A projection of the globe onto a flat map using a grid of lines of latitude and longitude. It is a systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of locations on the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane.
Mercator Projection. Geradus Mercator invented his famous projection in 1569 as an aid to navigators. On his map, lines of latitude and longitude intersect at right angles and thus the direction of travel-the rhumb line-is consistent. Map Projections. It is impossible to accurately represent the spherical surface of the earth on a flat piece of paper. While a globe can represent the planet accurately, a globe large enough to display most features of the earth at a usable scale would be too large to be useful, so we use maps. Introduction. 1  Map projections are attempts to portray the surface of the earth or a portion of the earth on a flat surface. 2  Some distortions of conformality, distance, direction, scale, and area always result from this process. 1 Some projection are attempts to only moderately distort all of these properties. 2  Conformality. 3  When the scale of a map at any point on the map is the same in any direction, the projection is conformal. 4  Meridians (lines of longitude) and parallels (lines of latitude) intersect at right angles. Commonly, a map projection is a systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of locations on the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion. Depending on the purpose of the map, some distortions are acceptable and others are not; therefore, different map projections exist in order to preserve some properties of the sphere-like body at the expense of other properties. Since any map projection is a representation of one of those surfaces on a plane, all map projections distort. Every distinct map projection distorts in a distinct way. The study of map projections is the characterization of these distortions. 1 Map projections are attempts to portray the surface of the earth or a portion of the earth on a flat surface. 2  Some distortions of conformality, distance, direction, scale, and area always result from this process. 1 Some projection are attempts to only moderately distort all of these properties. 2  Conformality. 3  When the scale of a map at any point on the map is the same in any direction, the projection is conformal. 4  Meridians (lines of longitude) and parallels (lines of latitude) intersect at right angles. Mercator projection, Mercator's projection-a map projection of the earth onto a cylinder; areas appear greater the farther they are from the equator. projection-the representation of a figure or solid on a plane as it would look from a particular direction. 1  Facebook. conic projection, conical projection-a map projection of the globe onto a cone with its point over one of the earth's poles. equal-area map projection, equal-area projection-a map projection in which quadrilaterals formed by meridians and parallels have an area on the map proportional to their area on the globe. • MAP PROJECTION (noun). The noun MAP PROJECTION has 1 sense: 1. a projection of the globe onto a flat map using a grid of lines of latitude and longitude. Familiarity information: MAP PROJECTION used as a noun is very rare. conic projection; conical projection (a map projection of the globe onto a cone with its point over one of the earth's poles). equal-area map projection; equal-area projection (a map projection in which quadrilaterals formed by meridians and parallels have an area on the map proportional to their area on the globe). Noun. 1. map projection-a projection of the globe onto a flat map using a grid of lines of latitude and longitude. conformal projection, orthomorphic projection-a map projection in which a small area is rendered in its true shape. conic projection, conical projection-a map projection of the globe onto a cone with its point over one of the earth's poles. equal-area map projection, equal-area projection-a map projection in which quadrilaterals formed by meridians and parallels have an area on the map proportional to their area on the globe. A map projection is any orderly system of parallels and meridians on which a map can be drawn. These parallels and meridians help take real world locations and spatial references and put them in a flat plane. Any mathematical function transforming coordinates from a curved surface to a plane is considered a projection. [edit] Case (Tangency). Case refers to the map projection’s interaction with the portion of the earth’s surface depicted on the map. Each map has a point or line of tangency, along which there is minimal distortion.In the tangent case, the line (or point) of tangency contacts the globe at one line (or point).
http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa031599.htm http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj_f.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj_f.html http://www.thefreedictionary.com/map+projection http://www.audioenglish.org/dictionary/map_projection.htm http://www.thefreedictionary.com/map+projection http://wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Map_projection
what is map projection