Equal Earth World Maps: Political vs Physical Compared

by Christopher O'Keeffe October 05, 2026

By Christopher O’Keeffe, Managing Director of Mapworld

A political map introduces you to the countries. A physical map introduces you to the planet beneath them. Put the two together on the Equal Earth projection and a familiar world becomes a considerably more interesting place.

There is a lovely moment when you put a political world map beside a physical one.

At first, you recognise everything. Africa occupies its familiar position. South America tapers towards the Southern Ocean. Australia sits between the Indian and Pacific oceans, looking comfortably substantial.

Then your attention changes.

On the political map, you start naming countries. Brazil. Peru. Chile. Argentina. On the physical map, your eye follows the Andes, crosses into the Amazon basin and begins noticing the extraordinary arrangement of mountains, rivers and lowlands beneath those names.

The mountain range has not stopped at a customs desk. The river system has not applied for a passport. A line that matters enormously to people can be almost invisible in the landscape; a ridge that barely registers on a political overview can shape the experience of crossing a continent.

That is why I find the new physical additions to our Equal Earth range so appealing. They give us a companion to the political maps, with a different set of questions built into the design.

Both preserve the correct relative areas of places. Both can be displayed in Africa-centred or Pacific-centred layouts. The choice is what you want to notice first: countries and their relationships, or the physical structure and environments of the Earth.

For a classroom, that difference can become a lesson. For a home, it can become the conversation you did not expect to have over breakfast. For anyone following the news, it can change a name in a headline into a place with neighbours, mountains, rivers and a coastline.

Here is how I would choose between the four maps—and why, if the wall allows it, a well-matched pair is such a satisfying answer.

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Political vs physical Equal Earth maps: the short answer

Choose a political Equal Earth map to identify countries, borders, capitals and major cities. Choose a physical Equal Earth map to explore terrain, rivers, environments and the ocean floor. Both use the same equal-area projection; changing the subject does not change that mathematical property.

Within each style, choose the Africa-centred layout for an overview that keeps Africa and much of the Atlantic-facing world together. Choose the Pacific-centred layout to bring Australia, eastern Asia and the Pacific into a continuous view.

My starting recommendation for an Australian household or classroom is the Pacific-centred political map. It answers a great many everyday questions quickly. If mountains, environments and the structure of the oceans are the attraction, I would choose the Pacific-centred physical map. For a lesson or display that compares human and physical geography, I would put those two together.

You can compare these with the wider selection in our World Wall Maps collection. For the general distinction across different publishers and projections, see Political vs Physical World Maps: Which World Map Is Right for You?.

This guide looks more closely at the specific Equal Earth designs. That matters because the word “physical” does not promise exactly the same content or colour system on every map.

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One projection, two subjects, four maps

There are three separate decisions hiding inside the phrase “a world map”.

The projection is the mathematical method used to turn positions on the curved Earth into positions on a flat page. Equal Earth is one such method.

The subject is the information given priority. A political map emphasises countries and administrative geography. A physical map emphasises natural features and environments.

The centre determines which part of the world sits in the middle of the sheet and where the map meets its left and right edges.

These choices work together, but they answer different questions. A physical map is not a different projection from a political map. Pacific-centred is not another name for equal-area. And a map does not become politically aligned with a party or government simply because cartographers call it “political”.

In this comparison, the projection stays constant. The subject and centre change.

That is a particularly useful arrangement for learning. If you compare two maps with different projections, different centres and different subjects all at once, it can be difficult to identify what caused the change in appearance. Keep two of those choices steady and the third becomes much easier to understand.

Start with the two Africa-centred maps. Their broad geography is immediately comparable. Now ask what catches your eye on each. You are seeing the effect of the cartographer's choice of emphasis.

Political mapping emphasises countries, borders and cities; physical mapping emphasises terrain, environments and the ocean floor. Both maps preserve relative areas.

