196

Coordinate Systems and M a p Projections

they belong in a classification system. It is therefore necessary to memorise

the facts that the Stereographic and creator's projections are conformal;
that Bonne's or Mollweide's are equal-area; that the first is azimuthal, the
second is cylindrical, the third is pseudoconical or the fourth is pseudocylindrical. To the intelligent beginner, the scientist or the engineer, it
may seem that the subject of map projections is an empirical ragbag of
unrelated facts which appear to have been collected ahnost accidentally,
and that there is no particular thread of continuity in the processes of
reasoning through which they have been derived.
We therefore believe that it is both' desirable and necessary to dem
onstrate the analytical approach to the study of map projections. In other
words, we must show how it is possible to derive a map projection which
satisfies a particular property within the limitations imposed by the group
and class to which it belongs. Thus we start by stating certain initial
mathematical constraints and finish with the coordinate equations for
the map projection which satisfies them; with a table of the distortion
characteristics as well.
We do not intend to give a comprehensive analysis of all the special
properties which can be derived in every class of projection. We may
learn much about the analytical approach from the study of a few wellknown examples from Group D of the classification system.
Example I: The a z i m u t h a l equal-area projection
(Lambert)

The first example illustrates how an azimuthal projection may be derived

which satisfies the special properties of equivalence.
We have already seen in Chapter 7 that the azimuthal class is one of
the subdivisions of Group D. Moreover it has been specified that the
azimuthal projections can be defined in terms of polar coordinates accord
ing to the special condition that the origin of these coordinates is the only
point of zero distortion at the centre of the map. In the normal aspect
this point is the geographical pole. These conditions have the geometrical
significance of being the transformation of the spherical surface to a plane
which is tangential to it at the geographical pole, as shown in Fig. 5.07,
p. 90.
Conditions

applicable

to any azimuthal

projection

It follows from the definition of a spherical angle in Chapter 3, p. 54, as

well as from the creation of a point of zero distortion at the origin of
polar coordinates, that any plane angle at that point is equal to the
corresponding angle on the globe. At the pole this spherical angle rep
resents longitude; therefore we may write the first of the essential equa-