston Public Schools, it made news recently, but Boston is a single school district among tens or hundreds of thousands in the world. The projection is used much more widely in UK school districts, and scattered others around the world. Is the article obliged to mention each one? If so, why? If not, why not, or why is Boston special?

Please remove the sentence about the “Peters World Map”. The map is not the same as the projection. Also, you need to cite “most notably” as applied to the West Wing episode, or else remove it. Some people would claim XKCD is “most notable”; some would claim Oxfam’s usage is most notable, et cetera. I don’t know of any research that justifies calling this or that “most notable”. Strebe (talk) 00:33, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Wildly contradictory claims

The very start of the article reads: "The Gall–Peters projection is a rectangular map projection that maps all areas such that they have the correct sizes relative to each other." Then, the "Controversy" section pretty much completely dismantles this claim. Which is it? Bataaf van Oranje (Prinsgezinde) (talk) 23:25, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

@Prinsgezinde:You haven’t established any contradiction. Please juxtapose the statements you believe to contradict each other. Strebe (talk) 17:35, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Really? That would be easier if it was just one.

"Peters's chosen projection suffers extreme distortion in the polar regions, as any cylindrical projection must, and its distortion along the equator is considerable."

"Several scholars have remarked on the irony of the projection's 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 claim of distance fidelity is particularly problematic: Peters's map lacks distance fidelity everywhere except along the 45th parallels north and south, and then only in the direction of those parallels."

"No world projection is good at preserving distances everywhere; Peters's and all other cylindric projections are especially bad in that regard because east-west distances inevitably balloon toward the poles."

"Such maps promote serious, erroneous conceptions by severely distorting large sections of the world, by showing the round Earth as having straight edges and sharp corners, by representing most distances and direct routes incorrectly, and by portraying the circular coordinate system as a squared grid."

"The geographic and cartographic communities did not unanimously disparage the Peters World Map."

If anything, claim it tries to have the correct size relative to each other. Bataaf van Oranje (Prinsgezinde) (talk) 23:32, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Really? That would be easier if anything in your list said anything about size disproportion. None do. Peters is an equal-area projection. There is no debate about that. It distorts distances; any projection does that. It distorts angles; any non-conformal projection does that. It has straight edges and sharp corners. It portrays the circular coordinate system as a square grid. You appear not to understand that projections have many kinds of distortions, despite that nothing in your list claims Peters distorts sizes. Strebe (talk) 01:51, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

1. Cite error: The named reference Snyder2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. Joanna Walters (March 19, 2017). "Boston public schools map switch aims to amend 500 years of distortion". The Guardian. Retrieved March 19, 2017.