Google Maps now depicts the Earth as a globe

Google launched a new replace to Google Maps: if you zoom all the approach out, the Earth will now not be displayed as a flat floor, however as a globe. It’s a change that permits the map to extra precisely show the Earth. The search firm highlighted the change on its Google MapsTwitter feed, saying that with the new 3D Globe Mode, “Greenland’s projection is now not the dimension of Africa.” The change is simply obtainable on the desktop interface; it’s nonetheless flat in its cell app. Up till now, Google Maps has used Mercator projection, which initiatives the planet onto a flat floor. Whereas this model makes it simple to print onto maps and has largely turn into standardized, it presents a distorted picture of the Earth. Objects round the equator are to scale relative to at least one one other, whereas objects nearer to the poles seem bigger than they are surely. instance of that is the relative sizes of Greenland and Africa. On a Mercator map, Greenland seems bigger than Africa, when in actuality, Africa is 14 occasions bigger. A Google worker defined in 2009 that the firm used a Mercator map as a result of it helped protect angles of roads: “The primary launch of Maps really didn’t use Mercator, and streets in excessive latitude locations like Stockholm didn’t meet at proper angles on the map the approach they do in actuality.” The change is the current in a sequence from the firm. In June, Google redesigned its Discover part to make it simpler to search out eating places, and an replace earlier this week added one’s battery life standing to location sharing. https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/5/17653122/google-maps-update-mercator-projection-earth-isnt-flat