Areas remain equal size in this projection but feature shapes are distorted the further one goes from the central meridian and at the poles. In order to minimize map distortion, Mars Explorer always uses a center meridian at the center of the image map. Historically Mercator is interesting because it is one of the oldest map projections to be used. Christopher Columbus used the Mercator projection in his travels to the new world. Parallels of latitude and longitude are straight.
Features increase in size as the map approaches the poles.
Although features change in scale or size on the map, feature shapes remain undistorted. The Mercator projection works very poorly at the poles and becomes undefined at the exact north and south poles. Last modified December 16, 1999.