Google has released an update for Google Maps which changes the way the Earth is depicted when users zoom all the way out.

The Earth is no longer portrayed as a flat surface and is now shown as a globe on the Google Maps desktop application.

Google previously used traditional Mercator projection to create a flat depiction of Earth, which makes it easier to portray maps in two-dimensional formats – but distorts the size of landmasses.

For example, Greenland previously seemed larger than Africa on Google Maps, while the new 3D globe depiction portrays real landmass sizes – with Africa 14-times the size of Greenland.

This follows a number of recent changes to the Google Maps platform, including improved location sharing with the addition of battery life information and a new recommendations system.

https://twitter.com/googlemaps/status/1025130620471656449

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