Projecting a round surface of the Earth on a flat surface is not an easy task. Scientists are trying to find an optimal way to do it for centuries. In fact the most common map projection that we use almost everyday in Google Maps and other mapping services, has been introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator.

Guys from Vox decided to give it a shot and tried to explain the complexity of map projections in a simple way… And they’ve succeeded. This video will ultimately explain you the concept of projections and why all world maps are in fact wrong.

Update: this is also worth a look – The True Size