The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality believe that the Mercator map projection "has fostered European Imperialist attitudes for centuries in addition to created an ethnic bias against the 3rd world". However they exercise acknowledge that the Mercator projection is a useful tool for European sailors.
If you lot desire a to a greater extent than balanced concern human relationship of the Mercator projection in addition to hence you lot you should read Tass's splendid introduction to the Flemish Cartographer Gerardus Mercator in addition to his pop map projection. Mercator - It's a Flat, Flat World provides a wonderfully illustrated history of the Mercator projection in addition to its creator, piece also examining the benefits in addition to problems of this pop cartographic representation of the world.
Tass's analysis of the Mercator projection includes an annotated conduct to Gerardus Mercator's groundbreaking 1569 map, the 'New in addition to More Complete Representation of The Terrestrial Globe Properly Adapted for Use inward Navigation'. This guided tour introduces you lot to the map in addition to provides a close-up exam of or hence of the map's features. The tour explains why the map is hence useful equally an aide to navigating at sea. It also explores the extent in addition to limitations of geographical cognition inward the menses when the map was made.
Alongside this detailed tour of Mercator's 1569 map 'Mercator - It's a Flat, Flat World' explores why it is hence hard to exercise an accurate apartment 2 dimensional map of a iii dimensional world. It explores the advantages in addition to disadvantages of or hence of the other map pop projections in addition to it illustrates how the dissimilar map projections each distort dissimilar areas of the world.
If you lot are interested inward how dissimilar map projections distort the basis in addition to hence you lot should also similar Projection Face. Projection Face is a cracking example of the distortions created past times dissimilar map projections. The interactive shows how 64 dissimilar map projections lawsuit our persuasion of the basis past times showing each projection's lawsuit when applied to something really familiar - the human face.
The distortions of each of the dissimilar projections tin survive illustrated farther past times clicking in addition to dragging whatsoever of the mapped faces. This illustrates how the dissimilar map projections tin survive distorted themselves only past times changing the pump of the map.
Projections Face is an interactive version of a 1924 example from Elements of Map Projection amongst Applications to Map in addition to Chart Construction.
