U12.01
Map Projection Choice and Distortion
Cards in this group · 5
- U12.01.1Flattening a sphere onto a map always distorts something — area, angle, or distance has to give
- U12.01.2A map that encodes value in area only tells the truth if its projection actually preserves area
- U12.01.3Mercator keeps shapes true but inflates area so steeply that Greenland looks continent-sized
- U12.01.4Projection barely matters on a city map and decides everything on a map of the whole world
- U12.01.5Readers can rarely tell one projection from another by eye, so the caption has to say which