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The Mercator projection is a common map projection that is often used in classrooms and on Google Maps. However, critics argue that it gives users a distorted sense of the true size of countries, particularly Africa, which appears to be the same size as Greenland, when it is actually 14 times larger. Australia is another country that appears smaller on the Mercator projection than it is in reality. The True Size website created an interactive map inspired by the Mercator projection, which allows users to compare the size of Australia to other countries and continents.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Map Projection that shows the true size of Australia | The True Size |
| Inspiration | Mercator Projection |
| Land Mass of Australia | 7.7 million square kilometres |
| Comparison with the United States | Almost the same size in square miles |
| Comparison with Europe | Almost covers the whole of Europe |
| Comparison with Greenland | Over 4 million square kilometres bigger than Greenland |
| Comparison with the United Kingdom | The UK appears to shrink when dragged below the equator and is dwarfed by Australia |
| Comparison with California | California is almost twice the size of the UK |
| Distortion | The Mercator Projection exaggerates areas far from the equator; the closer to the poles, the greater the distortion |
| Criticism | Critics argue that the Mercator Projection gives users a warped sense of the true size of countries, especially Africa |
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What You'll Learn
- The Mercator projection is not suitable for showing the true size of countries
- The True Size website's interactive map reveals Australia's size
- The Mercator projection was designed for ocean-going navigators
- The Mercator projection distorts the size and shape of countries
- Google Maps now uses 3D Globe Mode to avoid map projection issues
The Mercator projection is not suitable for showing the true size of countries
The Mercator projection is a common way of representing the Earth in 2D, and it is often used in maps. However, it is not suitable for showing the true size of countries due to its inherent distortions. This projection was designed for navigation, and it preserves the exact angles of roads and borders. While it is useful for navigation, it does not accurately represent the size of countries, especially those far from the equator.
The Mercator projection was created by projecting points from a sphere onto a tangent cylinder, resulting in straight radial lines. This method causes extreme distortion for areas far from the equator, and the closer to the poles, the greater the distortion. For example, Greenland appears the same size as Africa on a Mercator projection, but in reality, Africa is 14 times larger. Similarly, Madagascar and Great Britain appear to be similar in size, but Madagascar is more than twice as large.
The Mercator projection also affects the perception of the size of countries near the equator, making them appear smaller in comparison to those in Europe and North America. This has led to the conjecture that it influences people's views of the world, causing them to consider countries near the equator as less important. Critics like George Kellaway and Irving Fisher argue that this projection gives users a warped sense of the true size of countries, particularly in the case of the African continent.
Furthermore, the Mercator projection does not account for the decrease in distance between longitude lines as one moves towards the poles on a globe. In a Mercator projection, the longitude lines are shown as equidistant regardless of latitude, leading to a misrepresentation of the true size of countries. This is why countries like Russia and Canada appear much larger on a Mercator projection than they actually are.
In summary, while the Mercator projection has its uses, particularly in navigation, it is not suitable for accurately representing the true size of countries. Its distortions, especially for areas far from the equator and near the poles, lead to a warped sense of the relative sizes of countries. To overcome this, alternative projections or 3D globe representations should be used to provide a more accurate depiction of the Earth's surface and the sizes of countries.
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The True Size website's interactive map reveals Australia's size
The True Size is an interactive map that reveals the actual size of Australia in comparison to other countries. The map was created by James Talmage and Damon Maneice and was inspired by the Mercator projection. The Mercator projection is a way to make a 2D map accurately resemble the earth, but it often distorts the true size of countries, particularly those further from the equator.
The True Size map allows users to create outlines of chosen countries and continents and drag the coloured shapes around to see how they compare to other parts of the world. This means that when the outlined continents are dragged around, they increase and decrease in size depending on how close they are to the equator. For example, Australia appears to drastically 'grow' when shifted up to sit over Russia and Kazakhstan, which has a land mass of 2.7 million square kilometres and fits snugly within Australia.
The map reveals that Australia nearly covers the whole of Europe and when placed next to the United States (minus Alaska and Hawaii), the two appear to be the exact same size. Australia's land mass of 7.7 million square kilometres also completely dwarfs the United Kingdom, which appears to shrink when dragged below the equator.
The True Size map offers a more realistic perspective of world geography and challenges common misconceptions about country sizes. It is a fun tool that allows users to drag and drop countries on top of others to see their actual sizes in comparison to how they are usually depicted on a map.
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The Mercator projection was designed for ocean-going navigators
The Mercator projection is a conformal cylindrical map projection first presented by Flemish geographer and mapmaker Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It was designed for use in marine navigation because of its unique property of representing any course of constant bearing as a straight segment. Such a course, known as a rhumb (or rhumb line/loxodrome), is preferred in marine navigation because ships can sail in a constant compass direction. This reduces the need for error-prone course corrections.
