Why “Mercator” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
Yeah but it's a lot less bad than how distances look on Mercator
by hn993302 · Sep 11, 2026
Same, I'm also just barely old enough that a lot of the wall maps in elementary school were from the Cold War and remember thinking the USSR was like 1/4 the world's surfac…
by qlte · Sep 10, 2026
A line of constant bearing will always be a great circle. A straight line on a mercator projection of the earth does not constitute a great circle (in fact only the equator line…
by stkdump · Sep 10, 2026
There's nothing incorrect about the Mercator projection, unless your definition of incorrect covers every flat map and calls only globes correct. Every flat map projection has t…
by josephcsible · Sep 10, 2026
Mercator used to be quite rare before Google Maps, at least in Finland. But it's an appropriate choice for online maps that can be zoomed in and out. Local and regional maps loo…
by jltsiren · Sep 10, 2026
I've done some serious navigation off charts, but never once used a Mercator projection — all the charts i've used have been Lambert conformal conic projection.
by perilunar · Sep 10, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "mercator" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "mercator" over time.
Mercator often refers to the Mercator projection, a cartographic projection named after its inventor, Gerardus Mercator. Read more on Wikipedia