Most of the main criticisms of the Mercator projection are that it gives people a false impression of the size of the world’s landmasses. Greenland, for instance is not bigger than South America, but it appears to be on Mercator maps.
Map Projections. Advantage: The Mercator map projection shows the correct shapes of the continents and directions accurately. Disadvantage: The Mercator map projection does not show true distances or sizes of continents, especially near the north and south poles.
Beside this, What are the downfalls of the Mercator?
Disadvantages of Mercator’s projection: – Mercator’s projection does not preserve lengths or areas further from the equator – the smallest distance on the globe is not realized by a straight line on the map – not suitable for teaching geography and in political maps (this projection distorts areas and sizes of states …
Likewise, What is wrong with the Mercator projection?
Mercator maps distort the shape and relative size of continents, particularly near the poles. … The popular Mercator projection distorts the relative size of landmasses, exaggerating the size of land near the poles as compared to areas near the equator.
Also, What is a con negative characteristic of the Mercator map?
One of the worst characteristics of the Mercator, being a conformal map, is that it severely distorts area. Note the apparent sizes of Greenland and South America. If you only studied the Mercator, and haven’t looked at a globe, you would come to the conclusion that Greenland is as large or larger than South America.
What are the pros and cons of Mercator?
– Pros: Sailors loved it; preserves angles and directions in a small area.
– Cons: Bad for understanding the real size and shape of continents and countries.
– Related: After this video you’ll never trust a map again.
– Pros: The only ‘area-correct’ map of its time; got featured in The West Wing (S2E16)
25 Related Question Answers Found
What is good about the Mercator projection?
This projection is widely used for navigation charts, because any straight line on a Mercator projection map is a line of constant true bearing that enables a navigator to plot a straight-line course.
What is one disadvantage of the Mercator map projection?
Disadvantages: Mercator projection distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases from the Equator to the poles, where the scale becomes infinite. So, for example, Greenland and Antarctica appear much larger relative to land masses near the equator than they actually are.
What are the pros and cons of the Mercator projection?
– Pros: Sailors loved it; preserves angles and directions in a small area.
– Cons: Bad for understanding the real size and shape of continents and countries.
– Related: After this video you’ll never trust a map again.
– Pros: The only ‘area-correct’ map of its time; got featured in The West Wing (S2E16)
Why is the Mercator projection popular?
One of the most famous map projections is the Mercator, created by a Flemish cartographer and geographer, Geradus Mercator in 1569. It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant true direction. … Also, the lines of longitude are evenly spaced apart.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Mercator projection?
Advantage: The Mercator map projection shows the correct shapes of the continents and directions accurately. Disadvantage: The Mercator map projection does not show true distances or sizes of continents, especially near the north and south poles.
Why is Mercator still important today?
Because of the preserved 90° angles and straight lines of latitude and longitude, rhumb lines are also straight on the Mercator projection. … Due to this, the Mercator projection made world exploration much easier and became a essential map projection for navigation.
Why is Mercator projection bad?
The Mercator projection vastly exaggerates aged imperialist power, at the expense of developing countries and continents like Africa that are shrunk to inferiority.
What is bad about the Mercator projection?
Mercator maps distort the shape and relative size of continents, particularly near the poles. … The popular Mercator projection distorts the relative size of landmasses, exaggerating the size of land near the poles as compared to areas near the equator.
What are the pros and cons of using a Mercator map projection?
– Pros: Sailors loved it; preserves angles and directions in a small area.
– Cons: Bad for understanding the real size and shape of continents and countries.
– Related: After this video you’ll never trust a map again.
– Pros: The only ‘area-correct’ map of its time; got featured in The West Wing (S2E16)
What is one advantage of the Mercator projection and one disadvantage?
Advantage: The Mercator map projection shows the correct shapes of the continents and directions accurately. Disadvantage: The Mercator map projection does not show true distances or sizes of continents, especially near the north and south poles.
How does a Mercator map distort the world?
The popular Mercator projection distorts the relative size of landmasses, exaggerating the size of land near the poles as compared to areas near the equator. This map shows that in reality, Brazil is almost as large as Canada, even though it appears to be much smaller on Mercator maps.
Why is Mercator projection distortion?
Although the linear scale is equal in all directions around any point, thus preserving the angles and the shapes of small objects, the Mercator projection distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases from the equator to the poles, where the scale becomes infinite. …
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