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Mapping the Earth

Globes

The best map of the Earth is a globe. Globes do not distort the geometry of the earth (except of course its size!). Since globes are hard to carry around and you can't see the entire surface of the Earth all at once, map makers produce flat maps of the Earth. This is not an easy thing to do since the Earth is curved and it is impossible to peel off the outer layers of the globe in one piece and lay in flat. 

Flat Maps of the Earth 

One way to get a flat map of the curved Earth is to cut the outer layer of the globe from top to bottom in equal sections. These are long sections that are pointed on both ends. (See figure below.)

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The sections are then peeled of in one piece and laid flat (see figure). Think of removing the skin of an orange: in your sections are small enough they will lay fairly flat.

While this type of flat map is the most accurate, it is not the most pleasing to look at. Most commonly used flat maps are rectangular in shape. While these are easier to look at, they are less accurate because they distort the earth by changing the size and shape of lands and waters, and by making the distance between two points either larger or smaller than they actually are. 

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