A metrological reflection on uncertainty about the use of maps instead of global parameters

Abstract

Recently, there has been an abnormal use of global parameters not only in economical fields, but also in scientific ones, like meteorology and climate. They are supposed to convey in a clear way the most important significance in the changes of numerical parameters. However, synthetic global parameters may miss the complexity of the issue that they are intended to qualify, so that trivializing their meaning. The paper discusses the fact that this effect is more than trivialization because the evaluation of a map, e.g. an Earth map, which is often contrasted, is less sensitive to the uncertainty that shall always be associated with any type of information, namely the numerical one, when the uncertainty evaluation is associated with the parameter value. In most cases, and especially when the map shows a great variety of situations, a visual examination allows, even to a scientist, different methods for a more reliable evaluation. General cases are reported to exemplify the above statement.