Map Projections

There are several significances, perils, and potentials with map projections, and there are three types of map projects which include the conformal projection, equidistant projection, and equal area projection. Each projections listed above have their own strengths and weaknesses. Through this lab exercise, I was able to identify these, and the main question of this exercise was the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The first map projection is the conformal projection. The Mercator projection and WGS 1984 PDC Mercator projection are two examples of this. Conformal projections are significant since they conserve angular shapes. Using this projection, we can identify the shape of continents and countries efficiently. Nevertheless, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Conformal projections can not accurately conserve distance and area. Therefore, this is not a good projection to use to answer the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The second map projection is the equal area projection. The Cylindrical Equal Area projection and Sinusoidal projection are two examples of this. Equal Area projections are significant since they conserve area. Using this projection, we can calculate the area of countries and continents efficiently. However, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Equal Area projections can not accurately conserve distance and shape. Therefore, this is also not a good projection to use to answer the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The final map projection is the equidistant projection. The Equidistant Conic projection and Equidistant Cylindrical projections are two examples of this. Equidistant projections are significant since they conserve distance. Using this projection, we can calculate the distance between cities and countries. Nevertheless, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Equidistant projections can not accurately conserve area and shape. Therefore, you will not use this projection to measure area and view shapes, but you will use this projection to calculate the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.