Equal Earth Projection
Equal Earth is a modern attempt to satisfy two expectations: true areas and a map that still looks friendly. It is equal-area, but does not feel as aggressively stretched as Gall-Peters.
An equal-area map designed for modern education
Equal Earth was introduced in 2018 as an answer to the long debate about showing the world more fairly. Its authors wanted to preserve area while avoiding the appearance that makes Gall-Peters hard for many people to accept. The result is soft, rounded, and very useful for education.
The main advantage appears with Africa, South America, and South Asia. Continents regain true visual weight while their shapes do not look as alien as in many older equal-area projections. It is a strong compromise for schools, media, and data maps.
Global Cartographic Grid
Distortion Properties
| Property | Characteristic |
|---|---|
| Area | โ
PreservedPreserved (equal-area) |
| Shape | โ๏ธCompromiseDistorted compromise (much lower distortion compared to Gall-Peters) |
| Distances | โDistortedDistorted |
| Angles & Directions | โDistortedDistorted |
| Continuity | โ
PreservedPreserved |
History & Origin
Created in 2018 by a team of cartographers in response to criticism of the Gall-Peters projection. The objective was to design an equal-area projection that avoids the severe elongation of equatorial landmasses.
Applications
Scientific publications, school textbooks, and global thematic maps that need to represent datasets relative to actual land area.
How to read this map
This map says: fair area first, but without punishing the reader with ugly geometry.
- Country areas are a much better basis for comparison than in Mercator.
- Shapes are still a compromise, especially near the edges.
- Africa and South America regain visual scale.
- It works well for population, climate, and environmental maps.
What you gain and lose
Equal Earth preserves area while distributing shape distortion more gently than many older equal-area projections. It is still not suitable for navigation or exact distances.
Modern education, thematic maps, and global data visualization.
Navigation, detailed local maps, and direction measurement.
โฆ How do different countries look in this projection?
Analyze shape distortions of 5 countries in this cartographic projection and test them in the sandbox.
Brazil shows the more natural weight of South America.
Test on map โ
Congo reminds us how large equatorial countries are.
Test on map โ
India is a good test of shape gentleness.
Test on map โ
Russia loses the artificial dominance of the north.
Test on map โ
Australia remains readable while area is preserved.
Test on map โFacts worth remembering
- The projection was proposed in 2018 by Bojan ล avriฤ, Tom Patterson, and Bernhard Jenny.
- It belongs to a newer trend: maps should be both fair and visually attractive.
- Equal Earth is often recommended as a better educational alternative to Mercator.
Keep reading about maps that reshape intuition
Frequently Asked Questions
It is used for equal-area presentations in scientific papers and textbooks, replacing the visually unappealing Gall-Peters projection.
It must not be used for navigation or precise distance/bearing plotting.
Polar nations (Canada, Russia) and countries near the outer curves (like Australia), which undergo compression and slight tilt.
Countries situated near the central meridian and equator (such as Congo, Algeria, Poland, and Germany) which look highly natural.
Both are equal-area. However, Gall-Peters is cylindrical and stretches shapes vertically. Equal Earth is pseudocylindrical with curved sides, making continents look much more natural and similar to the Robinson projection.