FAQ — Mosaic-23 Xara
General questions
Is it a "correct" map? How distorted is it?
No 2D map can be geometrically perfect (it is mathematically impossible to represent a sphere on a plane without distortion). Mosaic-23 moves the distortion to the seams between continents — that is, to ocean or desert areas where it matters less. Within each continent, shapes and distances are nearly faithful.
Why 23 pieces and not more or fewer?
It is the practical balance between detail (more pieces = more fidelity within each piece) and readability (more pieces = more visible seams, more visual noise). 23 covers the main continents and regions with their own geographic personality (India, Arabia, Madagascar...) without fragmenting the whole.
Is it "the definitive map"?
No. It is one proposal among many possible ones. The goal is to offer a concrete alternative to Mercator, not to replace all other projections. Every projection is a tool: Mercator is still useful for navigation, Gall-Peters for thematic equal-area maps, Mosaic-23 for seeing the world "in plan view" with real sizes.
About the process
Is it an academic project?
No. It is an independent personal initiative. The author does not come from the academic cartographic world. She approached the challenge from a humanistic and pragmatic standpoint, not a mathematical one.
Was it based on previous work like AuthaGraph?
She arrived at the Mosaic-23 approach without taking previous work as a direct reference. The intention was to seek new solutions from scratch. Once the proposal was closed, it was situated with respect to precedents such as AuthaGraph (1999), Dymaxion (1943) and Equal Earth (2018) to make clear what it contributes anew.
How long did it take?
The author had been thinking about it for years — looking for a way to square the circle: represent the planet on a rectangular sheet of paper at real sizes. The specific idea of tessellating the world into geographic pieces, each projected from its own centre, matured mentally throughout that time without ever being translated into code.
The implementation was done in three intense days: it began on the afternoon of 22 May 2026, once she finally had it clear how to do it, and ended on 24 May 2026 after hundreds of iterations, an important change in the initial orientation, and manual and laborious work — per-piece adjustments, seams painted by hand to disguise discontinuities, case-by-case aesthetic decisions.
Someone with advanced technical training could refine it computationally. This proposal is presented as a "first viable version" born from a personal approach.
About licence and use
Can I use the map in my book / website / class?
Yes. The maps are under CC BY-SA 4.0 licence: free use (including commercial) as long as credit is given to the projection and derivative works are shared under the same licence. Attribution is required also if you use the method or create a derivative version — not only for direct reproduction of the images.
How should I cite it?
Short citation: "Real Earth · Mosaic-23 Xara" Full citation: "Real Earth · Mosaic-23 Xara projection (CC BY-SA 4.0) · realearth.cat" The home page of realearth.cat has a "How to cite" block with the texts ready to copy.
Can I modify it?
Yes, within the terms of CC BY-SA 4.0. If the modification is substantial (for example, recentring the map, changing the palette, generating variants), we recommend making it clear that it is a derivative version and citing the original.
Why is the generation code not open?
The intention is that the map circulates (the maps are free to use), but the code is not the heart of the contribution. The proposal is the conceptual and aesthetic approach, not a technical tool to generate infinite variants. The code is shared on demand for serious projects (educational, editorial, institutional) once the use case is understood, to avoid distorted versions that dilute the initial proposal.
Will there be more versions?
The website is not a repository of ongoing iterations. It is the author's proposal — her closed contribution to cartography. The visual variants (Terra, Sea-and-Land, Negative, Golden) already cover the intended uses.
About the goal
What do you want to achieve with this project?
For Mosaic-23 to become a viable alternative to Mercator in classrooms. Especially in primary and secondary education, where the mental image students form of the world is conditioned by the projection they see in their early years.
Are you open to collaborating with publishers / schools / institutions?
Yes, fully. The proposal is open to collaboration for: - Specific adaptations (recentring, changing palette, print resolutions) - Complementary educational materials - Academic and educational research - Thematic variants (political, physical, hydrographic maps)
Are you planning a 3D / interactive / web version?
For now, the proposal remains static and 2D. Someone else may refine it or expand its possibilities — the conceptual idea is available for anyone who wants to deepen it.
Contact
For press enquiries, collaborations or access to the code: contacte@realearth.cat.
To see other works by the author: xkno.cat.