A 1947 Educational Film That Uses a Flattened Out Grapefruit and Turnip to Show Map Distortion

A fascinating 1947 educational film by the National Film Board of Canada uses a simple grapefruit and turnip to show how map distortion can take place. The roundness of the produce, when flattened out, makes both the Arctic and Antarctic regions less robust than they actually are and leads the narrator to conclude that globes are the only way to really understand the geography of the world.

Development in long-range travel and the growing importance of the Arctic and Antarctic regions make it necessary to understand how maps may be misleading.

via Boing Boing

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.