June 21, 2001
Contact: Kate Larson, 800-736-1293
www.odtmaps.com
Map Makes History On WEST WING
TV's favorite press secretary, West Wing's CJ Craig
"freaked out" at the sight of a new view of the world. The
show is fictional, but the map is fact! CJ was stunned by
the real Peters Projection world map.
What CJ Craig saw on June 20th's episode of NBC's WEST
WING is a map commonly seen in Europe, Africa, Asia and
Latin America although almost unheard of in North America.
Until West Wing's script writers discovered the map! A
fictional group, the Organization of Cartographers for
Social Equality, pitched President Bartlet's staff to
"aggressively support" legislation mandating every public
school in America teach geography using the Peters
Projection map.
Developed by Arno Peters and introduced in Europe in
1974, more than 83 million maps are now in circulation
world-wide. Distributed by ODT, Inc. in Amherst,
Massachusetts, this new view of the world is a shock to many
first time viewers like CJ. The countries look different
from what we are used to seeing. In fact, the Peters
Projection map shows all countries in their true size and
proportion. One square inch on the map represents an equal
number of square miles anywhere in the world. Peters
Projection World maps are available from local book or map
stores or directly from ODT, Inc. at 1-800-736-1293
www.odtmaps.com
The Peters Projection map has generated a firestorm of
controversy. It has passionate fans and staunch detractors.
Conservative Thomas Sowell criticized advocates of
"political correctness" for supporting the Peters Projection
in "Vision of the Anointed." Many faith-based, social
justice organizations, including Oxfam, the National Council
of Churches, and the Mennonite Central Committee, support
the Peters as being more accurate and more-importantly…fair
to all peoples.
The Peters is in a class of map projections called
equal-area maps. On the familiar Mercator projection,
Greenland appears to be the same size as Africa. However
Africa, at 11.6 million square miles, is really more than 14
times larger than Greenland at 0.8 million square miles.
Please feel free to link your web site to the "Explanation
of the Peters Projection Map."
To learn more about the controversial world of maps
download Chapter One of the groundbreaking
new book "SEEING THROUGH MAPS: THE POWER OF IMAGES TO SHAPE
OUR WORLD VIEW" by Ward L. Kaiser and Denis Wood. The book
reveals the biases inherent in all map projections along
with tips for map users to overcome being misled by various
maps. The authors are available for interviews.
Many
faith-based, social justice organizations, including Oxfam,
the National Council of Churches, and the Mennonite Central
Committee, support Peters Maps as being more accurate and
more-importantly . . . fair to all peoples.
