Can You Make an Accurate Map?

Earth is not flat. So, representing it on a flat surface can be challenging and always requires compromises.

Hosted by: Hank Green
----------
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters—we couldn't make SciShow without them! Shout out to Kevin Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, KatieMarie Magnone, Patrick Merrithew, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Benny, Kyle Anderson, Tim Curwick, Scott Satovsky Jr, Philippe von Bergen, Bella Nash, Bryce Daifuku, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Charles George, Bader AlGhamdi
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
----------
Sources:

Images:

[ailsacarlaw]

who needs maps when you have a dad claiming to have a great sense of direction

[moritzl]

I actually saw this sentence once: "The flat earth society has members around the globe"
Notice the irony?

[emraldmars]

I would be very interested in the Flat Earthers response if SpaceX offered to take them into orbit.

[bruinflight]

I CHALLENGE SCISHOW TO MAKE A CONVINCING ARGUMENT VIDEO THAT THE EARTH IS FLAT FOR APRIL FOOLS DAY.

[rm]

The waterman butterfly is clearly the superior one.

[squareoaks]

Fun fact: The Mercator projection doesn't give the shortest distance from A to B, but gives the compass heading you should maintain to get from A to B. Taking the shortest route is typically more complicated as the compass heading changes on the journey.

Self Promo: For anyone interested, I did a video recently on how the flat earth map can actually be used to disprove the flat earth theory.

[KOrbiid]

This must be infuriating for Flat earthers.

[alexgaming]

The ”AuthaGraph” projection is a map projection that was created in 1999 by Japanese architect ”Hajime Narukawa” and is consirered ”the most realistic map projection” sure, it’s impossible to make it 100% accurate, but the diffrent types of projections you can make is almost endless. It is very realistic in many aspects and was made by dividing the Earth’s surface into 96 triangles, it can even be folded into a 3 dimensional globe! It generally preserves the area and shape of continents, as well as avoiding cutting them in half

[isilzhamir]

I'm a fan of the Dymaxian projection. I like seeing how the land mass sizes compare to each other.

[pvtpaink]

My wife and I were talking about how the person in the front passenger seat is effectively the Co-Pilot, and bears such responsibilities. We were talking about MapQuest at one point. :x

[maxximumb]

If I were ever to meet a flat earther, I'd ask them to take me to the edge. If we ever got there, I'd push them off the edge. Mainly because they'd have spent the entire trip telling my how NASA faked the moon landing.

[JanEikeK]

This was so incredibly satisfying... I wonder if you could use a dymaxion map - if correctly arranged and maybe with a higher triangle resolution for navigation... so worth a try...

[DoctorNikkiP]

What do maps and fish have in common?

They both have scales

[merlinHPtwilight]

I am always fascinated by maps and how they influence how we see the world. Great topic scishow!!

[Falstov]

I create software that uses many GIS concepts with LiDAR. I had to teach myself about projections while on the job (software engineer). It's a very difficult field, and I have a huge deal of respect for the mathematicians, cartographers, and GIS individuals who make it all work. I've recently discovered the flat earther fad and took a look. I never comment on the videos because it most likely won't matter - I think it's funny that this video hinted at how ridiculous they are though. This is what I wanted to comment on their videos saying: If the earth was flat, how would the math I had to implement to convert coordinate system A to coordinate system B work to begin with (it's accurate down to a millimeter)? The math is indisputable. I appreciate SciShow covering this topic!

[bigbodybertha]

This is actually one of my favorite videos.

[SlimThrull]

Earth is flat. Ask a photon. You'll see.






(Not trolling, its a physics joke.)

[michaelborop]

The Mercator projection does not preserve large shapes (Greenland is an obvious example), it preserves small shapes, rhumb lines, and linear scale around any point.

[ace]

I have never actually seen a so called 'flat earther' in all my life, other than people parodying them. At this point I'm 60% convinced it is all a conspiracy in order to make me believe that humans are dumber than they are. And I'm going to keep believing that, because the alternative is too depressing.

[Altrantis]

As a geographer, people's lack of understanding of maps and the spread of misinformation about things like the Mercator map and strange conspiracy theories regarding it, I'm glad this video was made. Thank you.