The Mercator projection was originally designed for use in navigation, as it allows sailors to plot a straight course between two points. However, it is also widely used in other applications, such as education and cartography.
One of the most noticeable features of the Mercator projection is that it makes landmasses near the poles appear much larger than they actually are. This is because the Mercator projection uses a cylindrical surface, which means that the lines of latitude are drawn as straight lines that are parallel to the equator. This causes the landmasses near the poles to be stretched out in the north-south direction.
For example, on the Mercator projection, Greenland appears to be about the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland. Similarly, Alaska appears to be about the same size as Brazil. In reality, Brazil is about 7 times larger than Alaska.
The Mercator projection is still widely used today, despite its distortions, because it is a conformal map projection. This means that it preserves local shapes, which makes it useful for navigation and other applications. However, it is important to be aware of the distortions that are inherent in the Mercator projection, so that they can be taken into account when using the map.