<P> Mercator's editions of Ptolemy and his theological writings were in print for many years after the demise of the atlas but they too eventually disappeared and it was the Mercator projection which emerged as his sole and greatest legacy . His construction of a chart on which the courses of constant bearing favoured by mariners appeared as straight lines ultimately revolutionised the art of navigation, making it simpler and therefore safer . Mercator left no hints to his method of construction and it was Edward Wright who first clarified the method in his book Certaine Errors (1599)--the relevant error being the erroneous belief that straight lines on conventional charts corresponded to constant courses . Wright's solution was a numerical approximation and it was another 70 years before the projection formula was derived analytically . Wright published a new world map based on the Mercator projection, also in 1599 . Slowly, but steadily, charts using the projection appeared throughout the first half of the seventeenth century and by the end of that century chart makers all over the world were using nothing but the Mercator projection, with the aim of showing the oceans and the coastlines in detail without concern for the continental interiors . At some stage the projection made the unfortunate leap to portrayal of the continents and it eventually became the canonical description of the world, despite its manifest distortions at high latitudes . Recently Mercator's projection has been rejected for representations of the world but it remains paramount for nautical charts and its use stands as his enduring legacy . </P> <P> There are two museums dedicated primarily to Mercator: </P> <Dl> <Dd> <Ul> <Li> Kultur - und Stadthistorisches Museum, Duisburg, Germany . See also German Wikipedia . </Li> <Li> Mercator Museum (Stedelijke musea), Sint - Niklaas, Belgium . Back to contents </Li> </Ul> </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> <Ul> <Li> Kultur - und Stadthistorisches Museum, Duisburg, Germany . See also German Wikipedia . </Li> <Li> Mercator Museum (Stedelijke musea), Sint - Niklaas, Belgium . Back to contents </Li> </Ul> </Dd>

Where was the person who drew the map of the world standing