What the political Equal Earth maps show

A political map is the one I reach for when a conversation begins with a country.

Someone mentions an election. A child asks where a friend was born. A business is considering a new market. A travel itinerary begins to acquire rather more countries than the available annual leave can reasonably accommodate.

The political map supplies a clear framework: names, boundaries, capitals and neighbouring places.

Country colours help separate adjacent territories. The typography makes national names stand out from smaller settlements. Borders divide the surface into the units we encounter in news reports, passports, international organisations and travel plans.

On our political Equal Earth editions, that framework sits alongside rivers, lakes, islands, mountain information and subtle relief. This is an important detail. A political map does not have to strip the planet down to coloured shapes. It can retain useful physical context while making countries the first thing you read.

Political colours are a reading aid

When neighbouring countries have different colours, the purpose is generally to make them easier to distinguish. The colour does not automatically mean a country belongs to a particular alliance, has a particular government or enjoys a particular climate.

That sounds obvious until you think about how accustomed we are to maps in the news. An election map might use red and blue to encode votes. A weather map might use colour for temperature. A reference map might use a similar palette simply to separate countries.

The legend and title determine the meaning.

A useful question for a child—or an adult who has been staring at maps all week—is: “What does this colour actually tell us?” Sometimes the answer is a measurement. Sometimes it is a category. Sometimes it is simply, “This is a different country from the one next door.”

Borders are information, not an explanation of everything

A political map shows where the publisher has placed a boundary. It does not, by itself, explain the history of that boundary, how it is administered on the ground or how different parties understand a disputed territory.

That is why a projection and a political boundary should be assessed separately. Equal Earth determines the geometry of the display. It does not arbitrate sovereignty.

For general reference, the national framework is enormously helpful. For a report about a disputed border, add current, specifically sourced information about that dispute. The familiar line on the wall is the beginning of the enquiry.

Our article Maps: An Essential Tool for Geopolitical Analysis develops this idea further: a map provides geographical context, while the evidence behind a particular analysis still has to be assembled.

When I would choose political first

I would begin with political mapping when the regular questions are about countries, capitals, international connections and events in the news.

That makes it a useful everyday reference in a school, office, library or family room. It is also a sensible starting point for broad travel planning: you can see which countries sit together and how an itinerary moves through the world before looking for the regional and local maps needed for the journey itself.

There is a particular pleasure in recognising a place quickly. A good political map gives people that first foothold. Once they have found the country, the more interesting questions tend to follow.

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What makes the physical Equal Earth maps different

The physical editions have a revealing title printed on the artwork: Equal Earth · Topography and Environments.

“Environments” deserves as much attention as “topography”. The design combines the shape of the land and seabed with a carefully chosen environmental colour scheme. Country boundary lines are deliberately omitted, allowing physical patterns to continue across the page.

These maps are the work of cartographer Tom Patterson. The creator's physical-map description identifies terrain, water, vegetation, land cover and the ocean floor as its focus. They are detailed reference maps, with thousands of geographical labels, rather than unlabelled decorative images.

Look across northern Africa and the Sahara reads as a broad landscape. Follow western South America and the Andes remain a continuous feature. Look into the ocean and the blue has structure: ridges, shelves, basins and trenches invite attention.

The result can feel unexpectedly different from a country-coloured map, even when every coastline is exactly where you expected to find it.

The colours are not simply a height chart

Here is the detail I would most like readers to remember.

These physical Equal Earth maps use environmental colours. Do not read every green area as low ground or every brown area as high ground.

Many physical maps use elevation tints, often progressing through greens, yellows and browns as height increases. This design follows a different approach. Colour helps distinguish broad environments, while shaded relief helps describe the shape of the terrain.

Read the actual legend: forest, grassland, desert, tundra, ice and other environments have their own visual treatment. The map is doing more than assigning a colour to a height above sea level.

