File:World Map - Mercator projection v Google maps.jpg

<addthis />

Despite inaccurate visual features – or perhaps because of them – the Mercator projection achieved widespread adoption around the world. This includes the classroom, where young minds are first learning about geography and forming opinions on relationships between countries.

Google, whose map app is used by approximately 150 million people per month, recently took the bold step of overlaying their map onto a globe. This change sidesteps projection issues completely and displays the world as it actually is: round.

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/865413/most-popular-us-mapping-apps-ranked-by-audience/

• https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mercator-map-true-size-of-countries

Most popular mapping apps in the US as of April 2018, by monthly users

Google Maps (154 Million)

Waze (25.6 M)

Apple Maps (23.3 M)

Mapquest (20.9 M)

Google Earth (5.2 M)

Yahoo! Maps (2.8 M)

🌎