CahillFuller

Retired political science professor Gene Keyes provides an interesting and in-depth comparison of global map projections by R. Buckminster Fuller and B.J.S. Cahill. Fuller’s Dymaxion World Map is compared to B.J.S. Cahill’s Octahedral Butterfly World Map, with point by point comparisons, including distortions, fidelity to the full globe, and teachability.

“I want a single, general purpose, world map projection, with high fidelity to a globe, suitable at all scales from smallest to largest, good for one country or the whole planet. I want a world map and globe as a synoptic pair, comparable to each other at a glance, or in detail. I want geography learners at any age to be able to grasp the globe and world map as readily as do-re-mi.”

Among the interesting elements of this essay is the denunciation of the Mercator projection, which is still in use to today for the likes of Google Maps.

Read the full essay here.

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