Compare five map projections: Equirectangular, Mercator, Mollweide, Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area and Sinusoidal. Tissot's indicatrices reveal how each projection distorts area, shape and angles.
No flat map can perfectly represent a sphere — every projection makes trade-offs. Mercator preserves angles (conformal) but wildly distorts area near the poles. Mollweide preserves area but distorts shapes. Tissot's indicatrices show these distortions as ellipses.
Switch between projections to see the graticule reshape. Tissot's indicatrices are coloured by area-ratio distortion. Toggle layers to compare distortion patterns.
Greenland appears the same size as Africa on a Mercator map, but Africa is actually 14× larger. The Peters projection (equal-area) sparked a 'map war' in the 1970s over which projection schools should teach.