Why a Flat Map Can’t Represent the True Sizes and Shapes of Countries and Continents

The animated series RealLifeLore takes a look at the Mercator Projection map and proceeds to explain why this flat world view isn’t truly accurate in terms of size and shape. Using information from the site The True Size, the narrator demonstrates how certain countries and continents are larger and/or smaller than they appear in comparison with the rest of the world.

All of us have seen a world map at some point in our lives before, but it is very difficult to imagine how certain countries and parts of the world compare to each other in size that are far apart. In this video, I explore why the world looks very different than how it is portrayed in the Mercator Projection map. I then go on to explore how certain countries are unexpectedly larger or smaller than what they appear to be, and how some places looks wildly different than our perceptions.