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Why is the Web Mercator auxiliary sphere projection not appropriate when calculating area?
Large area distortion makes the Mercator projection unsuitable for general geographic world maps and thematic mapping.
What is wgs84 Web Mercator?
Web Mercator, Google Web Mercator, Spherical Mercator, WGS 84 Web Mercator or WGS 84/Pseudo-Mercator is a variant of the Mercator projection and is the de facto standard for Web mapping applications. It rose to prominence when Google Maps adopted it in 2005.
Are distances on Mercator accurate?
A Mercator chart has the great advantage that rhumblines are straight lines and, since the projection is conformal, the course between any two points may be precisely measured. However, the expanding latitude scale means that distances may only be measured approximately.
Is there a sphere based version of Mercator?
A sphere-based version of Mercator is used by several web mapping sites. The sphere’s radius is equal to the WGS 1984 semimajor axis, 6378137.0 meters. Two methods exist for emulating the Mercator projection used by the web services.
What’s the difference between Mercator and web Mercators?
It uses the same formulas as the standard Mercator as used for small-scale maps. However, the Web Mercator uses the spherical formulas at all scales whereas large-scale Mercator maps normally use the ellipsoidal form of the projection.
Why are the Poles not shown in Web Mercator projection?
Because the Mercator projects the poles at infinity, a map using the Web Mercator projection cannot show the poles. Services such as Google Maps cut off coverage at 85.051129° north and south. This is not a limitation for street maps, which is the primary purpose for such services.
Which is Mercator coordinate system does Google use?
The Web Mercator coordinate system is also known as Google Web Mercator, Spherical Mercator, WGS 84 Web Mercator, and Pseudo-Mercator. It is the de facto standard for web maps and online services.