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Maxwell C. Hill, To the Ends of the Earth: did the Greeks circumnavigate the world and settle New Zealand before the birth of Christ? Ancient History Publications, [Taupiri?]. Printed by [...]

ABSTRACTSometimes map projection designers need to create equal-area projections to best fill the projections’ purposes. However, unlike for conformal projections, few transformations have been described that can be applied to equal-area projections to develop new equal-area projections. Here, I survey area-preserving transformations, giving examples of their applications and proposing an efficient way of deploying an equal-area system for raster-based Web mapping. Together, these transformations provide a toolbox for the map projection designer working in the area-preserving domain.

ABSTRACTEquivalence (the equal-area property of a map projection) is important to some categories of maps. However, unlike for conformal projections, completely general techniques have not been developed for creating new, computationally reasonable equal-area projections. The literature describes many specific equal-area projections and a few equal-area projections that are more or less configurable, but flexibility is still sparse. This work develops a tractable technique for generating a continuum of equal-area projections between two chosen equal-area projections. The technique gives map projection designers unlimited choice in tailoring the projection to the need. The technique is particularly suited to maps that dynamically adapt optimally to changing scale and region of interest, such as required for online maps.

ABSTRACTOne method for working with large, dense sets of spatial point data is to aggregate the measure of the data into polygonal containers, such as political boundaries, or into regular spatial bins such as triangles, squares, or hexagons. When mapping these aggregations, the map projection must inevitably distort relationships. This distortion can impact the reader’s ability to compare count and density measures across the map. Spatial binning, particularly via hexagons, is becoming a popular technique for displaying aggregate measures of point data sets. Increasingly, we see questionable use of the technique without attendant discussion of its hazards. In this work, we discuss when and why spatial binning works and how mapmakers can better understand the limitations caused by distortion from projecting to the plane. We introduce equations for evaluating distortion’s impact on one common projection (Web Mercator) and discuss how the methods used generalize to other projections. While we focus on hexagonal binning, these same considerations affect spatial bins of any shape, and more generally, any analysis of geographic data performed in planar space.

ABSTRACTIn 1989, Herbert Hufnagel introduced a mathematical model for a family of equal-area, pseudocylindric projections, which includes the Mollweide, Wagner IV, and Eckert IV projections as specializations. Hufnagel’s contribution has received very little attention, and his projections are not available in any of the commonly used cartographic software packages. This article makes three contributions: The Hufnagel family is introduced to the English-speaking community; algorithms for computing the forward and reverse projections are presented; and the eight new projections proposed by Hufnagel are analyzed.

ABSTRACTEquivalence (the equal-area property of a map projection) is important to some categories of maps. However, unlike conformal projections, completely general techniques do not exist for creating new, computationally reasonable equal-area projections. The literature describes many specific equal-area projections and a few equal-area projections that are more or less configurable, but flexibility is still sparse. This work describes a new, highly configurable equal-area projection system consisting of arcs of concentric circles, placing it in the pseudoconic class. The system uses a novel technique to hybridize the Bonne pseudoconic projection and the Albers conic projection, subsuming many existing projections as degenerate cases. With the resulting system and the technique used to develop it, map projection designers will have greater choice in tailoring the projection to the need. The system may be particularly suited to maps that dynamically adapt to changing scale and region of interest, such as required for online maps.

Many small-scale map projections exist, and they have different shapes and distortion characteristics. World map projections are mainly chosen based on their distortion properties and the personal preferences of cartographers. Very little is known about the map projection preferences of map-readers; only two studies have addressed this question so far. This article presents a user study among map-readers and trained cartographers that tests their preferences for world map projections. The paired comparison test of nine commonly used map projections reveals that the map-readers in our study prefer the Robinson and Plate Carrée projections, followed by the Winkel Tripel, Eckert IV, and Mollweide projections. The Mercator and Wagner VII projections come in sixth and seventh place, and the least preferred are two interrupted projections, the interrupted Mollweide and the interrupted Goode Homolosine. Separate binominal tests indicate that map-readers involved in our study seem to like projections with straight rather than curved parallels and meridians with elliptical rather than sinusoidal shapes. Our results indicate that map-readers prefer projections that represent poles as lines to projections that show poles as protruding edges, but there is no clear preference for pole lines in general. The trained cartographers involved in this study have similar preferences, but they prefer pole lines to represent the poles, and they select the Plate Carrée and Mercator projections less frequently than the other participants.

For centuries, people have been intrigued by map projections upon polyhedra—the surface of the Earth laid out on the faces of polyhedral bodies (beautiful in themselves)—which are then unfolded to make flat maps of the world. This paper describes a simple "slice-and-dice" method to obtain area equivalence, which is applied to polyhedral globes. The implementations of this method include a projection that is equivalent to Snyder's equal-area projection for Platonic bodies, an equal-area projection with far smaller cusps, and an equal-area projection that obtains constant scale along the polyhedron's edges. The latter two are presented in terms of exact equations and are compared with Snyder's projection.

The Equidistant Cylindric and the Equidistant Conic projections are reviewed as foundations for a series of new projections. The new projections are introduced as the Patchwork Conic, an amalgamation of Equidistant Conic projections; the Generalized Equidistant Cylindric, with a standard path,or conformal path of correct scale, that is definable by the projection designer; and the Generalized Equidistant Conic, having two definable standard paths. Several potential uses are mentioned. Maps, formulae, and computation examples are provided. It is concluded that the projection is unique in allowing tailoring without compromising desirable mathematical properties.