It's a change that allows the map to more accurately display the Earth. ... Up until now, Google Maps has used Mercator projection, which projects the planet onto a flat surface. While this style makes it easy to print onto maps and has largely become standardized, it presents a distorted image of the Earth.

Is Google Maps based on Mercator projection?

World coordinates in Google Maps are measured from the Mercator projection's origin (the northwest corner of the map at 180 degrees longitude and approximately 85 degrees latitude) and increase in the x direction towards the east (right) and increase in the y direction towards the south (down).

What projection does Google use?

Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth use a Mercator projection based on the World Geodetic System (WGS) 1984 geographic coordinate system (datum). This Mercator projection supports spheres only, unlike the ESRI Mercator implementation, which supports spheres and ellipsoids.