When we work with maps (for example with Google Maps), it is usually done on a flat screen of our mobiles. But it is also possible to buy a 3D globe model with the map of the whole earth printed on it:
So there are definitely 3D globe maps available. But how can we commonly work with flat maps when the Earth is a globe?
While the map we see is flat, what we see is actually a projection of 3D shape on a 2D surface. Maps are flat in a similar sense that photos are flat.
Projecting a curved surface on a flat map necessarily creates distortions. How would you print a surface of a ball on a flat surface?
We can dissect the ball into these kinds of shapes (which are still curved and not 2D) and then stretch the sharp ends:
This kind of trick is used often with Earth. But we need to be mindful of the fact that it distorts the original 3D surface. The most extreme distortion is at the poles, where the zero-sized point right at the pole is stretched into a wide horizontal line.
But the most important thing is to understand that this projection on a flat surface does in no way prove that the real Earth is flat. Just like a photo of a person doesn’t prove that the person is 2D. We only use 2D surfaces for maps, because our screens (and papers) are 2D.
Links:
- Wikipedia: Map projection
- Wikipedia: Mercator projection