Few projections in practical use are perspective. Rather, any mathematical function that transforms coordinates from the curved surface distinctly and smoothly to the plane is a projection. However, the term "map projection" refers specifically to a cartographic projection.ĭespite the name's literal meaning, projection is not limited to perspective projections, such as those resulting from casting a shadow on a screen, or the rectilinear image produced by a pinhole camera on a flat film plate. More generally, projections are considered in several fields of pure mathematics, including differential geometry, projective geometry, and manifolds. There is no limit to the number of possible map projections. The study of map projections is primarily about the characterization of their distortions. Depending on the purpose of the map, some distortions are acceptable and others are not therefore, different map projections exist in order to preserve some properties of the sphere-like body at the expense of other properties. Projection is a necessary step in creating a two-dimensional map and is one of the essential elements of cartography.Īll projections of a sphere on a plane necessarily distort the surface in some way and to some extent. In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longitude, of locations from the surface of the globe are transformed to coordinates on a plane. In cartography, a map projection is any of a broad set of transformations employed to represent the curved two-dimensional surface of a globe on a plane. Systematic representation of the surface of a sphere or ellipsoid onto a plane A medieval depiction of the Ecumene (1482, Johannes Schnitzer, engraver), constructed after the coordinates in Ptolemy's Geography and using his second map projection
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