Geographic Information Systems
Different map projections
Dr. Arun K. Saraf,
Professor
Department of Earth Sciences
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Construction of a map
1. Selection of a map projection
2. Selection of a model for the shape of the earth (sphere
or ellipsoid)
3. Transformation of geographic coordinates (longitude
and latitude) to plane coordinates (eastings and
northings or x,y)
4. Reduction of scale (if required)
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What are maps?
• Maps are models of reality
• Attempts to represent the two-dimensional curved
surface of the Earth a flat surface
• Maps are main data source for GIS
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Basic Map Projections
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Different types of Map Projections
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Conic (tangent)
Conic (secant)
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Cylindrical Aspects
Planar Aspects
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Polar Aspect (different perspectives)
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Map Projections
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A cylindrical projection
usually places the
earth inside a cylinder
with the equator
tangent to the inside
of the cylinder.
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Cylindrical Maps
are conformal maps
they conform to the true
shape
This geometry tends to enlarge the areas of land
masses at high (nearer to the poles) latitudes.
Examples are the Mercator projection. The U.S. Geological
Survey uses a conformal projection for many of its
topographic maps.
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Map Projections
• Used to display locations on the curved surface of the earth on
a flat sheet according to some set of rules
• Involve distortions in:
shape (of a region)
distance (between two points)
direction (bearing from one point to another)
area (of a region)
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Map Projections
Basic Principle
• Although for many mapping applications the earth can be assumed to be
a perfect sphere, there is a difference between the distance around the
earth between the poles versus the equator.
• The circumference of the earth is about 1/300th smaller around the poles.
• This type of figure is termed an oblate ellipsoid or spheroid, and is the
three-dimensional shape obtained by rotating an ellipse about its shorter
axis.
• An estimate of the earth’s surface based on an ellipsoid provides a
determination of the elevation of every point on the earth’s surface,
including sea level, and is often called a datum.
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Map Projections
Map projections are used to
transfer or “project” geographical
coordinates onto a flat surface.
The easiest way to try to transfer
the information onto a flat
surface is to convert the
geographic coordinates into an X
and Y coordinate system, where
x is longitude and y is latitude.
This is an example of “projecting”
onto a plane.
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Map Projections
Projection: The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s
surface to a flat map.
A projection of an image onto another surface either a
cylinder, a flat plane or a cone
3 basic types of projections
• Cylindrical projection
• Conical projection
• Azimuthal projection
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Properties of map projections
1. Equal-area: correctly represents areas sizes of the sphere on
the map
e.g. Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection
2. Equidistant: correctly represents distances
e.g. Plate Carrée projection
3. Conformal: represents angles and shapes correctly at
infinitely small locations.
e.g. Mercator projection
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CYLINDRICAL PROJECTION
• Cylindrical or conformal projections preserve
right angles between lines of latitude and
longitude and are primarily used because they
preserve direction
• Areas is always distorted on cylindrical
projections
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Cylindrical projections
• project the sphere onto a cylinder tangent to a central meridian
• meridians and parallels intersect at right angles
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E.g.Mercator projection (conformal)
• Preserves angles
• Distorts scale, distance, direction
and area
• distortions increase away from
the central meridian
• used in sailing (direction more
important than distance)
Note an obvious distortion?
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Conical Projection
• Conical or equal area projections preserve the
property of area
• On an equivalent projection all parts of the
earth’s surface are shown with the correct area
• Latitudinal distances are never accurate
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Conical Projection
In a conic projection, a
cone is placed over the
earth, normally tangent
to one or more lines of
latitude.
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Conical projections
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Ex: Alber’s equal area conical projection
distorts scale and distance
except along standard
parallels
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Conical Projection
used for Mid-Latitude Maps
Equal-area
projections
typically
have non-
straight
longitudes
and may
have unusual
outlines.
Also referred to as equal area maps (Ex. - Lambert Conformal Conic projection)
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Azimuthal Projection
Azimuthal projection only preserve correct
distance relationships along a few lines on the
map.
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An azimuthal or planar
projection is usually
tangent to a specific
point on earth’s
surface, but may also
be secant. This point,
or focus, may be a
pole, the equator, or
other oblique point.
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Planar (azimuthal)
flat sheet is placed in contact with a globe, and points are
projected from the globe to the sheet
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Ex: Lambert's azimuthal equal-area projection
• Preserves area
• Distorts shapes & distances
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Geographic Projection
• latitude and longitude coordinates
• many distortions; mostly used in thematic mapping
• Compare the size of Greenland
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“Compromise” projections
• Distortions are balanced
• Make things "look right”
• shape distorted more in the polar regions than at the
equator
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Compromise projection
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Open Series Index Map of Uttrakhand
• Open Series Maps (OSM) – These
are prepared on 1:250,000;
1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scales for
the use of general public/civilians
http://www.surveyofindia.gov.in/pages/display/246-publications
for supporting development
activities in the country.
• Technically maps of this series are
based on WGS-84 Datum and
UTM Projection.
• They do not contain grid and
classified information; therefore,
they are kept under unrestricted
category.
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THANKS
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