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The more you zoom in, the better Mercator should be. That's a big part of why Web Mercator exists: there are no other options beyond mercator if you want a proj
by xvedejas 5y ago
The more you zoom in, the better Mercator should be. That's a big part of why Web Mercator exists: there are no other options beyond mercator if you want a projection where north is always up, and right-angle street intersections look correct at any latitude. You can't notice the scale difference when zoomed in somewhere.
Going super close to the poles should be a challenge for both mercator and equirectangular projections, but at least Mercator won't distort shapes at the same time (and neither is globally accurate for area).
- xvedejas 5y agoTo add a bit more detail: the amount you have to zoom in for shapes to look right will increase with absolute latitude. So the equator pretty much always looks good on Mercator, Europe looks good if you're looking at the continent scale, but then in Greenland and Antarctica you'll need to be zoomed in to a regional or city-size, or even closer in. So when it's really important to get a broad-scale view near the poles, map makers will switch to something like a polar stereographic projection or similar. (I've personally just used a transverse mercator projection (whatever UTM zone is most convenient) when doing data analysis near the poles.)
- cozzyd 5y agoplays around in QGIS yeah, you're completely right!