Overview of Maps
Subject:
Human Geography [1]
UNIT 2 Maps, Scales, Space, and Place Map Fundamentals Earths? surface is a geoid, a bumpy, rocky sphere. In maps, distortion is unavoidable in a projection. Projections can cause the distortion of distance, area, shape, and direction. *** Projection Types *** Mercator projection: preserves direction, distorts area. Projected on a cylinder, resulting in longitude lines that do not intersect, but rather are parallel. Land masses near poles are severely enlarged. Peters projection: accurate area of landmasses, reveals areas in the tropics to be rather large. Fully projection: accurate size but no sense of direction. Robinson projection: minimal errors in distance, area, shape, and direction, and is widely accepted by many geographers.