Very illustrative picture showing a problem of the Mercator map projection:

There is one flight shown at the picture, at two map projections.
Emirates flight EK225, Dubai to San Francisco.
[Source of the picture: "u/shellerik"]

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I think it is maybe a time to use the Mercator less than we use them.
It is quite confusing and desinterpreting too often.
(Every type of 2D view is... but Mercator is known for everyone. So, other views can offer a wider context.)

Thanks for this picture, it is very visual and explaining to everyone.

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Very known problem of Mercator projection is, that it shows the Africa much smaller than it is in reality,
and, on the contrary, it shows e.g. Greenland much bigger than it is in reality.

A circumference of the Earth is biggest at equator and much smaller in direction to the north or to the south,
but Mercator projection shows them as they would be the same, what causes big errors in perception of distances at Mercator map projection.

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You can see some another ways of 2D map projection of our 3D globe e.g. at Wikipedia:

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapov%C3%A9_zobrazen%C3%AD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection

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Very interesting TV interview with prof. Vít Voženílek, in Czech language,
at Czech TV, year 2023, 56 minutes – I definitelly recommend it, if you have some possibility of acceptable translation of the sound into some of your languages.
It is absolutely perfect interview about creating of maps and about different map projections and its disadvantages and advantages:

Velice zajímavý TV rozhovor s profesorem Vítem Voženílkem,
Česká televize, Hyde Park civilizace, rok 2023, 56 minut – rozhodně doporučuji.
Je to naprosto perfektní rozhovor o tvorbě map a o různých mapových zobrazeních a jejich nevýhodách a výhodách:

https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10441294653-hyde-park-civilizace/223411058090408/