Lab 5

Our World is three dimensional. This is great for living and interacting but hard to represent on a two dimensional plane. When showing a map on in two dimension there are multiple ways to project the image. Each way has pros and cons. In order to have one aspect of the map be to scale another part must be sacrificed. For this lab we map six different map projections that fell into three categories: equidistant map projections, equal area map projections, and conformal map projections. Below I have two maps for each category. With these maps one can see the pros and cons of each type.

Equidistant:
Equidistant maps, as the name implies, represents accurate distance on the map. However, because of this area and shape are distorted in order to preserve true distance. Below I made an equidistant cylindrical map and and equidistant conic map. Both maps show the distance between Washington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan. 

Equal Area:
Equal area projection maps preserve the correct area of the features. The countries and continents show the correct area in proportion to others. This projection is not very effective on a large scale because the shape and angle of the features are distorted.

 

Conformal:

Conformal map projections preserve angle. This means that area and distance are distorted. This is easily seen in the two maps below. One also notices that features closer to the equator are closer to their true area than the features closer to the poles. 

These six maps let the viewer see the pros and cons of different types of map projections. Each kind of map can be used for certain situations. When changing a three dimensional area to a two dimensional plane there will always be some aspects of the true area compromised. One must simply decide which projection is right for each situation.