LEC 4.

MAP
PROJECTIONS

1
MAP PROJECTIONS
• Recall Geographic Coordinate
System
• A geographic coordinate
system (GCS) uses a three
dimensional spherical surface
to define locations on the
earth.
• A GCS includes an angular
unit of measure, a prime
meridian, and a datum (based
on a spheroid).
2
Earth As Spheroid
• In Geographic Coordinate System the Earth is defined as
a Sphere or Spheroid
• In small scale maps (smaller than 1:5,000,000) it is
assumed as Sphere. At this scale, the difference
between a sphere and a spheroid is not detectable on a
map.
• In large scale maps (larger than 1:1,000,000) it is
assumed as spheroid
• Generally, we deal with spheroid
• Sphere or Spheroid is a mathematical smooth surface,
closely resembling the real earth, but not the real earth
surface
• Mathematically, it is easy to find locations using this
mathematical model
https://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0703/graphics/geoid1_lg.gif
3
• A spheroid (or ellipsoid) is based on an ellipse.
• Rotating ellipse around the semi-minor axis creates spheroid.
• The shape of an ellipse is defined by two radii.
• The longer radius is called the Semi-major Axis, and the shorter radius is
called the Semi-minor Axis
• The semi-major axis is in the equatorial plane, while the semi-minor axis is
perpendicular to the equatorial plane.

4
• A spheroid can be defined by either;
• the semi-major axis, a, and the semi-minor axis, b, or
• by a and the flattening.
• Flattening
• Flattening is the difference in length between the two axes expressed as a fraction or a
decimal.
• The flattening, f, is:

• The flattening is a small value, so usually the quantity 1/f is mainly used.

5
• The spheroid parameters for the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS 1984
or WGS84) are:
• a = 6,378,137.0 meters
• b = 6,356,752.31424 meters
• a - b= 21,384.68576 meters
• f = 21,384.68576/6,378,137.0 = 0.003353
• 1/f = 1/0.003353 = 298.257223563

• Flattening ranges from zero to one.

• A flattening value of zero means the two axes are equal, resulting in a sphere.
• The flattening of the earth is approximately 0.003353

6
• Different Spheroids for Mapping
• Earth has been surveyed many times to better understand its surface features
and their irregularities.
• Until recent Past, North American data used a spheroid determined by Clarke in
1866.
• Semi-major axis of the Clarke (1866) spheroid is 6,378,206.4 meters, and the
semi-minor axis is 6,356,583.8 meters
• Now satellite-determined spheroids are replacing the older ground-measured
spheroids.
• The new standard spheroid for North America and worldwide is the Geodetic
Reference System of 1980 (GRS 1980), whose radii are 6,378,137.0 and
6,356,752.31424 meters
7
8
Geoid
• Geoid is the equipotential surface of Earth’s gravity field
which best fits (global) Mean Sea Level
• It is modeled from gravity data
• Mass variations in earth cause gravity and geoid variations
• Geoid is a vertical datum surface
• EGM96 (Earth Gravity Model of 1996) developed by
National Imaging and Mapping Agency (NIMA) - global
model of gravity and geoid undulations
• GRACE satellite mission (launched in March 2002)
determined a global gravity field model by circling the Earth
and tracking the orbital perturbations of the satellite pair Geoid Model (Wikipedia.org)

9
• Height determined by GPS refers to ellipsoid.
• Thus GPS heights are “ellipsoidal heights” and do not match with the mean sea level
• If we have accurate model of geoid undulations (the difference between geoid and ellipsoid),
then we can remove the geoid undulations from GPS-derived ellipsoid heights, and get
orthometric height (height above sea level/geoid).
• This is a faster method of determining orthometric heights compared to traditional surveying
methods of leveling

• Where = height above the ellipsoid

• = geoid height
• = height above the mean sea level

10
Relationship Between the Earth's Physical Surface, the Mean Sea Level Surface of the Earth
(or Geoid), and the Earth's Mathematical Figure (an Ellipsoid)

h H
N

Orthometric height,

11
Geoid Undulations

1 gal = 1 cm/s2
https://gisgeography.com/ellipsoid-oblate-spheroid-earth/
12
• Geoid Height Calculator Software (online)
• NSF (National Science Foundation) and NASA (National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) developed the software to correct the GPS
elevation using EGM1996 Model
• https://
www.unavco.org/software/geodetic-utilities/geoid-height-calculator/geoid
-height-calculator.html

