True size and latitude of Finland vs North America

13 comments
  1. More like Finland vs. Northern Canada. Because of the projection, the relative sizes between northern vs. southern parts of the map are distorted.

    Here it looks like Finland would span half of the US, but drag it on top of Texas and you’ll see that the north-south extension is about the same for Finland and Texas.

  2. It’s important to note that in the Mercator Projection, sizes can only be compared at the same latitude as it distorts the size of landmasses based on latitude. That’s why Greenland always looks like it’s about the same size as Africa when really it is much, much smaller. Finland is not actually as long as the distance between Houston and the US-Canadian border.

  3. As someone of Finnish descent living in Michigan I’ve always enjoyed snow and thought I’d be able to manage living in my grandparents’ home country. Perhaps I was wrong.

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