Traditional world maps are mostly centered on the equator and project the round world as a rectangle or ellipse. This means the world has to be broken up along the edges, usually in the middle of an ocean (east/west) or at the poles (north/south), and map users get a comparatively unhelpful idea of where places are relative to their homeland. Equator-centered world maps such as Mercator or Peters or any one of Robinson’s projections all distort distance relationships, making it look as though the shortest routes between cities invariably follow lines of latitude. The map user has no idea that direct routes often go over or near the poles or across a divided Ocean.  In short, anyone interested in the geopolitical relationships of their country or the shortest travel routes to the rest of the world is poorly served by most world maps in use today.
THIS IS AN INDISPENSABLE MAP FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA. Only a globe can outdo this amazing new world map from ODT, yet this map may even outdo a globe, by making it possible for Americans to see the entire world at a glance as it unfolds around their country, something globe users themselves are denied by the facts of spherical geometry.