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Implications of Web Mercator and its Use in Online Mapping

January 1, 2014

Online interactive maps have become a popular means of communicating with spatial data. In most online mapping systems, Web Mercator has become the dominant projection. While the Mercator projection has a long history of discussion about its inappropriateness for general-purpose mapping, particularly at the global scale, and seems to have been virtually phased out for general-purpose global-scale print maps, it has seen a resurgence in popularity in Web Mercator form. This article theorizes on how Web Mercator came to be widely used for online maps and what this might mean in terms of data display, technical aspects of map generation and distribution, design, and cognition of spatial patterns. The authors emphasize details of where the projection excels and where it does not, as well as some of its advantages and disadvantages for cartographic communication, and conclude with some research directions that may help to develop better solutions to the problem of projections for general-purpose, multi-scale Web mapping.

Publication Year 2014
Title Implications of Web Mercator and its Use in Online Mapping
DOI 10.3138/carto.49.2.2313
Authors Sarah E. Battersby, Michael P. Finn, E. Lynn Usery, Kristina H. Yamamoto
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
Index ID 70159494
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization NGTOC Denver