Mercator Projection Map/Globe

Nothing displaying the Earth's cartography can be as accurate as a globe. This is a fact.

There is no way to represent the Earth on a flat surface without distorting some of the elements of the world. Maps however are still very popular and can still be educational. World maps can also make excellent furniture in a living room or hall way. For these reasons here at JustGlobes we have created a "World Maps" link on the left hand side of the site and under the "products" tab at the top of the site.

We have selected what we feel are the best world maps from a number of different suppliers. Also we have a range large enough to suit most tastes and budgets. From childrens maps featuring hundreds of animals as well as country names etc to maps of the Milky Way and the rest of the universe, from satellite cartography to a wide range of projection maps.

This particular page focuses on the Mercator projection that is used on a number of maps today. The use of a projection is to translate the cartography on a world globe onto a flat surface, at the same time minimising the distortion that would occur in the process.

The Mercator projection was first presented by a Belgian geographer and cartographer called Gerardus Mercator, in 1569. It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes due to its ability to present lines of constant course as straight segments. It also keeps a constant linear scale thus preserving the angles and shapes of small objects.

The downside of the Mercator projection is that the relative size of countries away from the equator gets progressively more inaccurate. For example Greenland appears larger than Africa when in fact Africa is 4 times larger.

The Mercator projection is still widely used in countries by the equator as distortion is negligible at these points.

Interestingly Google Maps uses a variant of the Mercator projection for its map images. Despite the aforementioned flaws of the Mercator projection it is well-suited to an interactive world map that can be zoomed easily to large scale local maps.

Many people today still prefer the Mercator maps to other maps as they were likely present in classrooms in the late 20^th century.