Amherst cartographer creates equal-area map
U.S. map revolutionized
S.P. Sullivan, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/18/07 Section: News
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ODT Maps, Inc., an Amherst-based developer and manufacturer of maps, globes and other geographic resources, unveiled an equal-area map of the United States on September 7. This map, touted by founder and community activist Bob Abramms as one that will "blow people's minds," presents the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii-as well as unincorporated territory Puerto Rico according to their relative size.
The purpose of an equal-area map is to provide students, educators and other appreciators of geography paraphernalia with a clear representation of the relative size of the United States. Abramms and his staff were concerned that the status quo in visual representations of the U.S. obscured the physical magnitude of Alaska, often representing it as visually smaller than Texas and left the territory of Puerto Rice largely ignored. Abramms was especially concerned with the vast majority of educational maps that did not included Puerto Rico, "turning a blind eye to four million citizens."
The creation of the equal-area map came to Abramms about ten years ago when an Alaskan map storeowner who was frustrated that he could not provide students with an accurate representation of their own state contacted him. "I was stunned to find out that there was no equal-area map of the U. S.," said Abramms.
So Abramms and the rest of the staff at ODT, which had shifted its focus from management consulting to map publication, set to work. Over time ODT found that although they weren't the only company putting out equal-area maps, those that did were "few and far between," and were often too obscure to be utilized by mainstream publishers.
The mapmakers at ODT were frustrated with the visual representations used by large publishers of geographic media like National Geographic and Universal and sought to "bring equal area maps to the mainstream."
The self-described "innovative map publishers" at ODT Maps offer, in addition to their recently-released equal area maps, a number of unconventional representations of the United States and the globe.
The Van der Grinten Projection presents a south-at-the-top perspective of the world. The equal-area Peters Map places the Pacific Ocean, rather than the Atlantic, at its center. This alternate projection of the globe raised a few eyebrows with its creation, and producers of NBC's "The West Wing" turned to ODT Maps for use of the projection on their show. ODT Maps also offers a litany of various projections placing Africa at its center, as well as projections representing population.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Roger C. S. Lin
posted 9/18/07 @ 4:20 AM EST
Please also be aware that Taiwan is an overseas area (unincorporated territory) of the United States, and should be included on all United States maps. (Continued…)
Lawrence Mansy
posted 10/20/07 @ 1:52 AM EST
Speaking of "bias"? Here is one for the history books. I remember my 8th grade history teacher saying, when the class began asking questions about Africa and when we were going to study it; She said, and I quote; "We don't know anything about Africa, so we WON'T BE STUDYING IT AT ALL"!
The entire class was stunned to silence and then slowly began asking questions, i. (Continued…)
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