The Mercator projection was a major breakthrough in nautical cartography in the 16th century, but it was ahead of its time. Old navigational and surveying techniques were not compatible with its use in navigation. It could only be fully adopted by navigators in the 18th century, after the invention of the marine chronometer and the discovery of the spatial distribution of magnetic declination.
The Mercator projection is widely used for navigation charts, as any straight line on a Mercator projection map is a line of constant true bearing. This allows a navigator to plot a straight-line course. However, it is less practical for world maps because the scale is distorted; areas farther away from the equator appear disproportionately large. For example, Greenland appears larger than South America on a Mercator projection, but in reality, South America is over one and a half times as large.
The Mercator projection was, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, perhaps the most common projection used in world maps. Atlases largely stopped using the Mercator projection for world maps in the 1940s, opting for other cylindrical projections or forms of equal-area projection. Despite criticisms of its distortion, the Mercator projection is still widely used today, particularly for marine navigation and internet web maps.
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The Mercator projection distorts the size and shape of countries
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical projection that was created by the cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It is widely used for navigation charts because it maps trajectories of constant bearing (called rhumb lines or loxodromes) on a sphere to straight lines on the map. This means that any straight line on a Mercator projection map is a line of constant true bearing, which enables navigators to plot a straight-line course.
However, the Mercator projection is less suitable for world maps because it distorts the size and shape of countries. This distortion occurs because the Mercator projection maps a spherical object (the Earth) onto a 2D surface. The projection exaggerates areas far from the equator, and the closer to the Earth's poles, the greater the distortion. For example, Greenland appears the same size as Africa on a Mercator projection, when in reality, Africa's area is 14 times as large. Similarly, Madagascar and Great Britain look about the same size, while Madagascar is actually more than twice as large as Great Britain.
Critics such as George Kellaway and Irving Fisher argue that the Mercator projection gives users a warped sense of the true size of countries, particularly in the case of the African continent. They consider the projection unsuitable for general world maps because it shows countries near the equator as too small when compared to those of Europe and North America, which may cause people to consider those countries as less important.
To address these distortions, mapmakers have turned to other cylindrical projections or forms of equal-area projection. For example, Mercator himself used the equal-area sinusoidal projection to show relative areas. In recent years, Google has also adopted different projections for different purposes, including a 3D Globe Mode that provides a more accurate representation of the Earth's spherical form.
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Google Maps now uses 3D Globe Mode to avoid map projection issues
The Mercator projection is a common world map that we are most familiar with. However, it is not the best map to refer to when trying to understand the true size of Australia. This is because the Mercator projection was designed for ocean-going navigators and not to show the related sizes of continents. As a result, Australia looks much smaller in comparison to the United States, when in reality, the two countries are almost the same size.
To address the limitations of 2D map projections, Google Maps introduced a 3D Globe Mode in 2018. This update meant that when users zoomed out, they would see a view of the globe from space, rather than a flat map. Google's 3D Globe Mode is based on a different data set that uses lat-lng 'squares' with extra triangles to cover the poles. This new mode helps to avoid the issues inherent in projecting a three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface.
The 3D Globe Mode also corrects the relative sizes of Greenland and Africa. On a 2D map, these two landmasses appear to be similar in size, but in reality, Africa is over 11 million square miles, while Greenland is only 836,300 square miles. This discrepancy is due to the need to compensate for the circular shape of the Earth on a flat map, which stretches out countries.
Google's adoption of a 3D Globe Mode is a significant step towards more accurate and accessible geographic information. It is worth noting that other mapping platforms, such as Apple Maps, continue to use a flat projection of the Earth.
While the 3D Globe Mode in Google Maps provides a more realistic representation of the Earth, it is important to recognize that all map projections involve some level of distortion. The Mercator projection, for example, has been criticized for its exaggeration of areas far from the equator, with increasing distortion towards the Earth's poles.
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Frequently asked questions
No map projection can show the true size of Australia or any other country, as they all distort the true layout of the Earth's surface to some degree. However, the Mercator projection is often criticised for giving users a warped sense of the true size of countries, particularly in the case of the African continent.
The Mercator projection was designed for ocean-going navigators, not to show the relative sizes of continents. It was created to preserve the exact angles of roads and borders, which is useful for navigation.
The Mercator projection exaggerates areas far from the equator; the closer to the Earth's poles, the greater the distortion. For example, Greenland appears the same size as Africa, when in reality, Africa is 14 times larger.
Yes, Google Maps has started using different projections for different purposes. At further zoom levels, Google Maps depicts the Earth as a globe, sidestepping map projection issues and displaying the world as it is: round.
