Science / Medicine : CHANGING WORLD VIEWS

A new, more accurate view of the world has been adopted by the National Geographic Society. After more than half a century of using the Van der Grinten projection for world maps, the society is changing to the projection of cartographer Arthur H. Robinson. The new map overcomes some of the problems of transforming the Earth’s round surface to a flat one, and countries more closely match their relative size. The Soviet Union, for example, appears only 18% larger than it actually is, compared to 223% in the previous projection. Robinson last week was presented with the Geographic Society’s LaGorce Medal for his lifetime achievements in cartography. Alphons Van der Grinten, an American engineer, patented his projection in 1904.