Flat maps, designed to offer a consistent representation of Earth, reveal inaccuracies in countries' sizing. Some nations near the Poles appear significantly larger than they truly are ...

Depending on the map projection used, the size of continents can be quite distorted - and a map showing the true size of each country shows there is a north-south divide ...

SEE ALSO: In a world of Google maps ... pyramic and are finally unfolded into a rectangle. The map itself can be laid out flat or folded into a three-dimensional globe -- and it's accurate ...

Flat, two-dimensional maps can look different because the world is actually curved. This means map-makers need to make compromises when drawing maps. These different map representations are called ...