The Peters projection, Also known as the Gall-Peters projection, it is a rectangular map of planet Earth whose proportions of territory are not altered by the spherical shape of planet Earth. It was created in the mid-19th century by James Gall and independently published to the masses in the 1970's by Arno Peters..
Its rectangular shape and the presence of parallel squares make the apparent map a little more disproportionate at the poles and at the equator, but the sizes of the land masses and the countries are correct and comparable with each other..
Although the map does not represent the globe correctly, it is used as a study medium in research that requires that all countries have a real size. In addition, the Peters projection is recognized as the iconic terrestrial cartography of the modern concept of equality, for correctly denoting the size of all countries.
The most commonly used map is known as the Mercator projection; Although it takes more care of the visual harmony of the map, it represents the countries near the Earth's poles larger than they really are.
Most schools and educational centers worldwide work with this model and in many cases it is the only mapped version of the planet that the general public is usually aware of..
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In 1855, the British clergyman James Gall first described this projection of the Earth at a convention for scientific advances. However, his ad was overlooked and not paid much attention..
At the time, Gall described the new map as an "orthographic projection of the planet" and published his innovation in the Scottish Geography Magazine.
The map is commonly known as the Peters projection because it was not until 1973 that the map gained relevance, when the German Arno Peters published the same project and cataloged it as a new invention, without giving credit to Gall.
However, it is said that Peters had at least 5 years with the idea of the project and that he probably had no knowledge of the previous realization of the project by James Gall.
Previously, the standard projection used was the Mercator projection. The use of this cartographic projection was erroneously adopted by the general public after its creation in the 16th century, since the map did not correctly represent the size of the continental masses, but rather served as a guide for navigators of the time.
The Mercator projection, however, is still the most widely used map of the Earth in the world..
The Gall-Peters projection has a number of unique characteristics that have increased its popularity since its re-publication in 1973.
Both oceans and land masses are proportionally reflected in the projection. This means that the size of each continent and country can be comparable to each other..
You can see how South America has more land area than Europe, unlike what is reflected in the Mercator projection.
All lines that cross the map are line up perfectly, both in the north and in the south. This makes the geographical points true to reality and correctly represent the cardinal points of the planet.
In addition to the precision of the north-south axes, the horizontal lines are faithful to the actual location of each grid in the real world. This allows to calculate the exact location of each country with respect to the equator.
The characteristics of the Peters projection could be called mostly positive. Compared to the Mercator projection, the Peters representation gives a different and more accurate perception of the world.
In fact, one of Peters's arguments for popularizing his projection was that Mercator's map favored North America and Europe more. This leaves developing countries located in South America and Africa in the background..
The wrong perception of the size of the areas closest to the poles are widely used arguments when criticizing the popularity of Mercator cartography..
In turn, it serves as a positive argument for using Peters's work. This is the primary difference between both models.
Map projections are often more popular than portable globes because of their ease of adapting to a wide variety of compasses, squares, and other measurement tools..
When drawing lines and calculating coordinates, projection maps are usually the first option selected by cartographers.
There are a large number of projection models, and each has its own benefits. Not all are governed by the correct proportions and land extensions tend to have different measurements depending on where the axes are drawn.
The Mercator and Peters projections are the most widely used worldwide; Mercator's, in effect, has been in use for over 450 years.
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