Maps don't lie, but humans do
- Renata Barros
- Dec 12, 2025
- 6 min read
How science, storytelling, and bias converge every time we draw the world
Spark
It all started with an email from a Spanish fact-checking newsroom. A viral TikTok video had placed two maps side by side, one showing the forest fires that ravaged western Spain in August 2025, the other displaying the country’s mineral deposits. The conclusion was jumping off the screen: the overlap looked so perfect that the fires, viewers claimed, must have been lit in the interest of mining companies eager to clear the land for extracting rare earths. Needless to say, this came as a shock to the team who created the deposits map—part of the EU-funded Geological Service for Europe project—and to me, the project’s communicator. With the story gaining traction on TikTok, the journalist’s question was simple: is this true? The answer was an obvious no to us. But to make it obvious to everyone else, we need to look closer at what symbols on a map actually mean, and what they don’t.
For this, I’ll need your help. Think of a map of Belgium. What do you see? National borders, three regions, the biggest cities, maybe a few rivers? Some might find it easy to picture the road and rail networks, others the topography and land use, and others the ecological zones. A map is a blank canvas, a two-dimensional frame for representing something about a place. What is shown, and how, is strongly influenced by the humans behind it.
This point might become clearer if you now zoom out of Belgium and think of a world map. Chances are, the image in your mind looks remarkably similar to the one drawn by Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish geographer and cartographer who, in 1569, revolutionized navigation. He was among the first to merge sailors’ practical charts with global geography. The projection he designed remains extraordinarily useful for navigation even today. But like every map, it reflects the worldview of its creator.