The underlying Natural Earth II approach is also more subtle than a photograph taken from space. Patterson's technical paper on Natural Earth II explains an environmental base designed for small-scale cartography. The physical map's International Cartographic Association exhibition description describes potential natural vegetation and environments, representing a world without human disturbance.

That makes it a compelling geographical overview. It should not be read as a current audit of where every forest, farm, city or cleared area exists today.

If you want to study recent deforestation, agricultural expansion or urban growth, bring in dated land-cover data. This map gives the broader environmental setting in which those changes take place.

Shaded relief is an illustration of terrain

Relief shading gives mountains their sense of form. Light and shadow suggest slopes, ridges and valleys, helping the eye interpret a flat print as a landscape.

The shading is cartographic design. It is not a photograph of the whole Earth under one perfectly arranged afternoon sun. Nor does a darker patch automatically represent a political boundary or a different kind of rock.

This is one of the quiet arts of mapmaking. A good relief treatment is informative without making every mountain look as though it has been cast in bronze. It gives the map enough texture to reward a closer look while leaving room for labels and water features.

For anyone who has admired the Himalayas on a map before reading a single name, that visual effect needs very little explanation.

The ocean is part of the landscape

Political maps often encourage us to move from country to country across the blue. A physical map can persuade us to stop in the blue.

The ocean floor contains an extraordinary landscape of ridges, basins, shelves and deep trenches. Showing that structure changes the sea from an interval between landmasses into a subject of its own.

Bathymetry is the mapping of underwater depth and topography. At world scale, its purpose is to reveal broad patterns. A wall map is not a marine chart, and its relief should not be used to infer a safe passage or a precise depth at a particular location.

As an invitation to understand the planet, however, it is wonderful. You begin looking at connections beneath the water as well as those across it.

Political and physical maps compared at a glance

The main difference is emphasis. There is useful physical geography on the political maps, and plenty of geographical naming on the physical ones. What changes is the route your eye takes through the information.

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What Equal Earth preserves—and what it does not

Equal Earth was introduced in 2018 by Bojan Šavrič, Tom Patterson and Bernhard Jenny. The original research paper and PROJ documentation explain its design and purpose.

Its defining property is equal area. If one region has twice the geographical area of another, it occupies twice the area on the projected map, subject to the accuracy and generalisation of the source outlines.

That property applies to oceans as well as land. It survives a change from political colours to environmental colours. It also survives a change in the central meridian.

It does not mean that every shape, angle, direction and distance remains true. Flattening a curved Earth requires compromises. Equal Earth preserves relative area while allowing those other properties to change.

The International Cartographic Association's guidance on choosing world projections is useful here: select a projection for the intended purpose. Equal-area maps are particularly helpful when geographical extent matters, but they are not the only sensible choice for every world-map task.

Greenland has not shrunk

The familiar Greenland–Africa comparison is memorable because it catches out a mental picture many of us acquired early in life.

Africa has roughly fourteen times Greenland's area, a comparison also highlighted on the Equal Earth creator's website. On a Mercator world map, Greenland's high latitude gives it a much more imposing appearance than its share of the Earth's surface warrants. Equal Earth preserves the real area relationship.

The change belongs to the representation. Nobody has quietly taken a substantial bite out of Greenland.

Our Equal Earth Map Explained compares Equal Earth with Mercator, Winkel Tripel, Miller and Gall–Peters in more detail. It is the companion article for readers who want to understand what the mathematics changes and why different projections remain useful.

A printed scale does not make every ruler measurement reliable

World-map scale varies by position and direction. A scale bar qualified for a particular part of the map should not be treated as a universal measuring device for every route across the sheet.

Use these wall maps to understand the arrangement of places. For a precise distance, route, bearing or travel time, use an appropriate calculation or a map designed for that task.

That distinction is particularly helpful in a classroom. A map can be excellent for comparing the areas of continents and still require care when measuring the distance between two cities. “Accurate” becomes a useful word when we say what is being preserved.

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Africa-centred or Pacific-centred: what changes?

