“Nooo, don’t change the mirror to one that reflects things accurately! I like this one better because it makes me look taller, more muscular, and better-endowed!”
It isn’t more accurate than Mercator, it just preserves different features.
When flattening a map, there are 4 competing aspects of the globe you can try to preserve: shape, direction, area, and distance. You can’t preserve all 4 at once. You can try to min-max on 1 or 2 (e.g. Mercator preserves direction and shape since that’s what’s needed for sailing), or you can accept some distortions of all 4 in a compromise projection.
“Nooo, don’t change the mirror to one that reflects things accurately! I like this one better because it makes me look taller, more muscular, and better-endowed!”
It isn’t more accurate than Mercator, it just preserves different features.
When flattening a map, there are 4 competing aspects of the globe you can try to preserve: shape, direction, area, and distance. You can’t preserve all 4 at once. You can try to min-max on 1 or 2 (e.g. Mercator preserves direction and shape since that’s what’s needed for sailing), or you can accept some distortions of all 4 in a compromise projection.
It all depends on the purpose of the map.