Mercator Projection

World Map

Mercator Projection

Central Longitude: 0

Central Latitude: 0

Projection Characteristics

The Mercator projection is a cylindrical projection and it is conformal. In a Mercator projection, scale is constant along any given parallel and accurate along the specified center latitude. Scale is the same in all directions near any given point. Distortion is minimal near the center parallel, but becomes extreme toward the poles. All lines of constant direction (rhumb lines) are known to be straight, thereby making this projection very desirable for producing navigational charts. A limitation of this projection is that coordinates at or near the poles cannot be projected due to constraints of the mathematical formulas used.

Projection Parameters

Parameter	Description
Name	Specifies the units used in the map.
Scale	Specifies the unit scale of the projected map, relative to meters. For example, a scale of one means one unit in the projected map equals one meter; a scale of two means two units in the projected map equal one meter; etc.
False Easting	Specifies the false easting, or horizontal offset, of the projected coordinates, in meters. False Eastings and False Northings are added to the underlying "projected" coordinates as a way to arbitrarily offset their internal XY coordinates after the projection. Unless you have a reason for using these offset values, do not use them. These values do not affect the latitude/longitude coordinates for the map, only the internal coordinates used to plot the map on the screen. If you use False Easting and False Northing offsets for a map, any subsequent boundaries you append to the map must also use these same offsets if you want the imported boundaries to be drawn in the correct relative position to the existing boundaries.
False Northing	Specifies the false northing, or vertical offset, of the projected coordinates, in meters. See above.
Central Longitude	Specifies the central longitude of the projection in degrees. The Central Longitude value typically should be defined as the longitudinal center of the map you are going to produce.
Central Latitude	Specifies the central latitude of the projection in degrees. The Central Latitude value typically should be defined as the latitudinal center of the map you are going to produce.