Is it because the distortion isn’t visible at minute scale? I am of the opinion that distortion should be observable enough even when zoomed out as we go towards poles.
In: Earth Science
Any attempt to take the surface of a 3D sphere and turn it into a flat 2D map will result in some amount of distortion.
You can only chose which distortion you want but never completely avoid it.
Google maps uses a type of projection traditionally used for maps used for navigation that preserves direction. North is the same direction anywhere on the map.
This is something that works well close to the equator or on a small scale but not well on a world map near the poles.
In a map of your city all roads that are north-south oriented will look parallel and to a person wandering around in the city this will also seem true.
On a large scale map showing the entire world having arrows pointing north be parallel will look somewhat strange as those arrows would actually point to a single point at the north pole.
It is much easier to pretend that the world is flat on a small city scale than on a continent scale.
There is no easy way to fix this short of using a globe or a curved screen.
Some people will bring ideas of social justice into this and say that a different type of map projection would be more accurate, but those people don’t know what they are talking about. There is no way to make a completely accurate map without distortions.
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