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That map claiming Alaska is smaller than Texas had me double checking everything
I was scrolling through some random geography forum last week and saw this map someone posted that showed Alaska as this tiny little thing next to a giant Texas. I laughed at first because everyone knows Alaska is huge. But then I actually pulled up the real numbers because the map looked so official with all these fancy colors and data points. Turns out the guy had used a projection that completely distorted the size difference. Alaska is literally more than twice the size of Texas but his map made it look like a third of it. I sent it to my buddy who teaches middle school geography and he said he sees this kind of thing all the time in student projects. Made me realize I should never trust a map at first glance no matter how clean it looks. Has anyone else caught a map that got basic facts embarrassingly wrong?
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brian_ward552mo ago
You literally had me at 'fancy colors and data points' because that is exactly how they get you. I saw one of those maps last month that showed Greenland and Africa being the same size and I almost believed it until I remembered that Africa can fit like fourteen Greenlands inside it. My grandpa fell for one of those election maps that made Texas look like it had the population of California and he was ranting about it for a week before I showed him the real numbers. It's wild how a clean looking graphic can just override everything you know to be true. Props to your buddy the geography teacher for having to deal with that nonsense daily.
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cameron7701mo ago
Maps are the worst when they lie, @brian_ward55. People trust them way more than they trust their own eyes, and that's the scary part. What gets me is how the same trick works on numbers too, not just shapes, so nobody even questions the source until it's too late.
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