A globe has no permanently privileged front. You can turn it.

A single flat world sheet has to choose where to begin, where to end and what to put in the middle. Once you recognise that choice, a familiar arrangement becomes less inevitable.

The Africa-centred versions use a central meridian of 0°. The Pacific-centred versions use 150°E, a layout that brings Australia and the western Pacific towards the middle and keeps the Pacific basin together.

The change moves the map's seam. In the Africa-centred arrangement, the left and right sides meet at 180°. In the 150°E arrangement, they meet at 30°W, in the Atlantic.

There is no missing strip of planet. There is a different place at which the continuous world has been divided to fit the page.

The physical theme and Equal Earth projection stay the same. The central meridian changes from 0° to 150°E, moving the page seam from 180° to 30°W. 

Why I like Pacific-centred maps for Australia

An Australian reader can follow the geography of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, eastern Asia and the Pacific islands without continually moving between opposite ends of the sheet.

That continuity is the attraction. It makes the ocean around us easier to discuss as a connected region.

On the political edition, you can work through countries, territories and capitals. On the physical edition, the same broad view brings island chains, the margins of the ocean basin and the contrast between continental land and open water into focus.

It also makes a modest but worthwhile change in habit. Australia becomes somewhere to begin looking, rather than the place your eyes find after travelling to the lower-right corner.

The Pacific-centred map does not grant Australia extra land area. All four maps retain the same area-preserving property. Its advantage is the arrangement of the view.

When Africa-centred is the stronger choice

If your interest runs through Africa, Europe, the Atlantic and the Americas, the Africa-centred layout can make those relationships easier to follow.

The physical version is especially inviting when exploring Africa's environmental contrasts and the relationship between the continents on either side of the Atlantic. The political version offers a readily recognisable framework for countries across the same broad field.

It can also be an effective first encounter with Equal Earth. The overall arrangement feels familiar enough for readers to concentrate on differences in relative area and map content.

I would choose the centre according to the relationships you want to keep together. “Which map lets me follow this subject without jumping across the edges?” is a better buying question than “Which centre is correct?”

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Five places that become more interesting when you compare both maps

The best way to understand these maps is to give them something to do.

Choose a place on the political sheet, then carry the question over to the physical one. Keep the same centre if possible. That makes the movement between the two views almost effortless.

1. South America: countries on a continent with a remarkable backbone

Begin with the western side of South America. On the political map, follow the countries along the coast and identify Brazil farther east. You have a framework of names and boundaries.

Now move to the physical map. Follow the mountain belt down the west, then look across the broad lowlands to the east. The contrast between the Andes and the Amazon region becomes the first thing you see.

The two maps invite different questions. Which countries contain parts of a mountain system? Where do large river systems run? How does a journey across a continent differ from a journey along its coast?

A physical map will not supply all the answers about rainfall, settlement or transport, but it shows why those questions are worth asking. The national framework and the terrain begin to inform one another.

For travel, that is a useful corrective to treating neighbouring countries as interchangeable stops. Being next door on a world map does not guarantee a short or straightforward journey.

2. The Himalayas: the landscape does not fit neatly into a label

Find the countries around the Himalayan region on the political map. Then look at the physical sheet and allow your eye to follow the wider sweep of high terrain.

The scale of the mountain-and-plateau landscape becomes much more apparent when country colours stop commanding attention. A world map cannot show every valley or pass, but it can communicate the size and continuity of a major physical region.

The US Geological Survey's account of the Himalayas describes the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates over tens of millions of years. The landscape on the map is the visible result of a story far older than the countries named beside it.

This is an excellent point at which to distinguish seeing from explaining. Relief shading helps us recognise the pattern. Plate tectonics, climate and geological history explain how it developed. Those are further layers of evidence, not things a shaded ridge can prove on its own.

Even so, the first glance matters. A line of mountains ceases to be a decoration under a country name and becomes one of the dominant features of the continent.

