More on Map Projections

Last week we watched a vivid demonstration showing the difficulty of depicting the earth (a sphere) as a flat image (standard paper map). 

Today, we collected some resources that go a little deeper in explaining the strengths and weaknesses of various projections.

GIS Geography offers a their take on the limitations of flat maps, including extremely clear descriptions of the 3 types of map projections, Conic, Cylindrical and Azimuthal.

If all this talk about map projections has gotten you curious about the various ways the earth is projected, go here to see 50 map projections.

 

For a truly encyclopedic look at the many ways the earth area can be represented, check out this page on Map Projections page.  Shown here are just the projections that start with the letter "A".  Many more to see!