• EGM 1996 Model can be downloaded from the following link

• https://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/egm96/egm96.html
13
Map Projections
• Map Projection is a process of converting geodetic positions of a portion of
the Earth’s surface to plane rectangular coordinates,
• Points are projected mathematically from the ellipsoid to some imaginary
developable surface
• Developable surface is a surface that can conceptually be developed or
“unrolled and laid out flat” without distortion of shape or size.
• A rectangular grid can be superimposed on the developed plane surface and
the positions of points in the plane specified with respect to X and Y grid axes
• A plane grid developed using this mathematical process is called a Map
Projection.
• There are several types of map projections, following two are the
most common:
• 1. Lambert conformal conic Projection
• 2. Transverse Mercator projection
• Lambert conformal
conic projection
utilizes an imaginary
cone as its
developable surface
• Transverse
Mercator utilizes a
fictitious cylinder
as its developable
surface

17
• Cone and cylinder are secant to the ellipsoid in the plane coordinate
systems,
• They intersect the ellipsoid along two arcs AB and CD
• With this placement, the conical and cylindrical surfaces conform
better to the ellipsoid over larger areas than they would if placed
tangent

18
• Lengths of lines are
distorted when they are
projected from ellipsoid
onto the surface of either a
cone or a cylinder.

19
• Distance on the projection surface is greater than ab on the ellipsoid,
and similarly is longer than gh.
• It shows that map projection scale is larger than true ellipsoid scale
where the cone or cylinder is outside the ellipsoid.
• Distance on the projection is shorter than de on the ellipsoid
• It shows that map scale is smaller than true ellipsoid scale when the
projection surface is inside the ellipsoid
• Points c and f are at the intersection of the projected and ellipsoidal
surfaces, and map scale equals true ellipsoid scale along the lines of
intersection
• It shows that points cannot be projected from the ellipsoid to
developable surfaces without distortions in the lengths of lines or
the shapes of areas
• Projections are classified based on:
• 1. Geometrical distortion properties (relating to distance, shape, direction,
and area) and
• 2. Type of the surface used for projection (plane, cone, or cylinder), which
helps to understand the pattern of spatial distortion over the map surface.

• Following two aspects of projections are of main concern for spatial

analysis:
• 1. What spatial properties are preserved (or lost) and,
• 2. What is the pattern and extent of distortion.

22
Why Projections?
• Globes Versus Flat Maps
• Advantage of Globes
• Globes give us the most realistic picture of the earth as a whole.
• Basic geometric properties such as distance, direction, shape, and area are preserved
because the globe is the same scale everywhere.
• Disadvantages of Globes:
• Globes don't let us to view all parts of the earth's surface simultaneously—the most we
can see is a hemisphere (half of the earth).
• Globes are not helpful in finding geographic details

23
• Problems associated with Globes for Spatial Analysis
• Globes are bulky and not easy to handle and store.
• For very small globes like a tennis ball size the handling and storage is easy
• But this tiny globe is not useful for spatial analysis, as it would have a scale
reduction of about 1:125,000,000.
• A globe of 60 cm in diameter represents a 1:20,000,000 scale
• It needs a globe of about 12-15 meters in diameter—the height of a four-
story building!—to provide a map of the scale used for highway maps
• A globe about half a kilometer is required to provide a 1:24,000 scale for
topographic analysis

24
• Furthermore, the instruments and techniques used to measure distance,
direction, and area on spherical surfaces are difficult to use.
• Computations on a sphere are more complex than on a plane surface.
• Constructing a globe is a laborious and costly activity
• Therefore, globes are not suitable for map analysis
• That is why we go for flat maps and projections

25
• What do we need to do in projection:
• Earth's surface is distorted on the flat map.
• Map projection affects basic properties of the representation of the sphere on
a flat surface, such as scale, continuity, and completeness, as well as
geometrical properties relating to direction, distance, area, and shape.
• Our interest is to minimize these distortions or preserve a particular
geometrical property at the expense of others. This is the map projection
problem.

