The recent debate about the world map illustrates a surprisingly fundamental problem: we are still trying to represent a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional surface.
The United Nations General Assembly has now endorsed a non-binding resolution promoting more accurate representations of the relative size of continents, following a campaign led by Togo and supported by African countries. The familiar Mercator projection considerably exaggerates areas towards the poles, while making equatorial regions such as Africa appear comparatively smaller.
The discussion is understandable — but from a technological perspective, it is also somewhat unnecessary.
Why argue about which flat map is the fairest representation of the Earth when the Earth is not flat in the first place?
A globe solves the fundamental problem immediately. Africa does not have to be made larger on a particular projection. Greenland does not have to be made smaller. Europe does not have to be repositioned. The user can simply look at the actual three-dimensional relationship between the land masses.
This is precisely the type of problem that Data2Space is designed to address.
From representation to reality
A two-dimensional representation inevitably requires compromises. Different projections preserve different properties: area, angles, distances or directions. There is no single flat map that perfectly represents the spherical Earth.
In three dimensions, however, the basic geometry of the globe can be retained.
The same principle becomes much more important when we move from geography to finance.
Financial decisions should ultimately be based on the actual relationships and circumstances represented by the data — not on a politically desirable visual impression of them.
This may include:
- the true scale of an economic market,
- ownership and control relationships,
- dependencies between companies,
- geographical concentration of risks,
- climate-risk exposure,
- capital flows,
- financial dependencies,
- or alternative economic scenarios.
A two-dimensional chart can communicate these relationships, but it can also force the analyst to simplify them.
Data2Space provides another option: model the relevant system spatially and allow the user to explore it.
| Two-dimensional representation | Spatial representation with Data2Space |
|---|---|
| Information is constrained by the projection | Information can be arranged in three dimensions |
| Relationships may overlap | Relationships can be separated spatially |
| Comparisons often require switching views | Multiple models can coexist |
| Scale is constrained by the display | The analytical environment can extend around the user |
| Interpretation depends heavily on the chosen representation | Users can explore different perspectives |
| Complex systems are displayed | Complex systems can be explored |
What matters in finance is what is actually there
The lesson from cartography is particularly relevant to financial analysis.
If a map can create a misleading impression simply because of the way a three-dimensional reality is projected onto a flat surface, the same principle applies to financial information.
A company may look simple in an organisational chart but prove highly interconnected when its ownership relationships are examined spatially. A risk may appear insignificant in a table but become obvious when its geographical distribution is visualised. Two scenarios may look almost identical in a conventional chart while their underlying structures differ substantially.
The objective should therefore not be to create the most politically appealing picture.
It should be to create the most informative representation of reality.
This is where Data2Space can provide a decisive advantage. Instead of continually improving the rectangle on which information is displayed, it allows users to move beyond the rectangle itself.
The question is no longer:
Which 2D representation should we choose?
It becomes:
How can we represent the underlying system in three-dimensional space so that its relationships can actually be explored?
That is a much more productive question for financial decision-making.
The debate about world maps therefore points to a larger opportunity. Rather than endlessly discussing which two-dimensional representation best approximates reality, we can increasingly use technology to experience information in dimensions closer to those in which the underlying systems actually exist.
For geography, that means the globe. For finance, it means spatial models of the financial world.
Data2Space brings this principle into practical financial analysis: less argument about how reality should look on a screen — and more opportunity to explore what the reality actually is.