Before the comparisons, the map itself. Almost every world map you've seen — in classrooms, in atlases, on Google Maps — is the Mercator projection, drawn by Gerardus Mercator in 1569 to help sailors hold a straight compass course. That single design goal is the root of everything else on this site: to keep directions true, the map has to stretch the world, and it stretches it more the further you get from the equator.
These pages explain how that works and why it matters — what the projection is, why a 450-year-old navigation chart still runs the digital world, and how a rule as simple as sec²(latitude) ends up making Greenland look the size of a continent. Start here, then see it for yourself in the comparisons.