Douse your 'Curiosity' about Maps
- Arpit Shah
- Jul 29, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Curiosity is a mobile application for Android users where one can read educational content on a wide range of interesting topics—perfect for anyone with a genuine desire to understand the world we live in. The app’s homepage featured five to seven new articles daily, and it soon became my routine to read them before going to sleep.
Curiosity occasionally published articles on Mapping as well—an area I’m particularly interested in, given that it is my profession. Here are five that I found especially intriguing:
2023 Update: The Curiosity App has been shut down, and the hyperlinks in the original post no longer work. I’ve therefore replaced them with links to similar content.
Yes, you read that right! More precisely, no completely accurate 2D world map has ever been created (read this to explore why the rectangular AuthaGraph World Map is considered an unusually accurate contender).
The reason is simple: projecting a (near-)spherical globe onto a 2D plane inevitably distorts something—either the relative size of countries or the direction of navigation. This trade-off is central to the concept of Map Projection. Mapmakers choose projections based on what they wish to communicate.
Most 2D world maps use the Mercator Projection, which preserves directions but distorts size—especially near the poles. That’s why Greenland appears much larger than India when, in reality, it is much smaller.
This is the Mapping equivalent of trick questions used in surveys—a clever way to detect plagiarism. Cartographers often insert fake streets or fictitious locations into their maps to catch unauthorized copying.
Trivia: The creator of Google Map Maker—a collaborative, crowdsourced map-editing tool—is an Indian. He later led the launch of Google Maps in India. Read more about Lalitesh Katragadda’s story here.
On any coloured political map, you may have noticed that two adjacent regions never share the same color. The natural question is: What is the minimum number of colors needed to ensure this?
Surprisingly, this seemingly simple question stumped mathematicians for over a hundred years. The eventual solution is elegant and counterintuitive—I was genuinely fascinated.
Remember the classic diagram?Sweet in the front, bitter at the back…—and so on?
I genuinely used to choose where to place candies in my mouth based on that map! 😮
This article debunked that long-held belief. The tongue doesn’t have neatly divided zones for taste. All regions detect all tastes—just with minor variations. This reminded me why research reported in the news must be taken with a pinch of salt. Findings depend on assumptions, sample sizes, and confidence levels; they may not perfectly reflect real-world behaviour.
I faced a similar realization last year about the commonly used Map of India. It is not an accurate depiction of ground realities. For instance, the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir is nowhere near the crown-like shape we often see. This is because, as a matter of national policy, disputed territories such as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin are shown as part of India—even though they are actually governed by Pakistan and China respectively.
Woah! 😁
This article highlighted how scientists mapped non-verbal emotional sounds. While the article offers a good overview, this webpage hosts the actual demonstration—you’ll love exploring it!
Hope you enjoyed this little compilation. Stay curious!
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