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reference search: go! advanced search - go! Produced in
association with Visible Knowledge Project   Creating a map
involves fitting the round world onto a flat surface. To
visualize the problems inherent in this transformation, consider
what happens to a hollow ball when it is completely flattened.
Flattening distorts the ball. There is no way to flatten without
bending and tearing, forcing a three dimensional object to
become a two dimensional surface. Utilizing mathematics,
cartographers have created a variety of less-than-perfect
solutions to this problem. These solutions, known as map
projections, produce maps that represent the same place, but
these maps can have very different appearances. Perhaps you have
seen a map that shows Greenland's area to be much larger than
Australia's. In reality, Australia is three times larger than
Greenland. Things are not always as they might seem when you
look at maps.  On a flat map many of the spatial propertie