3. Africa: one continent, many environments

On the political map, Africa becomes a framework of countries and capitals. On the physical map, your eye can travel from the Sahara towards the continent's greener equatorial regions and onward through a varied landscape of plateaus, basins, mountains and coasts.

Equal-area geometry helps keep the continental extent in proportion. Environmental colours encourage a second kind of attention: what occupies that space?

It is a useful combination because “Africa” is often made to do far too much work in conversation. The map encourages specificity. Which part? Which country? Which environment? Which neighbouring region?

The physical colours should still be read according to their environmental legend, rather than treated as a live vegetation survey. For a current story about land use or drought, add appropriate dated evidence.

As a starting point for curiosity, however, the pair does something very well. It makes sweeping statements feel less satisfactory.

4. Australia and the Pacific: the blue is not empty

Start at Australia on the Pacific-centred political map. Find New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the island countries and territories farther into the ocean.

Then look at the physical version. The distribution of islands and the structure of the ocean floor give the region a different character. Land occupies relatively little space in some parts of this view; the relationships extend across an enormous area of water.

Small islands need legible labels, but the size of a label is not the size of the land. Nor does a small land area imply a small cultural, political or environmental significance.

A classroom can build a good discussion around that distinction. The projection represents geographical surface area. It does not allocate importance.

For an Australian wall, this is one of the most persuasive reasons to give the Pacific room. We live in a region whose geography cannot be understood by looking only at the continents.

5. The Atlantic: an ocean with its own architecture

The Africa-centred physical map gives the Atlantic a particularly useful place in the composition. Look between the surrounding continents and follow the broad pattern of the ocean-floor relief.

This is where the map can surprise someone who thinks of an ocean as a relatively featureless expanse above a bowl. The seabed is a landscape.

NOAA describes a global mid-ocean ridge system extending for about 65,000 kilometres, most of it underwater. The Atlantic portion is part of that much larger system.

The political map remains useful beside it: countries and coastlines provide the reference points. The physical map gives you something else to look at between them.

An entirely ordinary glance at a wall can become an introduction to plate tectonics. That is an excellent use of a wall.

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Which of the four Equal Earth maps should you buy?

Political Equal Earth — Africa-Centred

Choose our Africa-centred political Equal Earth wall map when you want countries and capitals in an arrangement that places Africa prominently and keeps the Atlantic-facing continents easy to compare.

I would use it for a broad reference display, a study, a library or a classroom where the familiar arrangement helps people get started. It is also the natural partner for the Africa-centred physical map: you can move between the two without changing the basic layout.

Its appeal is that it remains an everyday map. You do not need to begin every conversation with projection theory. Find the country, follow the discussion, and let the more proportional area relationships become part of your view of the world.

Political Equal Earth — Pacific-Centred

Our Pacific-centred political Equal Earth wall map is my practical starting point for many Australian readers.

It brings the geography around Australia into a continuous field while preserving the country-and-capital information people use most often. I would choose it for a family reference map, international business discussions or a classroom that regularly connects Australia with Asia and the Pacific.

The Atlantic meets the edges of the sheet, so an Atlantic-focused comparison may suit the Africa-centred version better. That is simply the trade-off involved in choosing a centre.

Physical Equal Earth — Africa-Centred

Choose our Africa-centred physical Equal Earth wall map when environments and terrain are the main attraction.

It offers a particularly inviting way to explore Africa's physical variety, the Atlantic and the broad relationships between surrounding landmasses. Without country boundaries, the landscape is allowed to lead the eye.

I would put this in a study or living space where people can walk up and spend time with the detail. It is also a strong teaching companion to a political map in the same centre. The immediate comparison between human divisions and natural patterns is the point.

Physical Equal Earth — Pacific-Centred

Our Pacific-centred physical Equal Earth wall map is the one I would choose for an Australian room where the natural world should be the main subject.

