what causes the distortion in the Mercator projection map?

Answer 1

Like all map projections, attempting to fit a curved surface onto a flat sheet, the shape of the map is a DISTORTION of the true layout of the Earth's surface. The Mercator projection EXAGGERATES the size and DISTORTS the shape of areas FAR from the EQUATOR. For example, Greenland is presented as being roughly as large as Africa, when in fact Africa's area is approximately 13 times that of Greenland as shown by Tissot's Indicatrix.

Although the Mercator projection is still in common use for navigation, critics argue that it is not suited to representing the entire world in publications and wall maps due to its distortion of land area. Mercator himself used the equal-area sinusoidal projection to show relative areas. As a result of these criticisms, modern atlases no longer use the Mercator projection for world maps or for areas distant from the equator, preferring other cylindrical projections, or forms of equal-area projection. The Mercator projection is still commonly used for areas near the equator.

Google Maps currently uses a Mercator projection for its map images, probably because a MAGNIFICATION of any small region of a Mercator map will appear undistorted in shape with north at the top. Despite its relative scale distortions, the Mercator is therefore well-suited to an interactive world map that can be panned and zoomed seamlessly to local maps.

Hope u find your way :P

Answer 2

Mercator Projection Distortion

Answer 3

All maps are distorted. Mercator is just the most noticeably so.

All maps are distorted because you're taking a 3-dimensional spheroid shape and turning it into a 2-dimensional flat shape.

I remember lo these many years ago in highschool, the geography teacher made a hands-on example for us. You can try this at home.

Get an orange or a grapefruit. Draw a rough sketch of the various continents and large islands on it using permanent marker. Then very carefully using a sharp knife, cut and peel the skin. Try laying it flat. You can do this multiple times with multiple map shapes. You'll see that it doesn't work out so well, forcing the spheroid skin into a flat shape.

Answer 4

All projections have distortion because the Earth is round and the projection is flat. A Mercator projection is done by putting a plane tangent to a point on the Earth and projecting the surface from the center of the Earth onto the plane. Near the center, there is only a little distortion, but as you move away from center, it gets really distorted. The one advantage to a Mercator is that a straight line on a Mercator is the shortest distance between two points, so you draw your route on a Mercator and transfer it to more traditional plots to chart your course.

Answer 5

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RE:
what causes the distortion in the Mercator projection map?

Answer 6

Straight lines drawn on a Mercator projection tell you the heading that you need to travel between the points. This is the reason for the usefullness of that projection. Draw the line, measure the angle from north, and follow that direction with you compass. Keeping these angles accurate causes distortion of dimensions.

Answer 7

They're trying to put a round Earth onto a flat map. The top and bottom have to be bigger to fill out the flat space.

Answer 8

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