this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] Ksin@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

At first this map seemed perfectly fine to me, but the more I look the weirder it gets.

  • The projection used (Mollweide?) distorts the hell out of Europe, Iceland is practically a smear.
  • Thailand is gone.
  • Crimea seems missing.
  • Is Japan a bit shrunk?
  • They must have screwed up mounting Africa because the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are WAY too big
[–] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

They also claim South Korea.

[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 28 points 17 hours ago

They included New Zealand.

They're already leagues ahead of most US primary education text books

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 15 hours ago

It makes sense they’d centre the Gulf Of Korea though.

[–] SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev 25 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] dellish@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

And Tasmania!

[–] mech@feddit.org 65 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Fun fact: Whether North or South are "up" on a map is also completely arbitrary.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 7 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

Should have rotated the other way so the sun scrolls satisfyingly top-to-bottom.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

They undercut the message buy putting upside down at the top.

I had a teacher in high school who always set his globe that had the text oriented to the nearest pole to have the south pole on top. Anyone switching it would start a conversation about how there isn't a 'correct' up direction.

There is only a "correct" up direction if it has words. The "correct" up would be the direction of the letters.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago

This looks like a fantasy world map wtf.

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] mech@feddit.org 40 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Mercator really starts to shine when you rotate it by 90 degrees.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago

This is cursed enough to be an SCP

[–] Burninator05@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

At this point, Africa is almost represented at its actual size.

[–] LorIps@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, but European borders aren't

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Sure they are, they're fun to redraw too. I thought y'all loved doing that

[–] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago

It’s freaking me out!

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Most maps in Asia are like this. That’s why growing up I was confused why the US was called the west and East/Southeast Asia was called the far east.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

XKCD comic pointing out that the West and East are mislabelled

edit: Oops, didn't realize the credit wouldn't be obvious. It's xkcd #503.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 15 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

I guess it kinda makes sense if you draw the line right down the middle of Germany. Weird, I wonder if there's any historical precedent for that...

[–] mapleseedfall@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Its almost as if some country thinks they are the center of the world.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Well, specifically a couple of countries on either side of the Atlantic.

[–] NiHaDuncan@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

It’s more like most countries. Maps like the one shown in this post that place Asia as a central focus are common in Asia.

Maybe it’s not national narcissism, rather just focusing on what’s most relevant to any one people.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

I think putting the line down the Pacific makes the most sense in most cases. But the national narcissism has historically been a defining characteristic of the UK and the US

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 85 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That is common in east Asia in general, and I don't see why not 🤷

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 1 points 10 hours ago

What do you mean america is not the center of the universe?

[–] lysol@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Exactly, no one here played Street Fighter 2 on SNES?!

[–] NochMehrG@feddit.org 10 points 1 day ago

And it has New Zealand on it!

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

I like it, if only because it places Oceania at the center. They're always pushed aside and it's big sad.

[–] OfCourseNot@fedia.io 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don't the rest of the countries in the region use similar maps? South Korea, Australia, Japan...? I would expect that to be the case, it seems more natural.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

Yes, and Australia even has it as upside down.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Seems odd to me to want to put the largest ocean in the world as the focus. Yes, let's put most of the useful information around the edge of the map. Brilliant idea.

Let's draw maps with Antarctica in the middle instead.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 20 hours ago

north korea is pretty lose to center on the map.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

That's just the back of the UN logo

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Projection aside, proportionally it's a bit whack and Japan is a bit too far north. Taiwan also seems to be inexplicably MIA, which would be understandable if it were omitted due to size but there are several smaller islands still depicted.

Perhaps the real point of interest is that it seems to depict the North and South Koreas as united with the whole peninsula colored in red. As usual for the Juche Boys, this is probably a tacit threat rather than any indication of potential armistice or reconciliation.

[–] insomniac199@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

They do this petty, embarrassing shit all the time on their maps. Made it look like Japan smaller while simultaneously peninsula bigger. And this is not just from north but south too lol

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

There is no North Korea in North Korea. There is only Korea.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Nerd sniped me enough to look it up. Both countries use different names for "all of korea." While the north generally refers to itself with the same term as all of korea, there are some contexts where there is a "north Korea" used.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Nerd sniped me

The fuck's wrong with you? Look at the pic, all of Korea is red.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Sorry if I didn't explain it well. What I mean is that dprk considers itself the "true" government of the Korean peninsula, and their terminology generally reflects this. Due to the functional reality of the ongoing conflict, "South Korea" is used often. Though it's used rarely, "North Korea" (literally north, functionally "unoccupied" or "free") does still show up occasionally in language.

[–] Chezus9247@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Sea of Thieves lookin' map.

[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The oddest part for me is Greenland being split from the Americas

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I mean politically speaking it's Danish, so I suppose it makes sense to group it with Europe in some ways.

It does look a little odd though.

[–] kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Friar tuck with a splash of bird turd to the noggin

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Looks good to me. I've also seen pics showing they can change the colors.