26
Map Projection Process
• The concept of map projections involves a series of geometrical
transformations.
• 1. First step is to define earth's irregular topography as elevations above or
below a more regular surface known as the geoid. It serves as datum for
elevation data on the maps
• 2. Second step is to project the slightly undulating geoid onto the more
regular ellipsoid surface
• 3. Third step is projecting the ellipsoidal surface onto a plane through the use
of map projection equations that transform geographic coordinates into
planar (x,y) map coordinates.
• The greatest distortion of the earth's surface geometry occurs in last step.
27
• Within ArcGIS, every dataset has a
coordinate system, which is used to
integrate it with other geographic data
layers within a common coordinate
framework
• Coordinate systems enable us to
integrate datasets within maps as well as
to perform various integrated analytical
operations such as overlaying data layers
from different sources and coordinate
systems.

28
Spatial Reference in GIS
• There are two common types of coordinate systems used in GIS:
• 1. A global or spherical coordinate system such as latitude-longitude. These are
referred to as geographic coordinate systems.
• 2. Planimetric or projected coordinate system based on a map projection
which provide various mechanisms to project maps of the earth's spherical
surface onto a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate plane.
• ArcGIS automatically integrates datasets whose coordinate systems are
known
• If datasets do not have a spatial reference, they cannot be easily
integrated. We need to define coordinate system before we use data
effectively in ArcGIS.
29
• A spatial reference in ArcGIS is a series of parameters that define the
coordinate system and other spatial properties for each dataset in the
geodatabase.
• The necessary parameters are the following:
• Geographic coordinate system (already discussed)
• Projection (under discussion)
• Projection parameters (discussed on next slide)
• Unit of measure Zone (for UTM Projection)

30
Projection Parameters
• Projection parameters vary from projection to projection
• For example Albers and Lambert projections have following parameters:
• 1st standard parallel
• (line of latitude in a conic or cylindrical projection where projection surface touches the globe. A tangent
conic or cylindrical projection has one standard parallel, while a secant conic or cylindrical projection has
two. At the standard parallel, the projection shows no distortion.)
• 2nd standard parallel (in case of secant line, there are two standard parallels, 1st and 2nd )
• Central meridian
• Latitude of origin (Equator)
• False easting (The linear value added to all x-coordinates of a map projection so that none
of the values in the geographic region being mapped are negative)
• False northing
• Unit of measure

31
• False Easting
• Longitude line in the middle of each zone is known as Central
Meridian and is the Longitude of Origin for each zone.
• Designation of the central meridian as the reference y-axis
(where easting = 0) of the coordinate system would result in
negative easting values for points to the west of the central
meridian
• In order to avoid negative values, the central meridian is
assigned an arbitrary value of 500,000 meters for each zone
in UTM
• It means, points lying to the east of it would have an easting
value greater than 500,000 m and points lying to the west
would have a value less than 500,000 m.
• This addition places the origin outside the zone at 500,000 m
https://gisgeography.com/utm-universal-
west of the central meridian, as a result the origin is called a transverse-mercator-projection/
false origin and the easting coordinates are referred to as
false easting.

32
• False Northing
• Equator is designated as the horizontal reference axis for UTM
• To avoid negative numbers, the equator is assigned a false northing of 10,000,000
meters South for referencing northing coordinates in the southern hemisphere.

33
• Projected Coordinate System
• A projected coordinate system is defined on a flat, two-dimensional surface.
• A projected coordinate system has constant lengths, angles, and areas across the
two dimensions.
• In this system, locations are identified by x,y coordinates on a grid, with the origin
at the center of the grid.
• Each position has two values that reference it to that central location.
• One specifies its horizontal position and the other its vertical position.
• The two values are called the x-coordinate and y-coordinate.
• Using this notation, the coordinates at the origin are x = 0 and y = 0.
• In a geographic coordinate system, it is useful to equate the longitude values with
the X axis and the latitude values with the Y axis.
34
A projected (planimetric x, y coordinate system)

35
Map Projections Properties
• Representing the earth's surface in two dimensions causes distortion
in the shape, area, distance, or direction of the data.
• There are three properties of a projection that we would like to
maintain:
• 1. Conformality,
• 2. Area Equivalence
• 3. Distance Equivalence

36
• The figure
shows how
three-
dimensional
features are
compressed to
fit onto a flat
surface

37
• Conformality - Conformal projections
• A projection that preserves the correct shapes of small areas.
• In a conformal projection, graticule lines intersect at 90-degree angles,
• At any point on the map the scale is same in all directions.
• A conformal projection maintains all angles at each point, including those
between the intersections of arcs;
• The advantage of maintaining angles is that the shape of the original features
is maintained in smaller areas
• The area enclosed by a series of arcs may be greatly distorted in the process.

