Greenland on five projections
Greenland covers 2,190,038 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 16.5 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
16.5 times
Greenland covers 2,190,038 km², anchored at 73.1° N, and Mercator draws its area 16.5 times over. Africa is 13.7 times Greenland's true size, and on that map the two look comparable. It is the most repeated sentence in the subject, and the 16.5 here is measured off the polygon actually rendered rather than estimated from sec² at one latitude.
The United States is four times bigger
The United States covers 9,493,296 km², 4.33 times Greenland. China is 4.30 times, Brazil 3.90, Australia 3.52. Mercator draws all four smaller. Drag Greenland to the equator and the readout falls from 16.5 to 1.00; the distance it falls is what the map had been claiming.
This object
- True area
- 2,190,038 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 73.1° N
- Angular radius
- 13.2°
- Draggable latitude range
- -72.1° … 74.6°
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 | 3.83 | 3.45 |
| Mercator | 16.5 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 2.13 | 2.73 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 3.87 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 5.95 |
Mercator inflates it most, 16.5 times over. Gall-Peters stretches it most: its long axis is 5.95 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
Nothing in the catalogue is close to Greenland's area at a far enough latitude to be worth the comparison.
Bigger than the map admits
These cover more ground than Greenland and Mercator draws them smaller anyway.
- United States: United States is truly 4.33 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.38 times bigger.
- China: China is truly 4.30 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.78 times bigger.
- Brazil: Brazil is truly 3.90 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 2.95 times bigger.
- Australia: Australia is truly 3.52 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 2.74 times bigger.
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 Greenland across the latitude bands and the readout follows.