Web Mercator
Topic: Map Projections · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Web Mercator (code EPSG:3857) is a simplified, spherical form of Mercator's projection. Google Maps adopted it around 2005, and most online maps use it today. It keeps local shapes true, so streets and buildings look right and zooming in and out is smooth. But like Mercator, it greatly enlarges areas at high latitudes. Because so many people see the world through it, it shapes how they picture country sizes.
Example
On a phone map, Greenland (about 2.2 million sq km) looks almost as big as Africa (about 30 million sq km). India looks much smaller than it really is compared with Greenland or Russia.
Don't confuse with
- Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM): this turns the cylinder on its side to touch along a meridian, and uses 60 narrow zones. It is used for accurate survey maps, not for one seamless world map.