38
• Conformal projection can be used when map's main purpose involves
measuring angles, showing accurate local directions, or representing the
shapes of features or contour lines.
• This category includes:
• Topographic maps and cadastral (land parcel) maps
• Civil engineering maps
• Navigation charts
• Weather maps (for showing the local direction in which weather systems are moving)

39
• Area Equivalence - Equal area projections
• Equal area projections preserve the area of displayed features.
• To do this, the other properties—shape, angle, and scale are distorted.
• In Equal area projections, the meridians (longitudes) and parallels (latitudes)
may not intersect at right angles.
• In maps of smaller regions, shapes are not distorted, and distinguishing an
Equal area projection from a Conformal projection is difficult unless
documented or measured

40
• On an equal-area projection, the size of any area on the map is in true
proportion to its size on the earth.
• These maps can be used to show:
• Hydrology for mass balance studies (e.g. rainfall-runoff relationship)
• The spatial extent of a categorical attribute (for example, land use maps)
• Equal-area maps have also been used as world political maps  

41
• Distance Equivalence - Equidistant projections
• Equidistant maps preserve the distances between certain points.
• Scale is not maintained correctly throughout entire map.
• However, on one or more lines on a map the scale is maintained correctly.
• Most Equidistant projections have one or more lines in which the length of
the line on a map is the same length (at map scale) as the same line on the
globe, regardless of whether it is a great or small circle, or straight or curved.
• Such distances are said to be true.

42
• Azimuthal Equidistant projection preserves true scale from a single specified
point on the projection to all other points on the map.
• Possible uses for this property include:
• Seismic maps showing distances from the epicenter of an earthquake
• Maps used to calculate costs or charges based on straight-line distance from a source
• Maps of airline distances from a single city to several other cities

43
Map Projections Types
• There three main types of map projections
• Conical
• Cylindrical
• Planar (Azimuthal)
• Projection from one surface to another is starts with
creating one or more points of contact.
• Each contact is called a point (or line) of tangency.
• A Planar (Azimuthal) projection is tangential to the
globe at one point.
• Tangential cones and cylinders touch the globe along
a line.
44
• If the projection surface intersects the globe instead of touching its surface,
the resulting projection is a secant rather than a tangent case.
• Whether the contact is tangent or secant, the contact points or lines are
significant because they define locations of zero distortion.
• In general, distortion increases with the distance from the point of contact.

45
Planar (Azimuthal) Projection
• Planar projections project map data onto a flat surface touching the globe.
• A Planar projection is also known as an Azimuthal projection or a Zenithal
projection.
• This type of projection is usually tangent to the globe at one point but may be
secant, also.
• The point of contact may be the North Pole, the South Pole, a point on the
equator, or any point in between.
• This point specifies the aspect and is the focus of the projection.
• The focus is identified by a central longitude and a central latitude.
• Possible aspects are polar, equatorial, and oblique.

46
Planar (Azimuthal) Projection

47
Conic Projection
• The most simple Conic projection is tangent to the globe along a line of
latitude. This line is called the standard parallel.
• Meridians are projected onto the conical surface, meeting at the apex,
or point, of the cone.
• Parallel lines of latitude are projected onto the cone as rings.
• The cone is then "cut" along any meridian to produce the final conic
projection, which has straight converging lines for meridians and
concentric circular arcs for parallels.
• The meridian opposite the cut line becomes the central meridian.

48
• The farther we get from the standard parallel, the more distortion occurs.
• Representation of geographic features depends on the spacing of the parallels.
• When parallels are equally spaced, the projection is equidistant
• An example of this type of projection is Equidistant Conic projection. For small areas, the
overall distortion is minimal.
• On Lambert Conic Conformal projection, the central parallels are spaced more closely than
the parallels near the border, and small geographic shapes are maintained for both small-
scale and large-scale maps.
• On the Albers Equal Area Conic projection, the parallels near the northern and southern
edges are closer together than the central parallels, and the projection displays equivalent
areas.

