this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
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Geography

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This is the so-called "Mercator point" πŸ“ in northwestern Germany near the Dutch border. Cartographer Gerhard Mercator lived there for a few years as a child.

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago

Cartographer Gerhard Mercator lived there for a few years as a child.

Oh, I thought this was going to be something like the prime meridian, but for the mercator projection

Still cool

[–] rom255@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] sik0fewl@piefed.ca 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That does not appear to be the same point. The inscriptions are different.

[–] rom255@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It is, been there and took the photo πŸ™‚

[–] sik0fewl@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Ok. Maybe the inscription is different on the other side? It says 51 degrees in your picture, but 6 degrees in the photos I see on Google Maps.

[–] zout@fedia.io 4 points 3 days ago

Nice one, but not in northwestern Germany; It is near the Dutch border, but it's the most southern part of the Netherlands, which would be about dead center on the north-south axis of Germany.

[–] SillyMe@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

interesting. why did they make it so phallic?

[–] Tuuktuuk@anarchist.nexus 2 points 3 days ago

It might have looked much less phallic when it had not gotten weathered like it's now. And maybe all kinds of columns were more commonplace back then, in general? You don't really see new columns being erected (no pun indented) these days.