CARTOGRAPHIC PROJECTION

DEFINITION
It is a representation that establishes a relationship ranked between the points of the Earth's
curved surface and a surface is flat (map). These points use a network of meridians and Parallels, in
the form of mesh.
WHY DO WE NEED THEM
Since earth has a spherical shape, the representation of the Earth's surface involves deformations,
to overcome this obstacle there are different projection
Projections are attempts to portray the surface of the earth or a portion of the earth on a flat
surface. Some distortions of conformality, distance, direction, scale, and area always result from
this process. Some projections minimize distortions in some of these properties at the expense of
maximizing errors in others. Some projection are attempts to only moderately distort all of these
properties

PROPERTIES
According to the property, they can be classified in:
• Equidistant projections, if you keep the distances.
• Equivalent projections, if they preserve the surfaces.
• conformal projections, if they retain the forms (or, what is the same, the angles).
It is not possible to have all the previous properties at the same time, the decision will depend on
the utility to which the map is intended.

TYPES
It distinguishes three types of basic projections: cylindrical, conical and azimuthal.

 Cylindrical projection
The terrestrial globe is projected on a cylindrical surface. It is one of the most used, although
usually in modified form, due to the large distortions it offers in high-latitude areas, which makes it
impossible to appreciate the polar regions in their true proportion. It is used in the creation of some
world maps.
 Conic Projection
Conic projections are created by setting a cone over a globe and projecting light from the
center of the globe onto the cone.
The result is a semicircular map in which the meridians are straight lines arranged radially
and the parallel arcs of concentric circles. The scale increases as we move away from the
parallel of contact between the cone and the sphere
It does not allow the full representation of all the earth surface

 Azimuthal Projection
The azimuthal projection plots the surface of Earth using a flat plane, it is also called a
plane projection. The poles are the "normal aspect" that is, the plane is normally
placed above the north or south pole. Normally only one hemisphere, or a portion of it,
is represented on azimuthal projections. When projected from the centre of the globe
with the normal aspect, the typical grid appearance for azimuthal projections shows
parallels forming concentric circles, while meridians radiate out from the centre.
GAUSS KRUGER PROJECTION
Is a variation of a cylindrical proyection
DEFINITION
This projection system, employed by the Instituto Geográfico Militar is used for the preparation of all of
Argentina’s topographic maps
HOW DOES IT WORKS?
It divides the Argentine Republic ) on 7 bands meridian numbered from west to east. Each layer of the grid
Gauss-Krüger measured 3º wide (longitude) by 34º long (latitude) and has as its origin the intersection of
the South Pole with the prime meridian center of each zone.

N° Zone Coordinates of Coordinates of

central meridian central meridian
in G.C in GK
1 72° W 1500000

2 69° W 2500000

3 66° W 3500000

4 63° W 4500000

5 60° W 5500000

6 57° W 6500000

7 54° W 7500000
REPRESENTATION

The X-axis Represents the North-South axis of the projection and its origin or value 0 (zero) is
located at the South Pole (Latitude 90° South). In this way, the X-coordinate of a point expressed in
Gauss Krüger will always indicate the distance in feet from that point to the South Pole.
The y-axis: Represents the East-West axis of the projection and its origin is given in each MCF. In it,
the value that adopts the y-coordinate is 500,000 (expressed in meters). This arbitrary value other
than 0 (zero) was adopted simply to avoid the negative values of the coordinates.

LOCALIZATION OF A P POINT

1) Let the coordinates be: X = 6.534.511; Y = 598.243

The X coordinate indicates that the point is on the X axis in a place at 6,534,511 m from the South
Pole.
In addition, the Y coordinate indicates that the point is 98,243 m to the right of the Central
Meridian
Problem: But, the Y axis does not indicates in which sash the point is located.
Solution: To avoid this problem, to the Y coordinate of any point, you add a million figure,
according to the corresponding zone number.
In this way the previous coordinate should be expressed:
X = 6.534.511; Y = 5,598,243 and in this way you will understand that the point is in 5 th Zone.

2)
P1: X = 5.867.000 and it is a 10 km west from the Meridian, Y coordinate=4.490.000( central of
zone 4)

3)
P2: X = 5.443.420 and it is 30 km EAST to the Central Meridian of zone 5, then Y coordinate will be
5.530.000