Why do we have distortion on maps

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Sign Up. Misc 2 weeks ago. Misc 1 week ago. Personal Finance 4 weeks ago. Markets 3 weeks ago. Money 3 weeks ago. Misc 3 weeks ago. Energy 3 weeks ago. For example, it may be constant along any given parallel. This would mean that features lying on the 20th parallel are equally distorted, features on the 40th parallel are equally distorted but differently from those on the 20th parallel , and so on.

Area If a map preserves area, then the size of a feature on a map is the same relative to its size on the earth. For example, on an equal-area world map, Norway takes up the same percentage of map space that actual Norway takes up on the earth.

To look at it another way, a coin moved to different spots on the map represents the same amount of actual ground no matter where you put it. In an equal-area map, the shapes of most features are distorted.

No map can preserve both shape and area for the whole world, although some come close over sizeable regions. Distance If a line from a to b on a map is the same distance accounting for scale that it is on the earth, then the map line has true scale. No map has true scale everywhere, but most maps have at least one or two lines of true scale.

An equidistant map is one that preserves true scale for all straight lines passing through a single, specified point. For example, in an equidistant map centered on Redlands , California , a linear measurement from Redlands to any other point on the map would be correct.

Direction Direction, or azimuth , is measured in degrees of angle from north. On the earth, this means that the direction from a to b is the angle between the meridian on which a lies and the great circle arc connecting a to b. The azimuth of a to b is 22 degrees. If the azimuth value from a to b is the same on a map as on the earth, then the map preserves direction from a to b. An azimuthal projection is one that preserves direction for all straight lines passing through a single, specified point.

No map has true direction everywhere. A few projections with different properties. The Lambert Conformal Conic preserves shape. The Mollweide preserves area.

Compare the relative sizes of Greenland and South America in one and then the other. The Orthographic projection preserves direction. The Azimuthal Equidistant preserves both distance and direction. The Winkel Tripel is a compromise projection.

More about scale. Scale is the relationship between distance on a map or globe and distance on the earth. Suppose you have a globe that is 40 million times smaller than the earth. Its scale is ,, Any line you measure on this globe—no matter how long or in which direction—will be one forty -millionth as long as the corresponding line on the earth.

In other words, the scale is true everywhere. This is because the globe and the earth have the same shape disregarding the complication of sphere versus spheroid. Now suppose you have a flat map that is 40 million times smaller than the earth. I am truly amazed looking back at the maps produced by the early explorers, like Captain James Cook who mapped Australia over years ago.

They mapped the coastline from their ships using what we might called primitive tools but it was amazing how accurate they were. Today we just pull up the latest satellite image, assuming that it has been rectified correctly and is fit for purpose. Know why you are producing the map, know why the data was captured.

Take the time to bring out the cartographer in yourself. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Join the team! Home Maps What four things do map projections distort?

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