Michael Moynihan: How mapping memory reveals the real story of Cork’s streets and spaces
That corner near Paul Street would be illustrated by a wrinkled nose. Picture: Denis Minihane
Readers are probably familiar with those maps you sometimes see online, the ones which purport to show things as they really are compared to how they’re usually represented on paper.
By ‘really look’, of course, I mean accurate dimensions. Take the famous case of Africa v Europe. According to the Mercator projection, which distorts landmass size, Africa is often shown on old maps as not much bigger than Europe. In reality, it’s bigger than the United States, China, India, Japan, and all of Europe put together. Look online and you’ll see what I mean.