Want to see what the world actually looks like?

blueskyy (36)in #world • 7 years ago (edited)

Ever tried comparing country sizes by directly placing one on top of the other? Well, what you see is not exactly right.
The Mercator Projection is the reason why some countries looks bigger or smaller than others. Putting a 3D planet on a 2D map was a challenge for early cartographers and so a Flemish geographer and cartographer named Gerardus Mercator though of a solution. In 1569 he designed a map which could be accurately used for navigation, but this came with a downside, the system distorted the size of objects depending on their position in relation to the equator.

The correct size estimation of countries can be found on https://thetruesize.com, which lets you move landmasses into different locations.

I played a bit on this site and here is what I found!