In a letter written in 1508 to his former teacher, Gregor Reisch, Waldseemüller writes "as thou knowest principally by my labor, although many others here and there falsely take credit of it, we have lately composed, drawn, and printed a map of the entire earth, in the form of the globe as well as of a planisphere, which is making its way over the world not without glory and praise" (Karpinski 1930, 666).

Martin Waldseemüller's large world map is made using a modified conical projection, the second projection described by Ptolemy in his Geographia, showing yet another view of the world.