[1stPickSites] (05/10/06) Cartographical Map Projections

Cartographical Map Projections

http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/TOC/cartTOC.html

Today's site, from Carlos A. Furuti, offers an excellent
introduction to cartography, complete with a generous number of
helpful diagrams.  Armed with the startling variations in
representing the earth by different projections, Readers may
never look at a map of the world in the
same way again.

"Cartography is the science of map-making. It comprises many
problems and techniques ... One important concern of cartography
is solving how to project, i.e. transform or map points from an
almost spherical lump of rock (our Earth) onto ... flat sheets of
paper. ... Here are informally described important cartographic
concepts, how maps are drawn and why there are so many different
kinds of projections for world maps." - from the website

The site provides definitions and concepts about the earth and
maps; requirements inherent in cartography such as preserving
distances,
directions, shape and area; and cartographical math for creating
different types of projections. Exploring the main types of
projections, the presentation examines Azimuthal, Cylindrical,
Pseudocylindrical, Conic and Pseudoconic, among others. It
explains the difficulties of transcribing or projecting a
representation of a sphere to a flat surface, the inevitable
distortion which occurs and the necessity of different
projections for specific requirements, for example, nautical
navigation. The "Gall-Peters Projection" ("Peter's World Map")
controversy is briefly considered, complete with diagrams to
illustrate the limitations of this projection.

~*~*~*~*~
Was this forwarded to you?  Want to subscribe?  Send an email 
to 1stpicksites-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe.

For a complete list of email commands for our list send an email 
to ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject line of "info 1stpicksites" without the 
quotes.

If you wish to unsubscribe from our list send an email 
to 1stpicksites-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe

To contact the list moderators send an email to 
1stpicksites-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
~*~*~*~*~

Other related posts: