![]() remote sensing student at Boston University, “that’s just not the way a globe unfolds.” Any global map you have ever seen is necessarily inaccurate-some prodigiously so. “If you have a rectangular map, there’s no way that it can not be distorted,” said Eric Bullock, a Ph.D. It has long been conceded that the perfect projection is a mathematical impossibility: try flattening an eggshell, and you’ll quickly discover there’s no way to precisely represent a spherical surface in two dimensions.Įvery global map projection introduces flaws, or distortions, to the representation of the planet. Cartography is not a field for perfectionists. Much to cartographers’ chagrin, however, a wholly accurate projection is as elusive as the mythical sea monsters gracing many of the library’s oldest maps. The sheer number is testament to the 2,000-plus year pursuit to develop a more accurate two-dimensional representation of our 3-dimensional planet. The library houses 200,000 maps from all corners of the globe (if you’ll pardon the expression) myriad records spanning-and illustrating-history. ![]() ![]() Leventhal map collection is like stepping into a condensed vignette of human exploration, or perhaps an extra-detailed version of high school history. Setting foot inside Boston Public Library’s Norman B. ![]()
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