A globe is the most accurate way to represent the Earth, but it's not very practical to carry around—especially if you are out in the field! Mapmakers have worked for centuries to find ways to project an image of the round Earth on a flat surface. In the 16th century, Gerardus Mercator developed a map projection that is still in use today.

The animation shows how mapmakers transform the round Earth into a Mercator projection. The Mercator projection works well to represent the surface of the Earth until you get to the polar latitudes. The distortion makes Antarctica look much larger than it really is.