Iceland on five projections
Iceland covers 107,182 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 5.64 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
5.64 times
Iceland covers 107,182 km², anchored at 65.1° N, and Mercator draws it 5.64 times over. On that map it reads as close to the size of the United Kingdom; it is less than half.
Kenya is five and a half times larger
Kenya covers 5.54 times Iceland's ground, Thailand 4.78. Mercator draws both smaller. Malawi and Guatemala are within 5 percent of Iceland's true area - 1.041 and 1.025 - and near the equator they render as a fraction of it.
This object
- True area
- 107,182 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 65.1° N
- Angular radius
- 2.4°
- Draggable latitude range
- -83.5° … 83.7°
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 | 2.37 | 2.37 |
| Mercator | 5.64 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.64 | 1.85 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 2.16 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 2.82 |
Mercator inflates it most, 5.64 times over. Gall-Peters stretches it most: its long axis is 2.82 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
These are within 5 percent of Iceland's true area, and sit at a very different latitude. It is a fact about the Earth, and it is interesting because most projections disagree with it.
- Malawi: Malawi covers 111,592 km²; this covers 107,182. They sit 52 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 5.34 times the other.
- Guatemala: Guatemala covers 109,856 km²; this covers 107,182. They sit 49 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 5.22 times the other.
- Bulgaria: Bulgaria covers 110,020 km²; this covers 107,182. They sit 22 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 3.04 times the other.
Bigger than the map admits
These cover more ground than Iceland and Mercator draws them smaller anyway.
- Kenya: Kenya is truly 5.54 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.02 times bigger.
- Thailand: Thailand is truly 4.78 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.10 times bigger.
- Somalia: Somalia is truly 4.54 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.23 times bigger.
- Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea is truly 4.35 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.28 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 Iceland across the latitude bands and the readout follows.