If the US wants to look at the world using a Mercator map, here is the US using a Mercator map.

Besides just the name of a lake, maps are making more news. The UN has adopted a new map, versus the "old standard" Mercator Projection map.

The US government, under Trump, has rejected the new worldview. Ironically, the US (lower 48) is usually not depicted by Mercator in most maps. They use yet another projection.

If the lower 48 were shown by Mercator, the northern states would look much larger than the southern states.

Another projection that most Americans are used to for the lower 48; not the Mercator.

Mercator maps tend to make things look larger near the poles while things closer to the equator look smaller.

Mercator map of the world distorts sizes near the poles and usually cuts off Antarctica completely. This map shows Mercator sizes versus actual sizes.

Showing the round earth on a flat map isn't easy. I learned about map projections, as a geography major in college. Nothing depicts the globe accurately, except a globe itself which is harder to carry around.

Mercator projection showing Antarctica.

Another style of map showing more equal areas, but less accurate shapes.

The new world map the UN is adopting.

Maps I found searching the web.

My other blog entry about Mercator Projections and the Cold War.