+103 The Mercator projection is over-hated, amirite?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

>sailor who needs everything to be accurate? Mercator projection actually made navigation easier and was the preferred map used by sailors. That's why it became the default one in the first place.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Europeans love Mercator because it makes it look bigger. Other maps show it's true size and it's comical how small Europe really is

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You really think Europe cares how big it is on a map? It's not a dick measuring contest.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Well, it makes everything on the edges of the map look even bigger .... It makes europe look to big in comparison to africa, but it makes russia even bigger. The factor that makes europe look "special" on mercator is that it's right in the center.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I'm European, and we really don't care. It's just a map.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Pre-GPS Mercator was popular because it was easy to chart courses on because of latitude and longitude being in straight lines. That is the purpose it was made for. It's prevalence has nothing to do with distorting the size of Europe to make it look bigger, and everything to do with its utility. You could argue that centering maps around Europe is Eurocentrism, but not the size distortion.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You understand that the Mercator projection makes areas near the equator look normal, and everything else look huge, yes?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yes. I've said so in other replies

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Meaning europe looks almost normal

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Greenland must really love it. Mercator makes it look larger than South America.

by Anonymous 1 year ago