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Map Projections of South America

In order to make a map, a cartographer must transfer the 3-D surface of the globe onto the 2-D surface of a sheet of paper or a
screen. They do this through the process of creating a map projection, which is the systemic transformation from a round surface
to a plane. There are many different map projections to choose from, but all present the same issue: distortion of some sort.
This distortion can take many different forms, either shape, area, distance, or direction. When creating a map projec-
tion, the surface of the earth is projected onto a plane, cylinder, or a cone. These shapes for projection are called
the developable surface. The process of transferring information from the earth to a flat map causes distortion.
There are different types of map projections that preserve at least one of the commonly distorted characteris-
tics. A conformal projection preserves shapes while an equal area projection preserves the relationships
among areas in real world areas to their representations on a map. An equidistant projection preserves great
circle distances. When choosing a map projection to use, it is important to consider the scale, and choose
what distortion is the most important to be avoided. When choosing a projection of South America, for
instance, one must consider what needs to be represented, in order to choose a projection that suits the
needs of the project. A Sinusoidal projection will most likely be more useful than a Stereographic map when
mapping South America, but the opposite would be true if the map was of Antarctica. Lastly, when research-
ers are designing projects that involve geospatial data, they must be careful when choosing projections
because no map projection will be the same as another, and could give inaccurate information.

Bibliography:
Albers Equal Area Miller Cylindrical Lecture Notes
Conic; Equal Area Cylindrical; N/A Furuti, Carlos A. 1997.
Useful for large countries or areas that are mainly Used in world maps in American atlases. Resem-
Cartographical Map
east-west and require equal area representation. bles the Mercator projection by with less distortion
Projections. http://ww-
of area and scale.
w.progonos.com/furuti/-
Azimuthal Equidistant Polyconic MapProj/Normal/TOC/-
Azimuthal; Equidistant Conic; N/A cartTOC.html
Useful to show distances from center point of Used for large-scale mapping of the United States
projection. Used to show polar regions and other by the USGS until the 1950s. Snyder, John P. 1987.
large-scale mapping. Map Projections: A
Working Manual.
Equidistant Conic Robinson http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/-
Conic; Equidistant Cylindrical; N/A publication/pp1395
The most commonly used projection in atlases for Commonly used for world maps.
small countries. Snyder, John P. and
Philip M. Voxland. 1989.
Lambert Conformal Conic Sinusoidal An Album of Map
Cylindrical; Equal Area Projections. http://-
Conic; Conformal
Used for atlas maps of South America and Africa. pubs.usgs.gov/p-
One of the most widely used projections for
N large-scale mapping of a country of region that is
mainly east-west in extent.
Occasionally used for world maps. p/1453/report.pdf

Mercator Stereographic Map Source: ESRI

Cylindrical; Conformal Azimuthal; Conformal Josie Myers
Designed and recommended for navigational Commonly used for topographic maps of polar
usage. regions.