The van der Grinten projection is a compromise map projection that is neither equal-area nor conformal. It projects the entire Earth into a circle, though the polar regions are subject to extreme distortion. The projection was the first of four proposed by Alphons J. van der Grinten in 1904, and, unlike most projections, is an arbitrary geometric construction on the plane. It was made famous when the National Geographic Society adopted it as their reference map of the world from 1922 until 1988.
The geometric construction given by van der Grinten can be written algebraically:
where takes the sign of, takes the sign of and
Should it occur that, then
Similarly, if or, then
In all cases, is the latitude, is the longitude, and is the central meridian of the projection.
Famous quotes containing the words van der, van, der and/or projection:
“Less is more.”
—Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886–1969)
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Under the lindens on the heather,
There was our double resting-place.”
—Walther Von Der Vogelweide (1170?–1230?)
“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)