Conformal Map Projections
Gall Stereographic - 11,508,681.769347 meters, 7,151.163312 miles
Mercator - 16,273,910.53682 meters, 10,112.139192 miles
Azimuthal Equidistant - 13,424,227.861623 meters, 8,341.428471 miles
Equidistant Conic - 11,221,141.444613 meters, 6,972.494037 miles
Craster Parabolic - 13,018,095.057657 meters, 8,089.069246 miles
Cylindrical Equal Area - 16,267,363.946687 meters, 10,108.071330 miles
The map projections I used in this lab were Gall Stereographic, Mercator, Azimuthal Equidistant, Equidistant Conic, Craster Parabolic, and Cylindrical Equal Area. Mercator and Gall Stereographic projections are conformal maps that distorts area, shape, and distance. Direction is preserved and the coordinate lines meet at 90 degree angles. The Azimuthal Equidistant and Equidistant Conic projections are equidistant maps that preserve distance from a central point. The Craster Parabolic and Clyindrical equal Area projection are equal area maps that try to accurately portray the right proportions in terms of area.
Due to many distortions caused by projecting a 3D object onto a 2D plane, different map projections were created to prioritize different characteristics in order to have the least distortions for those certain characteristics while sacrificing others to distortion. There are more characteristics to maps than the three presented. In addition to conformal, equidistant, and equal area, there are also shape, bearing, and scale that map projections can distort. Depending on what is needed of the map, the specific map projection is chosen. On a very large scale map, map projection type has no significance because distortion is unnoticeable.
The significance of map projections is being able use different projections for different uses based on what is needed. That is also a peril of map projection if the wrong projection is used for the wrong purpose. Also, using only one projection can greatly distort spatial conceptions of the world. Like the Mercator projection which is widely used in schools, it significantly distorts areas in the areas close to north and south poles to appear much larger than they actually are.
The potential of map projections is the ability to change people's perspective about space. The different projections can show different points of views of the Earth instead of the static orientation of the Mercator projection. I knew about the area distortion of Mercator projection but I never visually seen how much significant the distortion was. The equal area map surprisingly looked a bit alien and foreign. The danger of using only one map projection is that you believe that one map to be true and accept it, distortions and all. It limits different perspectives.
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