The United Nations, Mercator and Equal Earth: A Follow-Up

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Matthew Edney’s response to last week’s UN resolution on phasing out the Mercator projection in favour of Equal Earth: “This event and the responses to it show that we are still being haunted by Arno Peters’ damnable arguments. They were cursed when Peters publicized them, about fifty years ago, and they seem doomed to torment us even now.” See also André Ourednik’s take (in French), which points out the biases and editorial choices even in Equal Earth.

The transcript of the General Assembly debate on the resolution shows that Ukraine abstained from the vote because the Equal Earth map shows Crimea as disputed territory (which is a point about the default map, not the projection), and the United States felt the resolution trivialized the institution (which the U.S. would never do) and dismissed it as part of a “radical ideological project.”

Update: Japan’s mad about how Equal Earth depicts the Kuril Islands. Can no one understand the difference between a projection and the default map using it?

The First Trilateration of the Globe

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

J. B. Crawford’s long essay on geodesy looks at the challenge of synchronizing the datums created by the various national surveys, giving the reader sufficient background technical information for understanding the culmination of those efforts: the North Atlantic Tie, by which the North American, British and European datums (NAD27, OSGB36 and ED50) were linked together, and the eventual creation of WGS60—just in time for satellite observations to take over. Worth a read.

Explaining MapQuest to Younger People

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Comedian Josh Johnson (you may know him from The Daily Show) explains what MapQuest is to younger people. (It was my running joke to say, “Remember MapQuest?” except that I’ve been doing this for 23 years and now people might simply say “no.”) Includes side quests to paper maps and TomTom, because we’ve had maps on our phones for a while now.

Forthcoming Tolkien Conference Explores Maps and Landscapes

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The third Tolkien Conference Switzerland, to be held in Lucerne on 13 March 2027, will have as its topic Maps and Landscapes in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Tolkien’s maps are never merely geographical. While they guide the traveller through the carefully drawn landscapes of Middle-earth, from mountains and forests to ancient kingdoms, they also chart moral and spiritual dimensions—from the corrupted wastes of Mordor to the timeless grace of Lothlórien. In Tolkien’s world, place is never neutral. 

In this conference, we will explore how Tolkien’s landscapes and cartographic imagination—from the vast plains of Rohan to the enclosed safety of the Shire—address deeper issues of belonging, loss and the meaning of home. How does the act of map-making reflect a longing for order, memory and possession? How should we interpret Tolkien’s geography in light of contemporary debates on ecology, mythology, and the human need to find safety in an unpredictable and perilous world?

Without reducing his world to mere allegory or escapism, the third Swiss Tolkien Conference will delve into the full imaginative depth of Tolkien’s spatial vision and examine what his Middle-earth landscapes might reveal about our own sense of belonging and the timeless question of what it means to lose it.

This conference couldn’t be more relevant to my interests, enough that I may have to work out whether I can manage to attend it myself. (One talk to be presented, Jost Schmid-Lanter’s “Fantasy Maps in the Context of Medieval and Early Modern Cartography,” even cites a couple of my articles. The other talks look just as compelling.)

Apple Maps Has Ads Now

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Belatedly noting that ads have started rolling out on Apple Maps in the U.S. and Canada. 9to5Mac explains where and where they’ll appear (in Suggested Places, and in search results). John Gruber and Oliver Roick have some initial thoughts.

Previously: Apple Exploring Advertising in Maps; Ads Coming to Apple Maps: Report; Ads Coming to Apple Maps This Summer (U.S. and Canada); Online Maps Roundup: July 2026.

A Severe Geomagnetic Storm’s Extensive Disruption of GPS

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

We’ve seen before that solar storms can have an impact on GPS accuracy. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters determined that a severe geomagnetic storm in November 2025 caused positioning errors in excess of 10 metres—enough to disrupt autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture—and in mid-latitude regions that are normally calm. [ScienceAlert]

South Park Renames Itself

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
A promotional image from Comedy Central announcing new episodes on September 16 for the TV South Park, except that Park has been replaced with America.
Comedy Central

South Park’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have announced that they are changing the show’s name. Variety: “Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of ‘South Park’ to ‘South America,’” the pair shared in a statement. “We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount—a Skydance Capitulation.”

‘They Are Americans’ Nonsense to Deal With’

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

John Gruber has a problem with Google and Apple showing “Lake Ontario (Lake America)” to users not in the U.S. and Canada: he compares it to China’s insistence on labelling Taiwan as a province of China, or enlarging the Daioyu Islands, which is not something either platform does outside of China. But he does not think that Google or Apple could have ignored Trump’s name changes inside the U.S.:

What a lot of people want is for Google and Apple to just ignore the U.S. government’s official new names. […] But I suspect, quite strongly, that the people who profess to be the most angry at Apple and Google for going along with this change are the same people who would argue most strongly that Goliath tech companies and mega-billionaires wield too much anti-democratic power and influence.

It’s not coherent to argue that Google and Apple should decide which names to put on their maps only when you want them to ignore the names from the official government database. Neither Google nor Apple are going to sell their maps apps, but it’s not outlandish to think that in some alternative universe, one or more of the leading maps app might be owned by, say, Elon Musk or Larry Ellison. Would the people who want Apple and Google to ignore the official names from the GNIS support the same stance if the two leading maps apps were owned by SpaceX and Oracle instead? Obviously they would not.

