The Use and Abuse of Map Projections

O NE result of the war will be an increased emphasis on the necessity for understanding the diverse physical conditions that affect human life. Whatever else he may be, man is a creature that moves in space. The techniques of the physicist have opened the way to triumphs of technology. If technology has contributed less to human welfare than was hoped, the remedy lies in a new and wider technology that will include man, its creator, within its objective range. When mechanics was in its infancy, it dealt with stars; within our own memories it has become capable of dealing with atoms. When in full stature, physical science will deal also with man, to the extent that human behavior is physical. But whether or not human happiness ever is processed in the laboratories, one of the physical fundamentals for social adequacy is the convenient mapping of the spaces in which man moves. There is a growing popular interest in maps, and as is natural whenever popular interest suddenly increases some misleading statements have been given publicity. An excellent textbook says: map is, in its primary conception, a conventionalized of the Earth's pattern as seen from above . . . Some maps are abstracted and conventionalized to such a degree that the original notion of a is hardly recognizable.' Inasmuch as the notion of a map as a picture requires this severe qualification, it is a questionable comparison to be introduced in teaching unless restricted to maps of small areas. A world map is not in general comparable with a photograph of the appearance of the earth from interplanetary space. It is a mathematical symbol, and even by laymen it requires to be used as such. Children studying elementary geography be warned that a map of the world, for example, is not a but a representation in code; specifically, the Mercator code. An outline for high schools2 declares that the use of the world map for geographical studies (as distinguished from navigation) should be discontinued since we have now a number of map projections well suited for portraying the entire world in either equal-area or true

Cartography · Geography · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Historical Geography and Cartography

• Equal-Area Projections and the Azimuthal Equidistant Projection in Maps of Disease

  Saul Jarcho•American Journal of Public Health…•1945

  Add to list

• Flexion and Skewness in Map Projections of the Earth

  David M Goldberg, J Richard Gott•Cartographica The International…•2007

  Add to list