Australia, eastern Asia, the island arcs and the Pacific basin form a continuous view. The ocean occupies the attention it deserves. Environmental colours and relief give readers reasons to linger after they have located the familiar places.

For a paired display, place it beside the Pacific-centred political map. One helps identify the places people are discussing. The other encourages them to look at the world those places occupy.

Neither requires the other to be useful. Together, they reward comparison in a way that two versions of the same subject rarely can.

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The best classroom choice: make the comparison visible

If a classroom can accommodate two world maps, I would choose a political and physical pair with the same centre.

That keeps the geography in a familiar position while the information changes. Students spend less time relocating themselves and more time asking why the two maps look different.

For many Australian classrooms, the Pacific-centred pair is a useful starting point. For a course or display with a stronger Africa-and-Atlantic focus, choose the Africa-centred pair. The important thing is that the choice serves the lesson.

A matched pair gives a class two ways to investigate the same region. AI-assisted classroom illustration: room, mounting and display scale are illustrative.

A short lesson with a long afterlife

Begin by asking students to find the same country on both maps. What helped them identify it? Which map made the task easier? What happened to the border?

Next, choose a physical feature that extends beyond one country. Follow it on the physical map, then use the political map to identify the countries along the way.

Finally, ask what each map leaves out. Where is current rainfall? Where are population density, language, wealth, shipping activity or forest loss? The answer is that they require additional maps or datasets.

This is a useful lesson in selection. Every map shows something and omits something. Good map reading includes recognising both.

It also avoids turning the exercise into a contest with one winning map. Students can explain why a particular design is better suited to a particular question.

Keep the world, Australia and a globe in conversation

A world map supplies the overview. An Australian map can provide the national detail that will never fit comfortably on a world sheet. A globe supplies a reminder of the curved surface from which both began.

Our Australian Wall Maps collection is the current place to compare national wall maps. For a broader teaching setup, see Classroom Maps Australia: The Best World and Australia Wall Maps for Schools.

The Best Equal Earth Maps for Schools looks at choosing layouts for teaching. How Maps Improve Spatial Thinking explores the value of relating places and patterns, rather than learning names in isolation.

A map becomes much more useful when it is part of a conversation, rather than something students are expected to absorb by proximity.

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Choosing for a home, office or newsroom

For a home, I would begin with the sort of curiosity already present in the room.

If the family follows international news, plans trips or enjoys finding countries mentioned in books and films, a political map will earn its place quickly. If someone regularly stops to admire a mountain range, an island chain or the pattern of a desert, the physical version may be the one they return to most often.

For an office, consider the work. Countries, capitals and regional relationships often make political mapping the useful first purchase. A physical map can add context where terrain, water, environments and broad geographical constraints matter to the conversation.

The visual difference should not become an excuse to overclaim. A world physical map does not replace a supply-chain analysis, a current shipping chart or a site assessment. What it does well is put the discussion into a shared geographical setting.

In a newsroom, I would like to see both within reach. One can establish the country and its neighbours. The other can show the wider physical pattern. A report about an event in a mountain region deserves more than a dot on an otherwise featureless country shape.

At home, there is also a perfectly reasonable answer that does not require a utilitarian defence: choose the map you most want to look at.

A well-used wall map is often one that attracts a second glance. The most educational feature in the world achieves little if nobody feels like walking over to it.

Sizes and finishes: choosing the map you will actually read

All four maps are available in three widths. The political and physical designs have slightly different proportions, so equal widths do not produce identical heights.

Dimensions checked against the four product listings on 5 October 2026. Allow for the chosen mounting and finishing arrangement when measuring your wall.

For a pair, the same nominal width is a good starting point. The different heights reflect the artwork proportions; they are not a reason to stretch one map to match the other. Aligning their centres or top edges can give a deliberate, orderly display.

Think about the distance from which people will read the map. A map above a desk can be inspected closely. A map across a classroom needs enough size for the important information to remain useful. Enlarging the print makes existing detail easier to inspect; it does not add extra geographical content.

