Peters Projection

Definition

The Peters projection is a type of map that aims to represent all areas of equal size on the globe also as equal in size on the map. It distorts shapes but preserves sizes, especially in equatorial regions.

Analogy

Imagine you're baking cookies for a school event. You want each student to get an equally sized cookie (fairness), so you use a special cutter that ensures this. However, some cookies might come out looking a bit odd-shaped - just like countries in the Peters Projection!

Related terms

Equal-Area Map Projection: A projection that shows regions that are the same size on Earth as they are on the map; Peters projection falls under this category.

Distortion: In geography terms, distortion refers to how much a mapped feature is altered from its actual property due to representation.

Cartogram: This is another way of representing size accurately. It's a type of graphic that scales geographic regions according to specific attributes or statistics rather than land area.