Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
You can trace the decline of the Mercator Projection by looking at the set changes on
Saturday Night Live
's“WeekendUpdate”fauxnewscast.Theworldoutlinemapbehindthe
newscasters was an acromegalic Mercator back in the Dan Aykroyd/Jane Curtin era, but
underDennisMilleritwasreplacedwithalessabsurd,modifiedMercatorcalledtheMiller
(no relation) cylindrical projection. Today the map behind Seth Meyers is an equirectangu-
lar projection called the
plate carrée,
useless for oceangoing but popular among computer
mappers. But the Mercator map of our childhoods, though less visible today, is far from
extinct. For example, use Google to bring up a map of your street or your city. Now zoom
all the way out—yup,
all
the way, so the entire planet is on the map. See how Antarctica
now looks bigger than every other continent put together? That's right: Google Maps still
uses a Mercator Projection.
*
The Mercator and Gall-Peters: Greenland's favorite and least favorite map projections,
respectively
So it's easy to quibble with McClendon's assertion that everything on Google's maps
ment calls and compromises as any other map. What he really means is that Google Earth
is more convincing, more compelling, than a paper map and that this immersiveness gives
it a unique ability to change the way we see the world.
“You trust that this picture is truly of this place. And when people see that, they get
an emotional reaction. They feel like they're really visiting another place, and that's
something no map has ever given before. You look at a traffic jam in Baghdad, and you
realize,thoseguysarenotmuchdifferentthanweare.Howwoulditfeelif
we
weregetting
bombed and we were losing buildings? That's what's happening to them right now. Same
thing in Tehran. Here are these people that have a very Western city in many regards, but
we see them as old-school Islamists that must be living in tents. But they're not. Tehran
looks very European from the air, very densely populated.”