Paper suits framing and straightforward display. Lamination is useful for a map that will be handled or used regularly. Canvas offers a more textured presentation. Timber hang rails provide a finished hanging option without requiring a conventional frame.

Our product pages list the available combinations: paper, laminated, laminated with timber rails, canvas, and canvas with timber rails. Choose the finish according to how the map will be displayed and used, then check the current product options before ordering.

If legibility is the priority, consider the room's light as well as the print size. A beautifully positioned lamp can become rather less beautiful when its reflection sits across the country you are trying to read.

Our What Size Wall Map Do I Need? guide goes into viewing distance and placement. How to Choose a Wall Map covers the broader buying decisions.

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Eight map facts worth taking away

1. Equal Earth is newer than many people think—and older than the latest headlines

The projection was introduced in 2018. A new retail edition or a newly added physical map is a different event from the invention of the projection. Those dates should not be collapsed into one story.

2. Africa's size does not depend on the colour of the map

Political and physical Equal Earth maps preserve the same relative geographical areas. Replacing country colours with environmental colours does not make Africa more or less equal-area.

3. The Pacific is big enough to deserve the middle

According to NOAA's Pacific Ocean overview, the Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean basin, with an area greater than all the continents combined. That is an area comparison, rather than an invitation to pack their outlines into the blue like puzzle pieces. Its scale is a good reason to spend time with a Pacific-centred map, even if that arrangement initially feels unfamiliar.

4. The longest mountain system is largely hidden by water

The global mid-ocean ridge system runs for roughly 65,000 kilometres. NOAA identifies it as the world's longest mountain range. The familiar mountain chains on land are only part of the planet's relief story.

5. A map can show an environment without showing today's land use

The physical Equal Earth design's environmental base is not a live satellite image. Its natural-colour treatment helps explain broad environments. A current land-cover or forest-change question needs a dated source designed to answer it.

6. The centre is a decision; the world is continuous

Moving from 0° to 150°E changes where the world meets the sides of the page. The seam moves into the Atlantic. Australia gains prominence in the composition, while its proportionate area remains the same.

7. A desert can be covered in ice

The British Antarctic Survey explains that the low precipitation in much of Antarctica's interior makes it a desert. Sand and heat are not requirements. A map may show that region using an ice or glacier category, which is a useful reminder that “desert” and “ice-covered” describe different characteristics and can both be true.

8. Not every line in the Pacific is a maritime boundary

The design account for the political Equal Earth map explains that soft grey outlines help readers associate scattered island groups. Those grouping lines do not represent maritime boundaries. It is a small design detail with a large lesson attached: always establish what a symbol means before building an argument around it.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between political and physical Equal Earth maps?

Political editions emphasise countries, international boundaries, capitals and cities. The physical editions discussed here emphasise terrain, environments, rivers, lakes and the ocean floor, with country boundaries omitted. Both use the Equal Earth projection and preserve relative geographical areas.

Is a physical Equal Earth map more accurate than a political one?

It provides a different kind of information. The equal-area property is shared. A physical map is more useful for reading the physical landscape; a political map is more useful for identifying countries and their boundaries. Neither preserves every distance, direction or shape.

Do the physical maps show country borders?

No. These particular Equal Earth physical designs deliberately omit country boundary lines. Other physical maps can include borders, so it is worth checking the specific design rather than assuming all physical maps are alike.

Are the colours on the physical map elevations?

They primarily represent broad environments and vegetation or land-cover categories, with terrain described through relief shading and geographical information. Read the map's own legend. Do not apply a generic green-low, brown-high rule to this design.

Is it a satellite photograph of the Earth?

No. It is a designed cartographic product combining geographical data, environmental colours, relief and labels. It should not be treated as a real-time picture of vegetation, farming, cities or environmental change.

Which layout is best for Australia?

