1. MAP PROJECTIONS
What is a projection? A way of showing the curved surface of the earth on a flat map – 2D How might a projection be misleading ? Because the earth is a sphere, projecting it onto a flat surface will cause some distortion. What are three types of projections? 1. planar, 2. conical, 3.cylindrical

2. Planar Projection
Projection of the globe onto a flat surface. It distorts size and shape. The flattened image is almost always circular.

3. Conical Projections
This type of projections show shape fairly accurately. However, it distorts shapes at the maps edges. The globe is projected onto a cone.

4. Cylindrical Projections
Cylindrical projections show the entire earth on one map.
Three types of cylindrical projections
Mercator
Interrupted Goode homolosine
Robinson

5. Mercator
Shapes of continents are distorted at the poles and pushed together at the equator. For example Greenland is actually 1/8 the size of South America.

6. Interrupted Goode homolosine
Sometimes called an interrupted map because the oceans are divided. The map below shows the accurate shapes and sizes of landmasses, but distances are not correct.

7. Robinson
This projection is commonly used in textbooks. It shows the entire earth with nearly the true sizes and shapes of landmasses and oceans. One exception – the landforms near the poles appear flat.

8. Interesting Map Projections