Area Distortion by a Projection
The Mercator projection does not preserve areas. It is not an equal-area projection.
In[1]:=
GeoProjectionData["Mercator", "EqualArea"]Out[1]=
The area of Africa is more than 14 times larger than the area of Greenland.
In[2]:=
GeoArea[Entity["GeographicRegion", "Africa"]]/
GeoArea[Entity["Country", "Greenland"]]Out[2]=
In a Mercator map, however, Africa and Greenland seem to have similar sizes.
In[3]:=
GeoGraphics[{GeoStyling[Green],
Polygon[Entity["Country", "Greenland"]], GeoStyling[Red],
Polygon[Entity["GeographicRegion", "Africa"]]},
GeoProjection -> "Mercator", GeoRange -> "World",
GeoBackground -> "Satellite"]Out[3]=
Use an equal-area projection, like Mollweide, to represent more appropriately the relative sizes.
In[4]:=
GeoProjectionData["Mollweide", "EqualArea"]Out[4]=
In[5]:=
GeoGraphics[{GeoStyling[Green],
Polygon[Entity["Country", "Greenland"]], GeoStyling[Red],
Polygon[Entity["GeographicRegion", "Africa"]]},
GeoProjection -> "Mollweide", GeoRange -> "World",
GeoBackground -> "Satellite"]Out[5]=
