Editing Mercator projection (section)

{{Short description|Cylindrical conformal map projection}}
[[File:Mercator projection Square.JPG|thumb|350px|right|Mercator projection of the world between 85°S and 85°N. Note the size comparison of Greenland and Africa.]]
[[File:Mercator with Tissot's Indicatrices of Distortion.svg|350px|thumb|The Mercator projection with [[Tissot's indicatrix]] of deformation.]]
[[File:Mercator 1569.png|thumb|350px|right|[[Mercator 1569 world map]] ({{lang|la|Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accommodata}}) showing latitudes 66°S to 80°N.]]

The '''Mercator projection''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ər|ˈ|k|eɪ|t|ər}}) is a [[Conformal map projection|conformal]] [[cylindrical map projection]] first presented by [[Flemish people|Flemish]] geographer and mapmaker [[Gerardus Mercator]] in 1569. In the 18th century, it became the standard map projection for [[navigation]] due to its property of representing [[Rhumb line|rhumb lines]] as straight lines. When applied to world maps, the Mercator projection inflates the size of lands the further they are from the [[equator]]. Therefore, landmasses such as [[Greenland]] and [[Antarctica]] appear far larger than they actually are relative to landmasses near the equator. Nowadays the Mercator projection is widely used because, aside from marine navigation, it is well suited for [[Web mapping|internet web maps]].