Map projections are used to represent the surface area of a solid object or a 3D object, and these map projections are used to create maps, and to make better visibility . There are few projection types which can be used to project the surface of the Earth . but in almost like every projection portion of actual surface data will be lost or will get distorted .
Projection Types
- Cylindrical Projection
- Conical Projection.
- Planer Projection.
these Projection types are based on the flatten-able developing surface onto which the earth is projected , for example if the earth surface is projected in to a Cylinder then the projection type is Cylindrical and developing surface is a cylinder.
Cylindrical Projection
In Cylindrical projection the developing surface is a cylinder and it's the most common projection type to represent the earth.also the most common available World map is a cylindrical projection.for cylindrical projection earth is considered as a sphere and there are different types of cylindrical projections considering to the orientation of the cylinder for example
if the orientation of the cylinder is parallel to the Earth's polar axis then it's called normal cylindrical Projection and when the orientation is perpendicular to the Earth's polar axis then it's called as the Transverse cylindrical projection and if the orientation is between 0-90 degrees relative to the Earth's polar axis then it's the oblique Projection.
Conical Projection
In Conic projection the map is placed or projected in to a cone shaped screen.and this is considered to be more reliable than the cylindrical projection but the main problem is that it's more correct near the top part f the cone but when travel along to the bottom it get more and more distorted and results will be not accurate.and same as the cylindrical projection the projection type can be different from Normal , Transverse or Oblique depending on the orientation of the cone.
Planer Projection
in Planer Projection the developing screen or the surface is a plane .if the Earth is to be a prefect sphere then the planer projections will be more accurate but as we all know up to now Earth is not a perfect Sphere.and Planer projections are also used to get a part of the globe or a particular area only , so in this way it creates more accurate results .and projection type can be different from Normal , Transverse or Oblique depending on the orientation of the plane.
and each of this Projection types have it's own advantages and disadvantages and the projection type is depend on the need of the map.
