Gall–Peters or AuthaGraph. The end.

[daan]

Nebraska (that’s a central U.S. state) has a legislative bill pending signature from the governor, a bill about map projections in education. This is the text (emphasis mine):

LEGISLATIVE BILL 962
Introduced by Wayne, 13.
Read first time January 04, 2024
Committee: Education

A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to schools; to prohibit the use of certain projection maps in public schools as prescribed; and to require each school board to adopt a policy relating to projection maps. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,

Section 1. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, beginning in school year 2024–25, a public school shall not allow the use of a Mercator projection map in school. A school shall only use the Gall–Peters projection map or AuthaGraph projection map for display or use in the classroom.

(2) A Mercator projection map may be used in a classroom in conjunction with other projection maps in a teaching exercise to demonstrate that all maps are flawed in some way and different map projections serve different functions and may affect how an individual views the world.

(3) The school board of each public school district shall adopt a policy to implement the requirements of this section.

These are dark times.

— daan

[justlikeoldtimes]

The West Wing continues to wreak havoc on our hell world, in more ways than one, even eighteen years after it ended.

[Milo]

That's weird wording. First banning one projection, then requiring one of two others, which is redundant because if those are the only two projections allowed, all other projections are banned by default.

It's like the author thought these were the only three map projections in existence and didn't realize there are others. Except that doesn't make sense either, since someone who knows nothing about map projections wouldn't have included clause 2 ("all maps are flawed in some way").

My best guess is that this bill was written by committee:

• One person, who is clueless about map projections, decides to write a draft with the wording of clause 1.
• Another person, who is more knowledgable about map projections, tells the first one "no, that's stupid" and tries to explain why.
• The first person tries to "address" the criticism by adding clause 2, without actually fixing clause 1.
• The second person facepalms and gives up on trying to reason with this idiot.
• The first person interprets silence as approval.

Remember when Indiana tried to pass a bill recognizing a way to square the circle? Which, more famously, implied (as an aside!) that pi equals 3.2 exactly? Of course, while that was proposed and made it disturbingly high up the legislature, it still managed to get defeated before it would have actually become law. One hopes that the same will happen here.

Now, off the top of my head, I don't actually know where Indiana lies relative to Nebraska. Fortunately, that's what maps are for!

[mapnerd2022]

They should just adopt the Mollweide or Bromley's rescaling of it. Or even Hammer-Aitoff.

[Atarimaster]

Probably someone googled “Which is the best map projection?” and didn’t spent a lot of time reading the results.Two or three minutes at most.

[daan]

They should just adopt the Mollweide or Bromley's rescaling of it. Or even Hammer-Aitoff.

Or maybe stay out of legislating such things at all. I’m not so opposed to prohibiting Mercator for world maps in a classroom setting, other than for comparative purposes, but requiring this or that projection is oppressive.

The legislation is also a fiscal and logistical disaster as written: There is no provision for keeping existing materials and the start date is the 2024–2025 school year, so schools would be face with vetting all their texts and wall maps and updating them in a matter of months. Since AuthaGraph is not generally available, this legislation effectively mandates Gall–Peters material — which was probably the intent.

Cheers,
— daan

[daan]

That's weird wording. First banning one projection, then requiring one of two others, which is redundant because if those are the only two projections allowed, all other projections are banned by default.

You might be attributing more mental acumen to the author of the legislation than exists.

My best guess is that this bill was written by committee:

• One person, who is clueless about map projections, decides to write a draft with the wording of clause 1.

Originally I thought there was ignorance involved. However, after thinking more about the effects of this legislation, I’ve become more convinced that it is a scheme to replace textbooks with a very leftist agenda in a state that is generally hostile to the left. I think a legalistic reading of the bill implies these things:
1. No exception exists in the bill for materials that are already in use, and the bill’s effects begin with the 2024–2025 school year, which means just a few months. All the public schools in Nebraska, both primary and secondary, would be obliged to scramble to replace wall maps and textbooks in those few months. The fiscal and logistical implications are chaos.
2. AuthaGraph is a decoy. It’s there to give the appearance of some kind of inclusiveness. However, no English textbooks are available, or could be available, that use the AuthaGraph before the mandate comes into effect. Therefore, the intent is to mandate Gall–Peters everywhere, now. Existing materials that use Gall–Peters are invariably highly ideological.

— daan

[mapnerd2022]

They should just adopt the Mollweide or Bromley's rescaling of it. Or even Hammer-Aitoff.

Or maybe stay out of legislating such things at all. I’m not so opposed to prohibiting Mercator for world maps in a classroom setting, other than for comparative purposes, but requiring this or that projection is oppressive.

The legislation is also a fiscal and logistical disaster as written: There is no provision for keeping existing materials and the start date is the 2024–2025 school year, so schools would be face with vetting all their texts and wall maps and updating them in a matter of months. Since AuthaGraph is not generally available, this legislation effectively mandates Gall–Peters material — which was probably the intent.

Cheers,
— daan

Yes, just as you say, people(especially schoolchildren/students)should be exposed to many different projections and arrangements of them.

[Milo]

Suggestion: if passed, schools should rebel against this legislation by adopting maps in oblique aspects of the Gall-Peters projection. The law doesn't say you can't!

Also note that the bill doesn't specify world maps. By all appearances, the law applies to regional maps too. Fortunately, regional maps are where oblique aspects excel...

Originally I thought there was ignorance involved. However, after thinking more about the effects of this legislation, I’ve become more convinced that it is a scheme to replace textbooks with a very leftist agenda in a state that is generally hostile to the left.

I hadn't even thought about textbooks! I thought it was just wall maps...

Yeah, if this bill applies to textbooks, it's going to be ridiculously hard to find any that fit. Any textbook or atlas that uses more than one type of projection anywhere in its hundreds of pages is effectively banned. That probably includes any textbook that uses regional maps of any sort whatsoever, since nobody is ever going to use the Gall-Peters projection for those. Though on the plus side, that's the sort of thing that is likely to get the law declared unconstitutional if someone challenges it in court. Especially when you point out that regional maps include those of Nebraska. Though Nebraska is just south of the 45th parallel, so it's one region where the Gall-Peters projection would actually work fairly decently. Hmm...

Another thought: does this legislation effectively ban globes?

[daan]

Suggestion: if passed, schools should rebel against this legislation by adopting maps in oblique aspects of the Gall-Peters projection.

I hadn't even thought about textbooks! I thought it was just wall maps...

Yeah, if this bill applies to textbooks, it's going to be ridiculously hard to find any that fit. Any textbook or atlas that uses more than one type of projection anywhere in its hundreds of pages is effectively banned. That probably includes any textbook that uses regional maps of any sort whatsoever, since nobody is ever going to use the Gall-Peters projection for those.

Except… « sigh »… see the Peters Atlas of the World. This is partly why I think this legislation isn’t so uninformed after all.

Another thought: does this legislation effectively ban globes?

I would think a court would be sympathetic to the argument that the definition of “projection” in the context of cartography normally means to a plane.

— daan