Mercator projection

noun

: a conformal map projection of which the meridians are usually drawn parallel to each other and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator

Illustration of Mercator projection

Examples of Mercator projection in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even the colonial-era Mercator projection used to generate the familiar world map is being upended. —Ashish Kothari, Scientific American, 1 June 2021

The famous Mercator projection—the one often found in classrooms across the U.S.—earned a score of 8.296. —Rasha Aridi, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2022

The chief villain is the Mercator projection, an early-modern map in which distortion of all the features at the equator and poles was a result of the rendering of the lines of latitude and longitude at right angles for the purposes of navigation. —WSJ, 7 Oct. 2021

This 1797 chart uses a Mercator projection. —Julie Rehmeyer, Discover Magazine, 7 Nov. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Gerardus Mercator

First Known Use

1615, in the meaning defined above