Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A Mercator map can therefore never fully show the polar areas (but see Uses below for applications of the oblique and transverse Mercator projections). The Mercator projection is often compared to and confused with the central cylindrical projection , which is the result of projecting points from the sphere onto a tangent cylinder along ...
Mercator's 1569 map was a large planisphere, [3] i.e. a projection of the spherical Earth onto the plane. It was printed in eighteen separate sheets from copper plates engraved by Mercator himself. [4]
The straight-line distance between the central point on the map to any other point is the same as the straight-line 3D distance through the globe between the two points. c. 150 BC: Stereographic: Azimuthal Conformal Hipparchos* Map is infinite in extent with outer hemisphere inflating severely, so it is often used as two hemispheres.
With no distortion along the central meridian and the equator, distances along those lines are correct, as are the angles of intersection of other lines with those two lines. Distortion is lowest throughout the region of the map close to those lines. A sinusoidal projection shows relative sizes accurately, but distorts shapes and directions.
A Cornucopia of Map Projections, a visualization of distortion on a vast array of map projections in a single image. G.Projector, free software can render many projections (NASA GISS). Color images of map projections and distortion (Mapthematics.com). Geometric aspects of mapping: map projection (KartoWeb.itc.nl).
All projections distort geographic features, distances, and directions in some way. The various map projections that have been developed provide different ways of balancing accuracy and the unavoidable distortion inherent in making world maps. Perhaps the best-known projection is the Mercator Projection, originally designed as a nautical chart.
The Mercator projection preserves angles but fails to preserve area, hence the massive distortion of Antarctica. Gauss's Theorema Egregium (Latin for "Remarkable Theorem") is a major result of differential geometry , proved by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1827, that concerns the curvature of surfaces.
The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) is a map projection system for assigning coordinates to locations on the surface of the Earth. Like the traditional method of latitude and longitude , it is a horizontal position representation , which means it ignores altitude and treats the earth surface as a perfect ellipsoid .