Deleted member 101966
- EqualX Project -
Equal Earth basemaps and resources
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
EqualAA family (1200px)
Any similarity in resolution to any other smallish pixel world map that exists is purely coincidental
No EEZs
No Borders
Elevation
Hillshade
Topographic relief
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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