People seem to dislike the Mercator projection because it exaggerates the size of the areas closer to the poles. People have instead proposed various compromise and equal area projections. But what people really seem to care about when it comes to world maps is not
Maps are first and foremost for navigation. A navigator cares first and foremost about directionality, i.e. angles. So a map primarily designed for functionality must be conformal. Of course calculation of distances should be accessible too—indeed, working with a Mercator projection, it is trivial to derive the distance between two meridians on a given latitude, if you know the length of the equator.
Maps are first and foremost for navigation. A navigator cares first and foremost about directionality, i.e. angles. So a map primarily designed for functionality must be conformal. Of course calculation of distances should be accessible too—indeed, working with a Mercator projection, it is trivial to derive the distance between two meridians on a given latitude, if you know the length of the equator.