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Gall--Peters Projection

UsefulClips · comedy · Watch on YouTube

Film & TV clipsData visualization & information design

What it is

A short clip from The West Wing in which characters argue for the Gall-Peters map projection over Mercator. It dramatizes how standard maps distort the relative size of countries.

Why Hacker News recommends it

It is the go-to link in any HN thread on map projections, usually posted as the obligatory West Wing reference.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “one of the best ways to teach someone about how different our classic maps are from reality”

    Shows how classic maps differ from reality.

    Amorymeltzer, 2015-11 · Strong recommendation · in “The last unmapped places on Earth”

  2. “Requisite West Wing scene[1] on the subject”

    Fantastic West Wing scene on map projection.

    eyelidlessness, 2020-11 · Recommendation · in “The True Size Of Countries: Mercator projection”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: gall-peters, mercator, cartography, west wing

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