EqualX Project

  • Thread starter Deleted member 101966
  • Start date

Deleted member 101966

- EqualX Project -
Equal Earth basemaps and resources​

If you're any kind of nerd, you're probably aware of the debate over the merits of different map projections. Mercator preserves shape at the expense of size, Equirectangular is mathematically simple at the expense of being good for anything, Gall-Peters preserves area at the expense of looking stupid...

Yes, there is hope: the recently released Equal Earth projection (2018) preserves area while being cartographically viable. Some really good public domain resources have already been created using this new projection, so I hope to perpetuate that work with what you see in this thread.

Community Standards

I don't have any regulatory power over EqualX except for the ability to edit this forum post - all standards and materials have been shared openly, and I can't stop anybody from doing anything with them. However, if you would like your EqualX base map to be "officially" included in this post:

  • All of my EqualX base materials are released into the public domain (CC0), and yours should be, too. This means you can do whatever you want with an EqualX basemap, up to and including obliterating the corner text. In fact, I would really recommend obliterating the corner text unless you have no qualms with "Public domain 2019" appearing on your derivative work.
  • I would like to impose certain minimum standards on pixel art quality - pet peeves include
    • perfect diagonal lines and perfect fillable shapes.
    • small features that have been artificially enlarged so that they contain a single fillable pixel.
    • an excessive amount of time, effort, and detail being put into only developed Western countries.
    • inconsistent line weights.

EqualAAAA (600px)
Suitable for graphing calculators and flip-phones
EqualAAAA.png


EqualAA family (1200px)
Any similarity in resolution to any other smallish pixel world map that exists is purely coincidental
EqualAA 1.2.1.png


EqualAA 1.2.1 No EEZs.png

No EEZs

EqualAA 1.2.1 No Borders.png

No Borders

equalaa-elevation-png.491817

Elevation

EqualAA_Hillshade.png

Hillshade

EqualAA_Relief.png

Topographic relief

EqualAA Biomes.png

Biomes

EqualA family (1800px)
Finally, a map as wide as your monitor

Currently planned:
EqualAAA (900px)
EqualC (2400px)
EqualD (4800px)

Why should anyone use EqualX? I can't offer a wide variety of premade historical basemaps, but I can offer a PROJ4 code:

+proj=eqearth +lon_0=11.25 +datum=WGS84 +wktext

Punching this into any GIS (i.e. QGIS, which is free) will enable you to instantly render any spatial data in the exact same projection used by EqualX, forever, guaranteed.

Note: the +lon_0 term defines the familiar Florence meridian, so non-Florence datasets which cover the whole world will require a bit of preparation in order to not be broken by the meridian shift (anything which straddles the Bering Strait will be affected, if it's not sliced beforehand). Regional datasets, though, will load with no problems.
 
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CHKeeley

CHKeeley

I’ll definitely follow this project! Do you intend to make threads for work on the larger maps like EqualA or EqualC?
 
TheKutKu

TheKutKu

Is this... an actual small -Bam like map that actually follows a standard projection? Am i dreaming?

I fucking love you man equal Earth is such a good choice (although personally I have a slight aesthetic preference for natural earth, but it isn’t equal area) I hope it replaces the WorlA
 
Apathe

Apathe

Definitely am looking forward to helping out with this. Could someone put together PNG exports of GIS data for folks to start working on in regards to EqualA, EqualC, and EqualD administrative borders?
 

Deleted member 101966

Right now the project isn't in dire need of more hands to trace boundaries; a few deliberate choices are being made with the pixel styles which take a bit of oversight (for small entities, overall shape is more important than fill-tool-ability, hence the nearly complete absence of one-pixel-surrounded-by-four-more objects on this map).

In the interest of keeping all the resources open and public, though, a particularly ugly 9600px base is linked.

More immediately in the pipeline: ever use a weird, misshapen box to indicate which Pacific islands belong to which sovereign entity? With the EqualAA soon to include EEZs, never do it again.

EqualAA 1.1.png
 
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Deleted member 101966

1.1 update is live! EEZs and Antarctic claims have been added.

The EqualA and the EqualAAAA are currently under active construction; the project is unfortunately not accepting unsolicited work at this time. This might change later, but right now it's too much managerial effort to make sure that every contribution follows the same stylistic rules (important if EqualX is going to be a viable alternative to currently existing basemaps).
 

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  • EqualAA 1.1.png
    EqualAA 1.1.png
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Deleted member 101966

EqualAAAA.png


EqualAAAA now live, 600px resolution will definitely be useful if you do a lot of map editing on your graphing calculator.

EqualAA has also been updated to 1.2.0, showing significant Indigenous autonomous areas in Anglo-America.
 
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Chris S

Can you do a Pacific centred one for EqualAA?

Great work by the way.

I think a few of the EEZs are just a little outdated though (Norway-Russia, and the donut hole in the Sea of Okhotsk and donut hole between US and Mexico only in the western Gulf of Mexico.)
 

Dr. Doom

Great work, I'm using this as a base for some recent stuff I'm doing.

Minor thing, but you guys are missing Lake Turkana in NW Kenya.
 
TheKutKu

TheKutKu

XO Maenadicus said:
I'm the person doing the "active construction" on the EqualA that Ksit mentioned; I figured I'd provide an update as to how it's going.

View attachment 470846
Click to expand...


Awesome! Good work, it's beautiful.

While EqualAA is suppoed to be the map to replace the WorldA, i feel like EqualA is the right size to start making really interesting details, without being as large and long to make as QBAM (plus being based on a standard projection any OC content will be a thousand time easier to make), i always felt that WorldA was a bit too small, and EqualA still fits on a standard screen and you don't need to zoom to see details. i really hope EqualA replace WorldA, while EqualD will eventually replace the same size QBAM
 
CHKeeley

CHKeeley

TheKutKu said:
Awesome! Good work, it's beautiful.

While EqualAA is suppoed to be the map to replace the WorldA, i feel like EqualA is the right size to start making really interesting details, without being as large and long to make as QBAM (plus being based on a standard projection any OC content will be a thousand time easier to make), i always felt that WorldA was a bit too small, and EqualA still fits on a standard screen and you don't need to zoom to see details. i really hope EqualA replace WorldA, while EqualD will eventually replace the same size QBAM
Click to expand...

Definitely, I’ve always wanted a good standardized basemap that was somewhere between WorldA and QBAM. WorldA can’t have too many details or it’s messy but QBAM needs a lot or it’s bland looking, so this looks to be a perfect middle ground for the two!
 
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