Lab 5

 

        This week's lab revolved around projecting the Earth on a 2-D layout. Three main types of map projections are equal-area, equidistant, and conformal. Since the Earth is spherical and 3-D in shape, it is impossible to create a perfect 2-D projection of it; distortions are sure to occur. However, different map projections have varying degrees and types of distortions. Despite this, map projections are very significant in that they allow us to have a convenient representation of the world that is portable and easier to view. The map projection one chooses to use depends on what the map's purpose will be for. 

        The first picture above is of a type of map projection know as equal-area projections. This map projection preserves area relationships of the world. This is good because when one looks at an equal-area map, the sizes of everything in relation to each other are the way they are in real life. In this sense, it is a very accurate map projection. However, this comes at the expense of distorted distances and shapes as you move outwards from the center of the map. 

        The third picture depicts conformal map projections. These map projections maintain angles and local shapes. Because of this, conformal maps are useful in things such as navigation. However, preserving shapes and angles come at the expense of distorted relative areas and distances. For example, in the Mercator map, it appears as though Greenland is almost bigger than Africa, which is definitely not the case in real life. The same goes for the Stereographic map, which shows Australia as disporportionatley large.  

         The second picture is of equidistant map projections. Equidistant map projections are sort of a middle ground between conformal and equal-area projections. Here, distances between places are preserved, making it very useful in areas where accurate distances are needed. However, because of preserved distances, both area and shape are a bit distorted in this projection. This can be seen in the two-point equidistant map where North America seems to almost be lying on its side. Because of this, this map is not useful for things such as navigation.