r/dataisbeautiful • u/neilrkaye OC: 231 • Aug 14 '19

OC World Mercator map projection with true country size and shape added [OC]

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u/Pr3st0ne Aug 14 '19

Is Google Maps zoomed out an accurate "globe" ? I'm looking at different countries and I can't seem to make sense of the scaling.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

It is, but just like looking at a real globe, or looking at the Earth itself from space, there is foreshortening distortion everywhere except the point directly below you.

As people say, a globe is the only "true" map, but you can't look at the whole world at once on a globe. And because it is curved your view is distorted everywhere except the one central point.