I would usually begin with Pacific-centred for Australian regional discussion because it keeps Australia, eastern Asia and the Pacific together. Africa-centred remains a useful choice when the Atlantic, Africa and surrounding regions are the main interest.

Does Pacific-centred mean Australia is exactly in the middle?

It refers here to a world-map layout using a central meridian of 150°E. Australia is prominent, but the phrase does not mean that the geographical centre of Australia coincides with the exact centre of the printed sheet.

Is the physical map suitable for bushwalking or navigation?

It is a world overview. Use an appropriate regional or detailed topographic map for terrain planning, and suitable navigation resources for a journey. The word “physical” does not turn a world wall map into a detailed field map.

Can I buy political and physical versions as a matching pair?

Yes: choose the same centre and nominal width from the four linked products. Check the dimension table because the physical artwork is slightly taller at a given width. Keep each map's proportions when arranging or framing the pair.

Which map would you choose if there is room for only one?

For general country reference, I would choose political. For a room where the main pleasure is exploring terrain, environments and ocean geography, I would choose physical. For many Australian readers, the Pacific-centred version of either is a useful starting point.

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The pleasure of seeing the same world twice

What appeals to me about this range is how naturally the maps encourage a second question.

You find a country on the political map, then look for its landscape on the physical one. You follow a mountain system, then return to see which countries it crosses. You look at a Pacific island and begin to consider the enormous ocean around it.

The two maps reward different kinds of attention. Together, they make it easier to connect the geography of people with the physical world they inhabit.

If you want a practical everyday reference, begin with the Pacific-centred political map or the Africa-centred political map.

If the landscape is what holds your attention, explore the Pacific-centred physical map and the Africa-centred physical map.

And if you are fortunate enough to have room for a pair, choose the same centre and let them sit beside one another.

You already know where the world is. The pleasure is discovering how much more there is to see.

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Written by Christopher O’Keeffe
Managing Director of Mapworld and specialist in maps, navigation and cartographic products. 

AI transparency: This article was prepared under the authorship and editorial control of Christopher O’Keeffe using AI-assisted research, drafting or production tools. Its substantive content was reviewed and approved by the author. Mapworld retains editorial responsibility. Read our Content Policy.

Sources and further reading

• Šavrič, B., Patterson, T. and Jenny, B. The Equal Earth map projection: original research, first published online in 2018.
• PROJ. Equal Earth projection documentation: projection background, authors and central-meridian parameter.
• Patterson, T. Equal Earth political world maps and Equal Earth Physical Map: original cartographic project, themes, editions and downloads.
• Patterson, T. Natural Earth II: World environment map: explanation of the environmental-colour approach.
• International Cartographic Association. 2019 International Cartographic Exhibition catalogue: Equal Earth physical-map entry and its natural-environment treatment.
• Gastner, M. T. and Kerkovits, K., ICA Commission on Map Projections. Choosing World Map Projections: purpose-based guidance and limitations of universal accuracy claims.
• NOAA. What is the largest ocean basin on Earth? and What is the mid-ocean ridge?: ocean and underwater mountain-system context.
• US Geological Survey. The Himalayas: the Indian–Eurasian continental collision.
• British Antarctic Survey. Antarctica: the contrast between coastal snowfall and the dry interior.
• Esri, ArcUser. New Map Projection Meets Cartographic Needs and Desires: the projection's development and the wall map's design, including island-group outlines.

Related Mapworld reading: The Equal Earth Map Explained, Political vs Physical World Maps, The Best Equal Earth Maps for Schools, Maps for Geopolitical Analysis and What Size Wall Map Do I Need?.

Relevant collections: World Wall Maps, Australian Wall Maps and our wider Wall Maps range.

Image credits: map artwork by Tom Patterson / Equal Earth, supplied by Mapworld. Figures 2 and 3 reproduce the supplied artwork at its original aspect ratio. Figures 1 and 4 are AI-assisted editorial interior illustrations. They are not photographs of installed maps.

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