Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Mercator projection (/ m ər ˈ k eɪ t ər /) is a conformal cylindrical map projection first presented by 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 lines as straight lines.
(That is, the reciprocal of the cosine of the latitude become infinite). He therefore uses a completely different projection for the inset map of the north polar regions: an azimuthal equidistant projection. It took many years for Mercator's projection to gain wider acceptance. The following gallery shows the first maps in which it was employed.
This transverse, ellipsoidal form of the Mercator is finite, unlike the equatorial Mercator. Forms the basis of the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system. 1922 Roussilhe oblique stereographic: Henri Roussilhe 1903 Hotine oblique Mercator Cylindrical Conformal M. Rosenmund, J. Laborde, Martin Hotine 1855 Gall stereographic: Cylindrical
Mercator Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio, 1569. High res image. Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator world map of 1569 introduced a cylindrical map projection that became the standard map projection known as the Mercator projection. It was a large planisphere measuring 202 by 124 cm (80 by 49 in), printed in eighteen ...
A medieval depiction of the Ecumene (1482, Johannes Schnitzer, engraver), constructed after the coordinates in Ptolemy's Geography and using his second map projection. In cartography, a map projection is any of a broad set of transformations employed to represent the curved two-dimensional surface of a globe on a plane.
Gerardus Mercator (/ dʒ ɪ ˈ r ɑːr d ə s m ɜːr ˈ k eɪ t ər /; [a] [b] [c] 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) [d] was a Flemish geographer, cosmographer and cartographer.He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing (rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts.
Yet his projection remains the authority all the same. Today, when children learn geography in school, they might not see Mercator’s poorly proportioned countries and continents on a wall-mounted map. But they will likely see it through the glare of a screen: even Google Maps uses the Mercator projection.
The Mercator Projection, developed by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator, was widely used as the standard for two-dimensional world maps until the late 20th century, when more accurate projections were more widely used. Mercator also was the first to use and popularize the concept of the atlas: a collection of maps.