49
• General Characteristics of Conic Projection
• Lines of latitude and longitude are intersecting at 90 degrees
• Meridians are straight lines
• Parallels are concentric circular arcs
• Scale along the standard parallel(s) is true
• Can have the properties of equidistance, conformality or equal area
• The pole is represented as an arc or a point

50
Conic Projection

51
Cylindrical Projection
• Like Conic projections, Cylindrical projections can also have tangent or secant
cases.
• Mercator projection is one of the most common cylindrical projections, and the
equator is usually its line of tangency.
• Meridians are geometrically projected onto the cylindrical surface, and parallels
are mathematically projected. This produces graticular angles of 90 degrees.
• The cylinder is "cut" along any meridian to produce the final cylindrical
projection.
• The meridians are equally spaced, while the spacing between parallel lines of
latitude increases toward the poles.
• This projection is conformal and displays true direction along straight lines.
52
• Transverse Mercator Projection
• It is a cylindrical projection
• The central meridian is placed in the center of the region of interest.
• This centering minimizes distortion of all properties in that region.
• Meridians are parallel to each other and equally spaced.
• The lines of latitude are also parallel but become farther apart toward the poles.
• The poles cannot be shown.
• Any straight line drawn on this projection represents an actual compass bearing.
• Scale is true along the equator

53
• All meridians can be projected, except the upper and lower limits of latitude
are approximately 80° N and S.
• It is mostly used in standard sea navigation charts (direction), air travel, wind
direction, ocean currents.
• It is a conformal projection.

54
Transverse Mercator Projection

55
• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Coordinate System
• The Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate system (UTM) is an
international locational reference system that depicts the Earth's three-
dimensional surface in a two-dimensional manner.
• It is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth
that is a practical application of a 2-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system.
• It is a horizontal position representation

56
• The UTM coordinate system allows to accurately identify geographical
locations anywhere on the Earth's surface between the northern limits of
North America (defined as 84 degrees north latitude) and the southern limits
of continent of Antarctica (defined as 80 degrees south latitude).
• Remaining north and south polar regions—those areas above 84 degrees
north latitude and below 80 degrees south latitude, respectively—are not
included in the UTM coordinate system due to extreme projection distortions
in the UTM grid as compared to the meridians of longitude.

57
58
• UTM Zones
• UTM system divides the earth into 60 zones each 6 degrees of longitude wide.
• These zones define the reference point for UTM grid coordinates within the zone.
• UTM zones extend from a latitude of 80° S to 84° N.
• In the polar regions the Universal Polar Stereographic (UPS) grid system is used.
• UTM zones are numbered 1 through 60, starting at the international date line, longitude
180°, and proceeding east.
• Zone 1 extends from 180° W to 174° W and is centered on 177° W.
• Each zone is divided into horizontal bands of 8 degrees of latitude.
• These bands are lettered, south to north, beginning at 80° S with the letter C and ending
with the letter X at 84° N. The letters I and O are skipped to avoid confusion with the
numbers one and zero.
• The band lettered X spans 12° of latitude.
59
• A square grid is superimposed on each zone.
• It's aligned so that vertical grid lines are parallel to the center of the zone,
called the central meridian.
• UTM grid coordinates are expressed as a distance in meters to the east,
referred to as the "easting", and a distance in meters to the north, referred to
as the "northing".

60
 61
Source: http://zonums.com/library/utmgrid.html
Choosing a Projection
• The map's purpose narrows your choices, but doesn't determine a
projection.
• There are many conformal projections, many equal-area projections,
and many compromise projections.
• The next step in choosing a projection is to decide on the class of
projection: cylindrical, conic, or azimuthal.
• The following rules can be used:
• To map tropical regions, use a cylindrical projection
• To map middle latitudes, use a conic projection
• To map a polar region, use an azimuthal projection
62
• The rule makes sense if you think about the line (or point) of zero
distortion for each class of projection.
• In cylindrical projections, the line of zero distortion is the equator;
• in conic projections, it's a parallel of latitude;
• in azimuthal projections, it's one of the poles.
• Using a projection from the right class minimizes distortion for your
area of interest.

63