User:Omphalographer/On the matter of flag maps

[WIP]

The use of flag maps should be avoided in educational content. If the intent is to show a country's flag, its flag should be shown in full, not overlaid on a map. If the intent is to show a map of a country or larger region, a standard map should be used which assigns colors to countries.

What's wrong with flag maps?

Flag maps distort flags

Most flags (with a few notable exceptions) are rectangular. Countries are hardly so simple. This discrepancy in shapes means that flag maps must necessarily make alterations to the flag to make it fit the map, either by trimming bits off the corners, extending the background of the flag, or by making even more severe changes.

New Zealand serves as an excellent example of this problem. The flag of New Zealand is cantoned with the Union Jack and augmented with four stars. Both elements are critical to the identity of the flag; with either of them relocated or hidden, the flag is not recognizable, or may be confused with other flags (like the flag of Australia or the UK).

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  New Zealand
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  New Zealand's flag

However, the locations of these elements is poorly suited to the geography of New Zealand. In a typical map projection, there's no land in the upper left, so the Union Jack has nowhere to go, and the Southern Cross is hard to show in full either. The authors of these two flag maps tried to alter the flag to fit the map, but neither result does the flag justice.

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These issues are hardly unique to New Zealand, either. Many countries with oddly shaped borders, particularly ones with borders defined by coastlines (and especially islands!), make it difficult to accurately depict a flag on the map.

Flag maps with multiple countries are hard to read

[WIP]

The flag map of the world shown below showcases a number of these problems - by its nature, it's a huge mess, and some areas like the boundaries between Russia, Mongolia, and China are particularly hard to read because all three flags have a similar shade of red in that area.

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