The Mercator Projection: Advantages and Disadvantages of a Distorted World Representation

World maps have existed for over 5,000 years. In the world of cartography, there is one projection that is particularly well-known: the Mercator projection. This map projection, developed by Gerhard Mercator in the 16th century, has a long history and is widely used in many schools, books, and even navigation devices. Digital mapping services like Google Maps or OpenStreetMap also use the Mercator projection. However revolutionary this "standard world map" once was, the projection is highly controversial today.

The story behind the Mercator projection

Gerhard Mercator, a Flemish cartographer, astronomer, and mathematician, designed the Mercator projection in 1569. His goal was to develop a map that would allow sailors to draw courses as straight lines on the map, thus facilitating navigation at sea. For his projection, Mercator essentially unwrapped the globe onto a cylindrical surface, with the lines of longitude and latitude running as parallel vertical and horizontal lines.

Problems with the Mercator Projection: The Distortion of World Areas

Although the Mercator projection was revolutionary for navigation at sea, it has two fundamental problems. The main problem: By flattening the Earth's sphere into a rectangular, cylindrical shape, the area ratios of countries are significantly distorted towards the poles. This leads to countries at higher latitudes appearing much larger on the map than they actually are. An example of such an enlargement is the representation of Greenland, which is actually about the same size as the Arabian Peninsula, but appears two to three times larger on a Mercator map.

Another problem with the Mercator projection: The distortion of landforms

"In addition to the distortion of area ratios, there are also distortions of shapes. In the Mercator projection, countries closer to the equator appear correct in their shape, while countries at higher latitudes are stretched. Here again, Greenland or Alaska serve as very good negative examples."
 

Criticism and the most well-known alternative

Due to these distortions, the Mercator projection is often criticized by cartographers, geographers, and other professionals. The most well-known alternative was provided by Osborn Maitland Miller in 1942. He modified the Mercator projection so that the distances between the lines of latitude grow less significantly as one approaches the poles. This significantly reduces the area distortion. Greenland, Alaska, or Russia are therefore not as enormous as they appear in the Mercator projection. However, this world map also does not show the countries in their actual shape and is not area-true either. Therefore, cartographers today continue to research and develop a more optimal, accurate representation of our Earth.