Which Map Is Best?

Abstract

The Committee on Map Projections 1.1 Foreword A map projection is what cartographers call the system by which the rounded surface of the Earth is transformed in order to display it on a flat surface. It is not easy. Numerous ways have been devised, but no matter how one does it, something will be wrong with the shapes and relative sizes of regions and the distances and directions among places. We see a great many world maps. Many, probably most, of the projections used for them were chosen, not because they displayed geographical relationships well, but instead for "practical" reasons: already-made maps were available, a map could be easily copied, the map would fit conveniently a page format or a wall, or the map was a current fad, and so on. Equally disturbing is that most viewers seem not to care when blatantly distorted geographical shapes and sizes are displayed without reason.