What is the Mercator map called?

Answer 1

The Earth is pretty much spherical, or "ball-shaped". Maps are pretty much flat. To display a round Earth on a flat map means that you are going to introduce some error and distortion. We can make many different kinds of maps by "projecting" the spherical Earth onto differently-shaped flat surfaces. Imagine the Earth as a glass globe with a light inside; now imagine holding a flat sheet of cardboard just touching the Earth at one point. At THAT POINT, the image of the Earth is accurately projected onto the cardboard.

There are a number of different types of maps, named for the kind of projection they use. A Mercator projection imagines that you have rolled up the map into a cylinder of paper, touching the Earth at the equator. Areas of the map close to the equator will be accurately depicted, but the farther north or south you go, the more distortion you will see.

For example, a Mercator projection of the Earth will depict Greenland, far to the north, as being bigger than South America. And yet, South America is much larger than Greenland.