What does a cylindrical projection distort?

What does a cylindrical projection distort?

A map projection in which the surface features of a globe are depicted as if projected onto a cylinder typically positioned with the globe centered horizontally inside the cylinder. Distortion of shape and scale in a whole-world cylindrical projection is minimal in equatorial regions and maximal at the poles.

What are some weaknesses of a cylindrical projection?

The downsides of cylindrical map projections are that they are severely distorted at the poles. While the areas near the Equator are the most likely to be accurate compared to the actual Earth, the parallels and meridians being straight lines don’t allow for the curvature of the Earth to be taken into consideration.

What do cylindrical projections show?

cylindrical projection, in cartography, any of numerous map projections of the terrestrial sphere on the surface of a cylinder that is then unrolled as a plane. Originally, this and other map projections were achieved by a systematic method of drawing the Earth’s meridians and latitudes on the flat surface.

What are cylindrical projections good for?

A cylindrical projection does a fairly decent job of representing the entire globe, especially when you compare with conic projections which are good for representing continents. The Mercator projection is a popular choice for navigation because of how straight lines are Rhumb line.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of cylindrical projections?

A cylindrical projection is accurate near the equator but distorts distances and sizes near the poles. One advantage to cylindrical projections is that parallels and meridians form a grid, which makes locating positions easier. On a cylindrical projection, shapes of small areas are usually well preserved.

What is distorted on the Robinson Projection?

The Robinson projection is neither conformal nor equal-area. It generally distorts shapes, areas, distances, directions, and angles. High latitude areas are exaggerated. Angular distortion is moderate near the center of the map and increases toward the edges.

Where is most distortion found on a Robinson Projection?

Although the Robinson Projection is not free from distortions, and the most severe distortions are near the poles. However, distortions near the outer parallels at high latitudes are common on most pseudo-cylindrical map projections. The distortions become less objectionable moving away from the poles.

Which of the following is a good example of a cylindrical projection?

A projection whose surface intersects the surface of a globe. A secant conic or cylindrical projection, for example, is recessed into a globe, intersecting it at two circles. At the lines of intersection, the projection is free from distortion. Parallels are horizontal lines with meridians equally spaced.

What is the distortion scale of a secant cylindrical projection?

A map derived from a secant projection surface has less overall distortion than a map from a tangent surface. Map scale distortion of a secant cylindrical projection – SF = 1 along secant lines Scale distortion on a secant surface to the globe Tissot’s indicatrix – visualizing map distortion pattern

Why do map projections distort the world?

Converting a sphere to a flat surface results in distortion. This is the most profound single fact about map projections—they distort the world—a fact that you will investigate in more detail in Module 4, Understanding and Controlling Distortion.

How do you find the distortion pattern of a projection?

The distortion pattern of a projection can be visualized by distortion ellipses, which are known as Tissot’s indicatrices. Each indicatrix (ellipse) represents the distortion at the point it is centered on. The two axes of the ellipse indicate the directions along which the scale is maximal and minimal at that point on the map.

What are some examples of cylindrical and conical projections?

Examples of cylindrical projections include Mercator, Transverse Mercator, Oblique Mercator, Plate Carré, Miller Cylindrical, Cylindrical equal-area, Gall–Peters, Hobo–Dyer, Behrmann, and Lambert Cylindrical Equal-Area projections. In conical or conic projections, the reference spherical surface is projected onto a cone placed over the globe.