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Yes, there are two properties that are important for Google Maps: 1. Mercator is conformal, which means angles are preserved. So if you zoom into any small par
by jasondavies 14y ago
Yes, there are two properties that are important for Google Maps:
1. Mercator is conformal, which means angles are preserved. So if you zoom into any small part of the map, it will look right. Equal-area maps distort angles.
2. North is always in the same direction—up. Together with the conformal property, it means that all directions are preserved: North, South, and everything else.
The primary use case for Google Maps is not to show the whole world at once, rather it is targeted at street-level mapping. Hence, Mercator is an ideal choice.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- schiffern 14y agoOf course, Google Maps isn't subject to the same limitations as paper maps – the projection could vary with both position and zoom level. There are design and technical concerns, but they are not insurmountable. After all, if you ignore tilting then Google Earth is essentially a dynamically redrawn (position and scale variant!) planar map projection. With the proliferation of vector maps on mobile and WebGL in the browser, it seems like a solution could be found.
- finnw 14y agoInteresting. From this description I would expect that mercator would always agree with lat/long in terms of "Is X North or South of Y" questions. However, Albany (Australia) appears to be South of Melbourne when in its starting position on this map (inverted when moved to its correct position.) How is this possible?