What is the difference between a Mercator projection and a Robinson projection?
Unlike the Mercator projection, the Robinson projection has both the lines of altitude and longitude evenly spaced across the map. In opting for a more pleasing appearance, the Robinson projection ‘traded’ off distortions – this projection is neither conformal, equal-area, equidistant nor true direction.
What is the Robinson projection map used for?
The Robinson projection is unique. Its primary purpose is to create visually appealing maps of the entire world. It is a compromise projection; it does not eliminate any type of distortion, but it keeps the levels of all types of distortion relatively low over most of the map.
What does a Robinson projection map distort?
The Robinson projection is neither conformal nor equal-area. It generally distorts shapes, areas, distances, directions, and angles. The distortion patterns are similar to common compromise pseudocylindrical projections. Angular distortion is moderate near the center of the map and increases toward the edges.
Is Robinson a map projection?
The Robinson projection is a map projection of a world map which shows the entire world at once. It was specifically created in an attempt to find a good compromise to the problem of readily showing the whole globe as a flat image. Robinson published details of the projection’s construction in 1974.
What type of map projection is Mercator?
Mercator projection, type of map projection introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. It is often described as a cylindrical projection, but it must be derived mathematically.
What are the disadvantages of a Robinson map?
List of the Disadvantages of the Robinson Projection
- Distortions exist on the edges of the map.
- It offers limited benefits for navigation.
- The Robinson projection is not equidistant.
- It does not provide azimuthal support.
- The projection suffers from compression in severe ways.
What is the Mercator projection used for?
Description. Mercator is a conformal cylindrical map projection that was originally created to display accurate compass bearings for sea travel. An additional feature of this projection is that all local shapes are accurate and correctly defined at infinitesimal scale. It was presented by Gerardus Mercator in 1569.
Why do we use the Mercator projection?
This projection is widely used for navigation charts, because any straight line on a Mercator projection map is a line of constant true bearing that enables a navigator to plot a straight-line course.
What does the Mercator projection distort?
Although the linear scale is equal in all directions around any point, thus preserving the angles and the shapes of small objects, the Mercator projection distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases from the equator to the poles, where the scale becomes infinite. …
What does the Mercator map projection show accurately?
Why is Mercator projection used?
In 1569, Mercator published his epic world map. This map, with its Mercator projection, was designed to help sailors navigate around the globe. They could use latitude and longitude lines to plot a straight route. Mercator’s projection laid out the globe as a flattened version of a cylinder.
How is the Mercator projection projected?
It became the standard map projection for navigation because it is unique in representing north as up and south as down everywhere while preserving local directions and shapes. The map is thereby conformal. As a side effect, the Mercator projection inflates the size of objects away from the equator.