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Unraveling Map Projections: Science, Art & History of Map-Making

Delve into the intricate world of cartography, exploring techniques, distortions, and transformations in creating maps. Learn about map projections and how they impact shape, area, distance, and direction. Discover the fascinating blend of science and art behind spatial representation.

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Unraveling Map Projections: Science, Art & History of Map-Making

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  1. A brief introduction to map projectionsByMark VanderVen  vanderm6@cc.wwu.edu

  2. Cartography No simple, easy definition We’ll define it as the study, science, history, and art of map-making. 

  3. Cartography • Comprised of many techniques and methods. • Includes measuring the earth's shape, distances, and features • Collect and store information about terrain, places and people • Create and design processes for graphical representation of data • Print and publish spatial information. • Adapt three-dimensional features to flat models

  4. A spherical surface (or section of) cannot be transformed to a planar (flat) surface without incurring some distortion

  5. Projection “A mathematical development of one surface onto another. In the cartographic context, one surface is the earth and the other is a flat surface such as a map. The mathematics usually convert from the spherical coordinates of latitude and longitude to a Cartesian coordinate system. The projection is one element of a coordinate system definition.” Norm's GIS Glossaryhttp://www.mentorsoftwareinc.com/resource/glossary.htm

  6. Second Defintion • A map projection is a systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of locations from the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane. Maps cannot be created without map projections. All map projections necessarily distort the surface in some fashion. https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Orthographic%20projection%20in%20cartography

  7. …more simply put… • A map projection is a flat map surface representing all or part of a spherical surface (Earth).

  8. A spherical surface (or section of) cannot be transformed to a planar (flat) surface without incurring some distortion REMINDER

  9. Map properties that can be distorted • Shape • Area • Distance • Direction

  10. Distance ?

  11. Area

  12. Shape?

  13. Direction?

  14. For a web page on coordinate systems see: http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/coordsys/coordsys.html

  15. Comparisons ESRI “No Projection” (Lat/Long) Mercator

  16. Conclusions Different projections are used to preserve • Shape • Area • Distance • Direction No projection can do all simultaneously.

  17. For More • What on Earth are Map Projections Prof. Alan Saalfeld Geography Ohio State University Click Here for pdf

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