Mercator

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Projection name: Mercator

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Mercator メルカートル


Chronology of projection development

  • 1511: Erhard Etzlaub (Nuremburg) creates maps using a crude but correct Mercator projection. He records nothing of his method.
  • 1537: Pedro Nunes (Portugal) describes the rhumb.
  • 1566 (ca): Nunes describes for the first time a way to approximate a projection that keeps rhumbs straight, but does not construct any maps based on it.
  • 1569: Mercator (Flanders) produces a successful map based on the loxodromic principle, and promotes it for the purpose of navigation. His method of construction remains unknown.
  • 1599: Edward Wright (England) describes the exact mathematics of the spherical Mercator projection for the first time, although his description amounts to an infinite series rather than the modern, closed form obtained from the calculus.
  • 1610: Wright publishes accurate tables for the construction of the Mercator projection.