Many properties can be measured on the Earth's surface independently of its geography:
• Area
• Shape… See more

The creation of a map projection involves two steps:
1. Selection of a model for the shape of the Earth or planetary body (usually choosing between a sphere or ellipsoid). Because the Earth's act… See more

One way to classify map projections is based on the type of surface onto which the globe is projected. In this scheme, the projection process is described as placing a hypothetical projection surface the size of the desire… See more

The three developable surfaces (plane, cylinder, cone) provide useful models for understanding, describing, and developing map projections. However, these models are limited in two fundamental ways. For one thing, … See more

Conformal, or orthomorphic, map projections preserve angles locally, implying that they map infinitesimal circles of constant size anywhere on the Earth to infinitesimal circles of varying sizes on the map. In co… See more

The mathematics of projection do not permit any particular map projection to be best for everything. Something will always be distorted. Thus, many projections exist to serve the many uses of maps and their vast range … See more