| Name |
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Best Use |
Show
Me
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Geographic Lat/Lon
a cylindrical projection that
creates a rectangular map by spacing the lines of latitude
and longitude equally. |
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global; tropics |
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Aitoff
a projection in which only the
central parallel and meridian are straight lines. |
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global |
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Goode Interrupted Homolosine
a pseudocylindrical projection
often used to represent global satellite data; looks
like a 3-D globe cut with scissors and laid flat. |
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global; tropics |
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Mercator
a cylindrical projection with straight
meridians and parallels that intersect at right angles. |
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equatorial regions; marine navigation |
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Miller Cylindrical
a cylindrical projection with straight
meridians and parallels that meet at right angles, but
straight lines are not of constant azimuth. |
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global thematic maps; equatorial regions |
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Plate Carree
a cylindrical projection
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global thematic maps |
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Robinson
a pseudocylindrical projection
that distorts shape, area, scale, and distance in an
attempt to balance errors of projection properties. |
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visually appealing global maps |
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Sinusoidal Equal-Area
a pseudocylindrical projection;
almost diamond-shaped; scale is true only on the central
meridian and the parallels. |
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regional areas that have a maximum extent in
a north-south direction (Africa, South America); also used
to show global distribution patterns; USGS maps |
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Cylindrical Equal-Area
a cylindrical projection; straight
meridians and parallels that meet at right angles; shapes
and distances are distorted, but area is preserved. |
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areas within 30 degrees of the equator; used
in the transverse case for areas very narrow in longitudinal
extent; not recommended for world maps because of extreme
shape distortion away from the standard parallels |
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Azimuthal Equidistant
an azimuthal projection; distances
measured from the center are true and distortion of other
properties increases away from the center point. |
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air-route distances, polar regions, Northern
or Southern hemispheres, topographic mapping of Micronesia
and Guam |
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Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area
an azimuthal projection; accurately
represents both areas and true direction from the center
of the projection. |
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one hemisphere; large ocean areas
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Orthographic
an azimuthal projection; area and shape are distorted; distances are true
along the equator and other parellels. |
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perspective views of hemispheres; good graphic
representation of the earth as viewed from outer space. |
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Stereographic
an azimuthal projection; directions
are true from the center point, and scale increases away
from the center point, as does distortion in area and
shape. |
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one hemisphere; continent-size areas of similar
extent in all directions; polar regions |
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Lambert Conformal Conic
a conic projection; area and shape
are distorted away from standard parallels; directions
are true in limited areas. |
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large countries in the mid-latitudes having
an east-west orientation |
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Albers Equal-Area Conic
a conic projection that distorts
scale and distance except along standard parallels. |
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large countries with an east-west orientation |
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Van der Grinten
central meridian and equator are
straight lines; other meridians are arcs of circles. |
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global |
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| all projections... |
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