11/7/2022 0 Comments Actual map of the world![]() ![]() One end of the line starts in Pakistan and it passes between the African mainland and Madagascar, dips below Africa and South America, and ends up in Russia, in a place known as Kamchatka Karia. In my talks I show this image of the world where a curved line, almost like a sinus curve traverses the map. ![]() When drawing straight lines between countries they would in reality be curved and seemingly curved lines can in fact be mostly straight. It's about how the curvature of the Earth is misrepresented. There is another non-intuitive effect of flattening the globe in this way. Sweden superimposed on Madagascar, showing how Madagascar is larger. In reality, as shown below, Madagascar is 30% larger. On a world map based on the Mercator projection Sweden appears to be at least twice the size of Madagascar. Another favorite example of mine is Sweden superimposed on Madagascar. This also means that Europe and North America appear much larger than they really are in comparison to Central Africa and South America. The Mercator projection in its cylindrical appearance. Antarctica is of course nowhere as big as it appears here. A world map based on the Mercator projection is constructed as if the world was a cylinder rather than a globe. What is happening in the Mercator projection is that the further something is from the equator, the bigger it appears, because it is necessarily stretched out horizontally. The Mercator projection as a square, with Antarctica visible at the bottom. Those are the poles, where the north and south converge, respectively. That whole horizontal stretch of distance at the top and bottom should essentially be small dots. Now, think about how long the top and bottom sides of the map are. Remember, Antarctica hadn't yet been discovered when Mercator first introduced the map. #ACTUAL MAP OF THE WORLD FULL#The world map is what happened when the same projection was extended to include the whole world.Ĭonsider the full modern representation of a world map based on the Mercator projection that includes Antarctica. The Mercator projection is used for local navigation on a much smaller scale, where it makes sense. But should it? Obviously, nobody puts a world map in their lap and navigates based on that. So when using this projection on a map scaled for navigational use it's easier to find your way. Its purpose was to be used for maritime navigation and it served this purpose well since throughout the projection North is up and South is down, while local shapes and directions are maintained. The Mercator projection was originally presented by Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator back in 1569. Real size of Greenland overlaid on real size of Africa In reality of course Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland. Greenland and Africa, for example, look to be essentially the same size. In your head you likely use it to think about distances between countries, and of course the shapes and sizes of countries and continents. Here is the two-dimensional map you most likely know best, using the Mercator projection: A typical visual representation of the world: The Mercator ProjectionĬonsider your relationship to this map. Example Google image search: world map for classroom ![]()
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