A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion. 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. There is no limit to the number of possible map projections.
Read more about Map Projection: Background, Metric Properties of Maps, Construction of A Map Projection, Choosing A Projection Surface, Aspects of The Projection, Scale, Choosing A Model For The Shape of The Earth, Classification, Projections By Surface
Famous quotes containing the words map and/or projection:
“In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas ... a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Those who speak of our culture as dead or dying have a quarrel with life, and I think they cannot understand its terms, but must endlessly repeat the projection of their own desires.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)