The little map lab
An area on the move.
Compare the two patches within each panel. Both have equal area on the globe.
How to use the comparison.
The two coloured patches are circles with an angular radius of 5° on a spherical Earth. One stays on the equator; the other moves with the latitude control. Both have the same true surface area. Their shape and display area reveal different projection properties. Colours identify the patches only; they are not political borders.
Section references[3]
What the number means.
The Mercator readout is the local area scale at the centre of the moving patch, relative to the equator: 1 / cos²(latitude). It is not the mean distortion across that whole patch. Equal Earth preserves the area of each full patch; its local shapes change. The panels are fitted separately, so compare patch areas within each panel, not absolute pixels between panels.
We use spherical projections, generalised Natural Earth land at 1:110 million and a Mercator cutoff near ±85.05°. This is an educational visualisation, not a navigation instrument or the source of our printed maps. Use the text readout if the visual diagram is difficult to read.
