maphugger:

Here’s a curious fact you might not now about the Mercator projection. Or most projections, actually.

The North and South Pole are infinitesimally small points, right? So when you stretch them onto a rectangular map, you are actually exaggerating their size by a factor of infinity.

Even if you’re looking at an arctic latitude that’s, say, a few hundred miles across, expanding it out to be the width of the equator is still a superlatively enormous exaggeration. How would you apply, say, aerial imagery to such a map without it looking completely glitched up?

Turns out, maybe you can’t. Have you ever zoomed into the poles in Google Maps? It breaks the map in ways that are amusing and even strangely beautiful.

For one, Google Maps actually stops at 85 degrees latitude. You can still click around in the ether, though.

Zoom in and look around! If you try to get a closer look at the bathymetry or the satellite imagery, you will be treated to a wonderfully idiosyncratic patchwork of high-res imagery, broken tiles, and pixelated mishmash.

Our cultural consciousness associates the poles with remoteness, mystery, danger, and grandiosity : the modern-day ‘here be dragons’. It’s neat to see something as modern and ubiquitous and trustworthy Google Maps (somewhat unintentionally) keep that tradition alive.