AP Human Geography Types of Map Projections

Mercator

Answer explanation

a map projection that fairly accurately shows shape and direction, but distorts distance and size of land masses.

Sinusoidal

Answer explanation

smoothly curving map that accurately presents the center of the map but the remaining is distorted.

Azimuthal (polar)

Answer explanation

a map which shows true compass directions; longitude lines are straight and latitude lines are circles; distorts shape and size more toward the outer edges.

Goode's Interrupted Equal Area

Answer explanation

Area Projection; shows true size and shape of earth's landmasses

Fuller-Dymaxion

Answer explanation

displays the entire world at once with minimal distortion. It looks like a bunch of triangles put together.

Conic

Answer explanation

a map projection of the globe onto a cone with its point over one of the earth's poles

Robinson

Answer explanation

a projection that maintains overall shapes and relative positions without extreme distortion.

Gall Peters

Answer explanation

a projection that displays accurate axes, but shapes are distorted. They are hard to navigate when the shapes are not accurate

Miller

Answer explanation

Similar to Mercator projection, but spacing between parallels stops growing after 55 degrees.

Planar

Answer explanation

A type of map in which the details of the globe are projected onto a plane (a flat surface) yielding a rectangular-shaped map. Cylindrical maps have a lot of distortion towards the edges.