You won't get a proper global Mercator map through light projection (a so called geometric projection) from a sphere, the relation is purely mathematical. A ce

You won't get a proper global Mercator map through light projection (a so called geometric projection) from a sphere, the relation is purely mathematical. A central cylindrical projection is what you get when you put a light in the center of a sphere and project that on a cylinder http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjCyl/ProjCEA/projCEA.html http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjCyl/ProjCE... https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=User:Peter_Mercator/Draft_for_Mercator#Mercator:_the_rhumb_straightened https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=User:Peter_Mercator/Draft_fo... You could get pretty close with Braun type stereographical for non-global uses with a fixed light source. http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/CartHow/HowBraunC/howBraunC.html http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/CartHow/HowBra...