Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country Essay

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Mercator is a commonly used projection, but it does not adequately represent the real size of the country. The most common complaint is that the size of the country is extremely biased. The sizes of Greenland and Africa are classic examples. According to the Mercator projector, they have the same size. The Mercator projection mistakenly exaggerates the size of Europe and North America. Greenland, which appears as a huge frozen land in the Mercator projection, has shrunk dramatically. The African Continent occupies a far more prominent place on this new life-size map. Distorted sizes aren’t just worrisome, as they give the wrong impression of what the world looks like. In relation to non-white nations, Mercator is expanding and perhaps increasing the importance of white nations.

As far as I know, the real size of a country differs from the size illustrated by the Mercator projection. I started to get a new perspective on the world with a new map. One of them is Google Maps, where at higher zoom settings, the Earth will appear as a globe. This completely avoids the difficulty of map projection and displays the planet as it is in a circle (Setiawan & Sediyono, 2017). This means that countries and land are more accurately mapped. Users often use maps at narrower zoom levels, such as for navigation designed with the Mercator projection. The exact angle between the lane and the boundary is preserved in this projection.

In an increasingly globalized world, having relevant geographic knowledge is essential. Misunderstandings about the size of continents can disappear as people become accustomed to maps of the same area and the spherical Earth. My view of the world changed when I realized that the Mercator projection wasn’t accurate. I understand that the actual size of a country may differ from the size and proportions shown on the map.

Reference

Setiawan, A., & Sediyono, E. (2017). Using google maps and spherical quadrilateral approach method for land area measurement. In 2017 International Conference on Computer, Control, Informatics and its Applications (IC3INA) (pp. 85-88). IEEE. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, December 16). Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country. https://ivypanda.com/essays/does-mercator-projection-adequately-represent-the-real-size-of-the-country/

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"Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country." IvyPanda, 16 Dec. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/does-mercator-projection-adequately-represent-the-real-size-of-the-country/.

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IvyPanda. (2022) 'Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country'. 16 December.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country." December 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/does-mercator-projection-adequately-represent-the-real-size-of-the-country/.

1. IvyPanda. "Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country." December 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/does-mercator-projection-adequately-represent-the-real-size-of-the-country/.


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IvyPanda. "Does Mercator Projection Adequately Represent the Real Size of the Country." December 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/does-mercator-projection-adequately-represent-the-real-size-of-the-country/.

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