What we want is a system where geographic names are determined democratically, by voting. And that is the system we in fact have. Trump won. The Department of the Interior has the power to change these names. If you’re angry that their official names in the United States are now Lake America and Gulf of America, stay angry that Trump won the 2024 election. Stay angry that our president continues to debase his office and embarrass our nation. Directing your anger at Google and Apple for reflecting that change is shooting the messengers.

But this is why I find it embarrassing that both Google and Apple are foisting these absurd names on the rest of the world, even if only between parentheses. These names are nonsense, and they are Americans’ nonsense to deal with. […] Spreading the nonsense to the world only makes it more embarrassing.

Previously: Lake Ontario.

Williston Lake’s Floating Island

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Phantom islands—islands on the map that turn out never to have existed—have come up a few times here on The Map Room. But it’s wild to see one in real time—and in satellite imagery. Which is what happened this summer in on Williston Lake, a reservoir in northern British Columbia upstream of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam, where rising water levels broke free a mass of trees growing on driftwood roughly 70 by 140 metres in area. The island’s existence was confirmed by satellite imagery—and then it vanished. It was spotted again in imagery a month later, about 30 km northwest of its last location.

The UN Is Voting on Whether to Phase Out the Mercator Projection

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The Correct the Map campaign (previously) has come to the United Nations. The Guardian:

The UN general assembly will vote on Friday on a resolution for the world to formally phase out the traditional Mercator map of the globe in favour of one that more accurately displays Africa’s size.

Robert Dussey, Togo’s foreign affairs minister, said the resolution was sponsored by Togo and backed by countries including the African Union’s 54 other member states. He did not specify the total number. […]

UN resolutions are non-enforceable but if the vote passes, it could lead to an update of classroom curriculums and everyday technology, given the wide usage of the Mercator projection in education, technology and governance.

I’m still confused about the so-called “wide usage” of the Mercator projection, given that I see so little of it myself—even Apple and Google zoom out to a globe if you have reasonably new hardware and in the latter case have globe view checked—that when I do see it (usually choropleth maps embedded on web pages) I’m kind of shocked. But I’m Western and English-speaking, I have up-to-date tech and I know where to find the good maps, and I haven’t been in a classroom in decades; I can’t rule out that Mercator is still turning up where I don’t see it.

Previously: In Case You Thought the War Against the Mercator Projection Was Over Long Ago.

Update: The resolution passed 164 to 1 with 6 absentions. The U.S. was the only country to vote against—I can’t imagine why.

You Probably Shouldn’t Use Google Maps for Hiking

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The Narwhal’s Michelle Cyca on the risks of relying on Google Maps and AI-generated recommendations when planning to hike trails that can be fairly gruelling and take far longer than expected. “Google Maps showed the hikers their trip would take 5 hours and 13 minutes. […] In fact, the hike can be an 8- to 14-hour trip and is often done as a two- or three-day backpacking adventure. The hikers were rescued successfully, but it’s not the first time this sort of incident has occurred.” Google’s estimates are based on urban walking (which in my own experience is two to three times faster than mountain hiking); they recommend using dedicated maps and trail apps (the article has some suggestions that are B.C.-specific), but as the article points out, it’s not like Google Maps won’t generate a hiking route or offer a disclaimer when doing so.

Canadian School Notebook Covers Omit Newfoundland and Cape Breton

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Usually when an island gets left off a map of Canada, it’s Prince Edward Island. Not this time. CBC News: “Hilroy Canada exercise books are known for the map of Canada on the cover. The design for a glossy version of the notebook also features the map but it’s missing some of Canada’s geographical features—namely Newfoundland and Cape Breton.” ACCO Brands, which owns Hilroy, blames a printing error: they’ve stopped distribution and are offering replacements.

Lake Ontario

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Here we go again.

Last week the U.S. president did to Lake Ontario what he did to the Gulf of Mexico a year and a half ago: rename it after America. This was part of an ongoing hissy fit against a country—my country—for walking away from trade talks due to demands from the U.S. side that were literally unacceptable.

It was meant to bait us, and in general Canadians have not taken it well (responses ranging from can you believe this doofus to it’s fucking go time). Doug Ford put up a big sign. Blue Rodeo fans screamed the lake’s name at a concert. Our prime minister, Mark Carney, refused to take the bait, issuing the following statement via social media channels:

The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”.

The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.

Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario—then, now and always.

That’s dry enough that my country’s entire vermouth supply spontaneously combusted. (And yes, we have a leader who can use the word “hydronym” in a social media post.)

Continue reading “Lake Ontario” →

What If They Don’t Want to Be Mapped?

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

This OSM diary entry raises an interesting question: “We generally work under the assumption that ‘the more mapped places, the better.’ But what if the locals don’t consent to being mapped? What if they prefer not to be mapped?” I think it depends. If it’s an argument that publicly accessible streets and addresses, or views visible from publicly accessible streets, shouldn’t be on the map, I’m not necessarily sympathetic. On the other hand, there’s a good argument that not everything that can be mapped—as in, can be identified from aerial imagery—should be available on a consumer-facing mapping application. Should, for example, driveways for private homes be mapped? What about a swimming pool or playhouse in the backyard? The more detail we add, the more uncomfortable we risk making people. If there’s a line between useful and creepy, we should be careful not to get too close to it, and certainly never cross it.