Asia on five projections
Asia covers 48,195,059 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 2.69 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
The largest object, inflated anyway
Asia covers 48,195,059 km², the largest object in the catalogue and 60 percent more than Africa. Its anchor sits at 45.4° N, and Mercator inflates it a further 2.69 times. The biggest thing gets made bigger still, which is Mercator's systematic favour toward northern land.
A coincidence at 45 degrees
Gall-Peters is conformal at exactly 45° N and 45° S - its standard parallels, the only two lines on the whole map where it deforms no shapes. Asia's anchor lands at 45.4°, almost exactly on one, and reads 1.01 on shape there.
This object
- True area
- 48,195,059 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 45.4° N
- Angular radius
- 72.7°
- Draggable latitude range
- -85.1° … 49.3°
On five projections
Each number is measured against its own projection's equator, not against another projection. These five rows do not share an axis - they are five answers to the same question: what did this map give up to lay this place flat?
| Projection | Area distortion | Shape distortion |
|---|---|---|
| Equirectangular | 1.54 | 1.42 |
| Mercator | 2.69 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.28 | 1.43 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 1.60 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 1.01 |
Mercator inflates it most, 2.69 times over. Equal Earth stretches it most: its long axis is 1.60 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
Nothing in the catalogue is close to Asia's area at a far enough latitude to be worth the comparison.
Bigger than the map admits
Mercator draws nothing larger than Asia smaller than it.
On an equal-area projection this section is empty, for every object there is. An equal-area map draws in proportion to true area, so it cannot draw a larger thing smaller. That is a definition, not a coincidence.
Open it in the tool
Drag Asia across the latitude bands and the readout follows.