Editing 2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator

{{comic
| number    = 2613
| date      = April 29, 2022
| title     = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator
| image     = bad_map_projection_madagascator.png
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fifth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #248: Madagascator. It came about 10 months after the fourth [[2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special ]] (#299), and was followed about 15 months later by [[2807: Bad Map Projection: ABS(Longitude)]] (#152). 

This time, [[Randall]] used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}.  The map projection is technically a {{w|Oblique Mercator projection}}, with an unusual choice of the cylinder's axis.  Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes, hence the name the ''Madagascator'' — a portmanteau of "Madagascar" and "Mercator"!

The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s, because a straight line (or {{w|rhumb line}}) in a Mercator map represents a constant bearing relative to true north. Historically, when navigation was performed by compass, this was a very valuable feature, since one (adjusting for the differences between true and magnetic north) could plot a constant-bearing course between two locations by simply looking at their relative direction on the map.

However, in the mid-20th century, the Mercator was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because it causes distortion near the north and south poles of the map, giving an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most commonly given example of this is the size of Greenland — although on the Mercator it appears to be larger than Africa in area, Africa in reality covers an area 14 times that of Greenland.

Randall turns this example on its head by making Madagascar, rather than Greenland, appear larger in the ''Madagascator'' than in reality. By contrast with Greenland, the world's largest non-continent island, Madagascar is only the fourth-largest island in the world, behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.

To accomplish this, instead of placing the north pole of the map at the geographic North Pole, Randall places the north pole of the map on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. As Madagascar is relatively close to Mahé (around 650 mi (1050 km) distant), placing the north pole of the Mercator projection at Mahé significantly distorts the size of Madagascar, making it appear comparable in size to Europe on the map.

But this distortion is even more pronounced when it comes to the island of Mahé itself, as Randall notes in the title text.
Although Mahé, the largest island in Seychelles with an area of 60.7 square mi (157.2 square km), is minuscule even compared to Madagascar, the claim in the title text that it appears "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined" is an understatement.

No part of Mahé is visible in the comic, but clicking on the actual comic will open a [https://mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/#a4739c9b@-4.64274,55.45253 website] that displays Mercator projections with a pole in any chosen location, with the location of the one opened set to Mahé. The chosen pole is (infinitely far to) the right of the screen, while its {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is on the left. With this, it is possible to see that the island is indeed larger than the rest of the map's land area combined. A single national park within the island rivals Africa in size, and the narrow dirt road closest to the pole appears thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the map's north pole (the "small lake" mentioned by Randall) is the lake impounded by the Rochon Dam, a popular tourist location in Mahé.

Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as one unlabelled country.

===Comparison of actual/mapped areas===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!                         Landmass
!                         Status
! data-sort-type="number"|Actual Area<ref name="act">Major contiguous land areas that should exclude all islands, ''especially'' major ones, '''''especially''''' especially those listed separately</ref><br />(Millions of Km²)
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Land Area
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Image Area<ref name="pri">Of only these listed areas listed</ref>
! data-sort-type="number"|Distortion<ref name="dis">NB. Difference between percentages, rather than percentage difference</ref>
|-
| Africa<ref name="suez">Edge at Suez Canal</ref>                                                     || data-sort-value="C2"|Continent<br /><small>2nd largest</small> || 29.7                                                                            || 19.95%                                         || 35%                                                           || +15.1%
|-
| Eurasia<ref name="suez" />                                                                          || data-sort-value="C1"|Continent<br /><small>Largest</small>     || 53.4                                                                            || 35.83%                                         || 30%                                                           ||  -5.83%
|-
| North America<ref name="pan">Edge at Panama Canal</ref>                                             || data-sort-value="C3"|Continent<br /><small>3rd largest</small> || 19.3                                                                            || 12.96%                                         || 15%                                                           ||  +2.04%
|-
| South America<ref name="pan" />                                                                     || data-sort-value="C4"|Continent<br /><small>4th largest</small> || 17.8                                                                            || 11.96%                                         ||  7.8%                                                         ||  -4.16%
|-
| Antarctica<ref name="ice">Significant ice-sheets may complicate mapped/actual 'land' areas</ref>    || data-sort-value="C5"|Continent<br /><small>5th largest</small> || 14.2                                                                            ||  9.53%                                         ||  5.3%                                                         ||  -4.23%
|-
| Madagascar                                                                                          || data-sort-value="I04"|Island<br /><small>4th largest</small>    ||  0.592                                                                          ||  0.40%                                         ||  2.9%                                                         ||  +2.50%
|-
| Australia                                                                                           || data-sort-value="C7"|Continent<br /><small>Smallest</small>    ||  7.55                                                                           ||  5.07%                                         ||  2.5%                                                         ||  -2.57%
|-
| Greenland<ref name="ice" />                                                                         || data-sort-value="I01"|Island<br /><small>Largest</small>        ||  2.17                                                                           ||  1.45%                                         ||  0.87%                                                        ||  -0.58%
|-
| Borneo                                                                                              || data-sort-value="I03"|Island<br /><small>3rd largest</small>    ||  0.749                                                                          ||  0.50%                                         ||  0.37%                                                        ||  -0.13%
|-
| New Guinea                                                                                          || data-sort-value="I02"|Island<br /><small>2nd largest</small>    ||  0.786                                                                          ||  0.53%                                         ||  0.32%                                                        ||  -0.21%
|-
| Japan<ref name="hon">Honshu only</ref>                                                              || data-sort-value="I07"|Island<br /><small>7th largest</small>    ||  0.228                                                                          ||  0.15%                                         ||  0.10%                                                        ||  -0.05%
|-
| Mainland Britain                                                                                    || data-sort-value="I09"|Island<br /><small>9th largest</small>    ||  0.209                                                                          ||  0.14%                                         ||  0.10%                                                        ||  -0.04%
|-
| Island of Ireland                                                                                   || data-sort-value="I20"|Island<br /><small>20th largest</small>   ||  0.082                                                                          ||  0.05%                                         ||  0.03%                                                        ||  -0.02%
|}

<references/>

==Transcript==
:Bad Map Projection 
:<big>#248: Madagascator</big>
:Mercator projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland. Various countries and oceans are labeled, and country borders are shown.
:[A drawn world map in Mercator projection, with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean. The center of the map appears to be near Europe, causing regions bordering the Atlantic Ocean to appear compressed relative to those away from the it. Landmasses close to the Indian Ocean appear heavily distorted, especially the African coast, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent appearing far larger than they really are. Madagascar is now distorted and appears far larger than Greenland, which is now on the Equator, and is now comparable in size to Australia and Antarctica, both of which are on the 'equator' of this new map.]
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]