How Do Maps Represent the World Accurately?

Imagine you're trying to wrap a round ball in a piece of paper, it's tricky! That’s what mapmakers do every day. They take Earth, which is round, and put it on something flat, like your desk or phone screen. But when they do that, parts of the world get stretched out or squished, just like wrapping paper around a balloon.

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Examples

A map shows Greenland as bigger than Africa, even though they're about the same size.
Your classroom globe looks round, but your map is a flat square, that's map distortion!
When you draw around the Earth on a piece of paper, you have to squish it or stretch it.

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Categories: Science · maps,cartography,geometry