3 ms·
The question is: why "areas" are more accurate than distances/angles in a map? So: this map has very good properties in some sense, very bad in others.
by pfortuny 10y ago
The question is: why "areas" are more accurate than distances/angles in a map?
So: this map has very good properties in some sense, very bad in others.
- JackFr 10y agoThat's simply it. Mercator won mindshare because it was most useful for people who needed maps to do their jobs. If I'm setting a course for some destination I don't really care what the land area of Greenland is, I want to know the correct heading. This map may solve some imaginary problem of public perception, but at the cost of losing valuable information easily gleaned from other maps,like northern and southern hemisphere, which places share the same latitude, which places share the same longitude. These are physical distinctions which matter.