Mercator

mercator English Etymology From la Gerardus Mercator, Latinized name of Gerardus Mercator Gerard de Cremer (1512–1594), Flemish cartographer and mathematician, from en la mercātor merchant. Pronunciation en /məˈkeɪ.tə/ /mɜːˈkeɪ.tə/ UK en /mɜɹˈkeɪ.tɜɹ/ US Noun en Mercator projection. 1809, Lord Byron, letter (to Henry Drury), 25 Jun 1809: we have determined to go by way of Lisbon , if so be that Capt. Kidd our gallant or rather gallows commander understands plain sailing and Mercator, and takes us on our voyage all according to the Chart. en 1964 David Greenhood Mapping University of Chicago Press 9780226306971 128 https://books.google.com/books?id=otBojR7J1BoC&pg=PA128&dq=%22Mercator%22+map&hl=&cd=5&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22Mercator%22%20map&f=false The Mercator has been a favorite schoolroom map because it shows almost the whole world simply—in a single continuous panel. It does not seem to distort shapes. en 2018 Julio Sanchez; Maria P. Canton Space Image Processing Routledge 9781351415439 191 https://books.google.com/books?id=VMuCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA191&dq=%22Mercator%22+projection&hl=&cd=7&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22Mercator%22%20projection&f=false In the Mercator projection, the line of intersection between the cylinder and the sphere is the equator, while in the Traverse Mercator this line is a meridian. en 2020 Gretchen N. Peterson GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design 3rd CRC Press 9781000225914 144 https://books.google.com/books?id=EyYAEAAAQBAJ&pg=SA6-PA144&dq=%22Web+Mercator%22&hl=&cd=3&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22Web%20Mercator%22&f=false Most digital maps are displayed in the Web Mercator projection but this is slowly changing. Web Mercator became the default standard for web mapping when the major online map services adopted it, like Google and OpenStreetMap. en-GB Reuters Selma Malika Haddadi African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size The Guardian 2025-08-15 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/african-union-true-size-world-map-replace-mercator-version 0261-3077 saying the Mercator fostered a false impression that Africa was “marginal”, despite being the world’s second-largest continent by area, with more than 1 billion people. https://web.archive.org/web/20261024185806/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/african-union-true-size-world-map-replace-mercator-version 24 October 2026 Derived terms en Mercatorian Further reading Mercator projection Web Mercator projection Anagrams en acemorrt cremator en eponyms en Cartography Non-Euclidean geometry