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I wish schools would stop using it so much. Mercator is useful, yes. But having good size comparisons is much more important for most everyday tasks.
by HdS84 1y ago
I wish schools would stop using it so much. Mercator is useful, yes. But having good size comparisons is much more important for most everyday tasks.
- pif 1y agoA flat map on a wall does not take any three-dimensional space. You can't say the same for a globe, though!
- Sharlin 1y agoIt's useful for navigation in the open ocean without satnav or even a chronometer, which is what it was designed for in the 1500s. Not for much else. Is the use of Mercator in schools common, globally? Based on what I've read on the internet it's common in the US, but I have no idea about other countries. In Finland I think I only ever saw Robinson or Winkel-tripel type compromise projections. Mercator was maybe used as an example of how projections distort things.
- scbrg 1y agoHuh. Swede here. Went to school in the 80:ies and 90:ies. Only ever saw Mercator. Perhaps things have changed since.
- HdS84 1y agoGerman is Mercator only. Learned about different projection on the internet years after school
- QuesnayJr 1y agoIt preserves angles, which is what makes it useful in navigation. Mercator is bad at relative sizes for places far apart, but when you look at a small patch shapes are less distorted. For that reason, online maps use a version of Mercator.
- globular-toast 1y agoI thought Mercator became popular due to online maps like Google using it. It's convenient for tiles because it's square. I don't think I've ever seen a Mercator map of the world printed out, though. Is that seriously a thing? It looks completely ridiculous. Every poster I've seen has been a more rectangular projection like Robinson.
- perilunar 1y agoGoogle Maps doesn't use Mercator — it uses a 3D globe. If you zoom out you can see the whole globe and there doesn't seem to be any jump where the projection changes, or any distortion of country sizes. Edit: I just noticed that Google Maps on Firefox and Chrome is indeed 3D, but on Safari it is 2D Mercator.
- dgfl 1y agoItalian here. We learned about the existence of different projections in school, but only used Mercator when actually discussing geography.
- xg15 1y agoI wonder if Mercator maps that aren't aligned with the equator would already do the trick. (pinging Randall Munroe)
- blueflow 1y agoWhich everyday tasks?