Vanessa G's Lab 5

Conformal Mercator

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 12,606.58 miles

Conformal Stererographic

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 14,403.73 miles

Equal Area Berhamm

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 17,618.94 miles

Equal Area Bonne

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 13,648.98 miles

Equidistant Aitoff

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 18,501.82 miles

Equidistant Cone

Distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan: 14,267.36 miles

Creating theses maps where not all that difficult because the ArcGIS program has everything programed into the system so that the hardest part was picking out which maps to do. I did not know that maps come in a variety of different shapes that can even look like a heart with the equal area Bonne projection. However, since it is impossible to perfectly show the imperfect round earth on a flat surface it makes sense that there are dozens of ways to project the earth on a map. There are three main types of map projections: conformal, equal area, and equidistant which are displayed above. With these different map projects they have advantages and disadvantages.

On advantages in a conformal map projection is that the latitudinal and longitudinal lines consistently intersect at right angles and preserve shape as shown in the Mercator and Stereographic maps above. On the other hand, we have equal area maps that preserve area, that is the same area on the whole earth is scaled to the same area on the map. These projections have a more ellipse like shape than other map projections as shown above. Lastly, equidistant lines preserve distances along certain lines of the map but not between points that are not near the center. This imperfection is just on of many flaws with trying to recreate a round earth on a flat surface.

For example, it is easy to see from the maps about that conformal maps do a terrible job at depicting the proper area of different countries making small ones seem larger than other ones. Conversely, equal area maps can not retain consistent grid lines as conformal maps, as shown in the two projections above. Lastly, as mentioned before equidistant maps can not measure correct distances outside of certain lines and if the points are not near the center, it is easy to see by noting the difference in the two map projections above are larger than any other type of projection.

It is important to learn about these map projections because it gives everyone more of an understanding of the way the earth is difficult to project in a map. Moreover, it will help us question what are the true shapes and sizes of different places on the earth. With this we can better understand different map projections and figure out ways to make it more accurate.