Mercer Mercators

Map Projections

1. Mercator Projection - cylindrical map
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mercator-projection.jpg

Characteristics of Mercator Projections:
Conformal - angles and shapes in a small area are essentially true
Areas and shapes of large areas are distorted outward from equator - extreme in polar regions
Distances are true along the equator +/- 15 degrees
Special scales can be used to correct for areas away from equator

2. Mollweide Projection - pseudocylindrical map
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mollweide-projection.jpg

3. Transverse Mercator - distortions are greater along the equator and true at the poles
http://bit.ly/5f3VHA
http://www.uwgb.edu/DutchS/FieldMethods/UTMSystem.htm

4. Oblique Mercator
http://www.sedris.org/stc/2002/tu/srm/img051.gif
Create zones (+/- 15 degrees) for true measurements of sample area

Look at advantages/disadvantages of each:

Miller cylindrical
Robinson
Sinusoidal equal area
Orthographic
Stereographic
Gnomonic
Azimuthal equidistant
Lambert azimuthal equal area
Albers equal area conic
Lambert conformal conic
Equidistant conic (simple conic)
Polyconic

http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html