Articles

Map projections (and co ordinate systems) are a fundamental part of map making. They can be a bit of an enigma, even to cartographers. This guide is a basic introduction to the mechanics of projections. This version has been reformatted from the original so it could be printed. You can get your own copy here.   Before a map can even begin to be a map, the data it's made with needs a particular set of display 'rules' to graphically represent the information properly - a projection.  A projection is the mathematical method of representing our three dimensional earth in...

It might sound like an odd question as it could be argued that any map has some educational value. But it isn't as simple as that. Maps, like books, are not all created equal. Every book pulled off a shelf isn’t going to be a great one. Its grammar might be good, the plot moderately interesting but lacks the compelling qualities that make you want to read it. Or it could be so uniformly bad that you put it back immediately. Similarly, maps can suffer from being poorly put together, using incomplete or bad data, and look unappealing if the...