somethingaboutmaps.wordpress.com
A Usefully Useless Projection
Friends, I’m excited to share that I have just completed a world physical map, in my new _asymmetric monstrosity_ projection.
_Daniel Huffman is not liable for any sanity damage you suffer in the course of experiencing this map_.
**DOWNLOAD JPG (17MB)**
**PURCHASE A PRINT**
It’s free to download, or if you want to buy a 30″ × 20″ print, you can also do that (and I will be pleasantly surprised). If you download it and print it yourself, I hope you’ll consider making a donation using the links you’ll find below. This project took a lot of time, and while I am giving it away, your support helps me continue doing things like this.
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Also, **spreading the word** about my work is a big help, so please share this around! Finally, **consider subscribing** , to make sure that you catch every post here.
This is only the second world wall map I’ve made (the first was for a private client), and it’s definitely the most interesting and/or possibly upsetting. Let’s talk about how it came about and all the terrible things that I did.
## Background
Back in 2022–23, I had fun making a series of quick maps that I posted to social media and called _Useless Projections_. Here’s a little slideshow of those:
* Useless Projection #1: The Double Apple. Based upon Strebe’s 1993 quasiazimuthal equal-area apple projection.
* Useless Projection #2: Equal Earth With Spikes
* Useless Projection #3: Why Not Both? The left half is a Lambert Conformal Conic, the right side is an Albers Equal Area Conic.
* Useless Projection #4: Greenland Oblique An oblique equirectangular, pinched in along each side in Photoshop, à la a pseudocylindric (though a bit of an imprecise approximation of the concept).
* Useless Projection #5: Layer Cake Six delicious projections stacked atop one another, so you don’t have to choose your favorite.
For a long time after, I wanted to make a detailed, proper world map using one of these, but health issues kept me from having the will to do so. But a few months ago, I was playing around with yet another Useless Projection when I finally decided that I had the energy and time to take it to the next level and turn it into something more than a quick post to Mastodon.
The Mastodon post where I made the first iteration of the projection.
My projection is a composite of several pieces. This is not unheard of in the world of non-useless projections. The _Goode homolosine_ , for example, is made from a _Mollweide_ (a.k.a. _homolographic_) projection glued to a _sinusoidal_. “Glued” is an apt metaphor, as creating my _asymmetric monstrosity_ involved separately projecting each piece and sticking them together in Illustrator and Photoshop.
Figure 1: Dissecting the beast
I went through multiple iterations of the design as I kept thinking up ways to make it even weirder. These ideas didn’t stop once I’d settled on the final design, and I had to resist the urge to start over several times. So, perhaps I’ll do another someday.
The process of fitting everything together properly was sometimes a bit finicky, and I’m sure there are some small inaccuracies, but overall I’m quite pleased with how well the pieces joined.
## Features
This is a physical map, rather than a political one or a combination. I did this both because of personal interest, and also because it’s less likely to become outdated anytime soon. Despite the bizarre projection, I also treated much of the design as seriously as I would a more traditional map. I did a relief in Eduard, and stylized it a bit in Photoshop to give it a pseudo-watercolor effect (which I plan to someday do a tutorial post or livestream about). I also applied a subtle tinting based on Copernicus land cover data, mostly a a visual texture (thus, the tints are not strongly separated). There are colors for ice cover, forest, desert, and grassland/shrubs. The gradations are most noticeable in Africa.
Though my basemap was “serious,” I also leaned into the general weirdness suggested by the projection. The graticule, for example, is subtly uneven. I started with a 15° grid, and then shifted each line by one or two degrees.
I also added a Tissot’s Indicatrix. Subtly striped circles show the angular distortions in the projection. But, they are placed somewhat randomly around the map. At the bottom of the map, I even instruct the reader to “find them all,” as they make up a sort of scavenger hunt.
Since the map has many interruptions, I decided to interrupt my labels, as well. Europe was particularly mistreated in this manner, with labels for the “Alp s,” “Sc andinavia,” and more. This is probably something I’ll never have a good reason to do ever again.
Finally, the type is set in Mrs. Eaves, by Zuzana Licko. Always give typeface credits — typographers work just has hard on their typefaces as we do on our maps.
## Why Did You Do This?
Great question! It’s both the result of personal exploration/fascination, and a desire to educate.
First off, it was fun and interesting for me to think about how projections can be glued together. This map is a Frankenstein’s Monster–like creation, but it doesn’t leave anything out, nor does it have mismatches at the joints. Landmasses fit together seamlessly at the boundaries of any given transition zone between projections, because with a little math and the right tools, you can make two projections (of the right variety) match each other at a given location.
The other goal is to educate, through entertainment. It looks funny, thus drawing attention; and in doing so I hope it will jar people into realizing how distorted _all_ projections are. This projection is **just as valid as any other** , in terms of how faithfully it represents the earth. It’s equal-area, showing everything in proper size proportion. It has interruptions, sure, but so do many others. It is a composite, yes, but so are other projections.
I think it’s in the same vein as those “south-up” world maps that you can buy, or ones centered on the Pacific. Many audiences would find them unfamiliar, but the maps use their uniqueness to make people realize that there’s really no _right_ way to portray the world, and that our conventions are frequently arbitrary.
In the end, I suppose I’m making a bit of an artistic statement about mapmaking, one that I hope will be of interest to some people. As I said above, I don’t really expect most folks to buy this, or even download and print it themselves. It’s something I made for me, for fun, and I’m satisfied to look at it. However, I can imagine that if I were still a cartography lecturer, I’d find this a useful classroom example.
And, it was good experience. It’s only my second world wall map, so I got to play around with exploring and labeling many places that I’ve hardly otherwise touched my cartographic career.
If you find all this projection stuff fascinating, I’ll give a quick plug for the _Projection Connections_ poster I made a few years ago, which shows how various map projections are connected to each other. Click the image to have a look at that post (which has a link to download a copy).
Meanwhile, if you find yourself printing the asymmetric monstrosity map, or showing it off for in a presentation (classroom or otherwise), I’d be interested to know!
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