Compare Map Projections

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Compare Map Projections

Last Update: Jan 15, 2024
News get listed in in my Blog!
(Short news see below)

Note: English is not my native language. Probably there’ll be a lot of mistakes here. Sorry!

What?

This site ist about map projections, specifically about world map projections.
A map projection is needed to show the spherical surface of the earth on a flat map (see What’s a Map Projection?).
There is some info about projections (see below), but more importantly, it’s about their appearance: Out of currently 355 different map projections images you can select two at a time to view their differences and similarities in a direct comparison. This sums up to 62835 possible compares, so if you want to, you can spend a lot of time here. 😉

Why?

Sometimes, two map projections might look so similar that it’s hard to tell the difference.
Sometimes, you might see the difference but want to study it more closely.
Maybe you want to compare the distortions which are present in each and every map projection.
Or maybe you dont’t want to compare map projections but rather browse a bunch of nice projection images.
You can do all of that here on this website.

For more detailed information about the spirit and purpose of this website, read What’s this all about?

How?

To select thw two projections you’d like to compare, you’ve got four options:

  1. In the Selection Form you can choose two projections from the menus;
  2. in the List of projections you can see the names of and some basic information about the provided projections – again, you can choose two of them to compare (at the time being, this might not work on small screens);
  3. in the Selection via Thumbnail you can pick the desired projections… well, from a list of thumnails;
  4. and the Suggested Pairings provide a list of projections, always in twos, being (in my opinion) recommonable pairings.

If you’re not familiar with map projection names, options no. 3 and 4 might be the best for you.

And then?

The two projections you’ve chosen will be compared in three (simple mode) resp. eight (expert mode) different ways.
Sometimes you’ll see only one projection image at first and you’ll have to click it to switch to the second projection. Sometimes the images will be layered on top of each other semi-transparently.

I’m confused by these different kinds of comparison!

Read the short hints!
In case you never heard of Tissot’s indicatrix (which is part of the comparisons) read the article that explains it.

Single View

If you don’t want to compare but rather view the projections individually, head over to the Single View Section.
Maybe you want to share an image of you favorite map projection via email or social networks? – Okay, this can be done in the Single View section!

Are there any informations about map projections here?

In case you came here in search of informations about map projections – well, yeah, some basics are provided here:

Nonetheless, I highly recommend the site that are listed in the Links section! They are more extensive, more precise and better written than my own articles.

 
 

Changelog

Jan 15, 2024

Three new projections: Variants of Wagner VII, with curved corners.
See blogpost Rounded Variants of Wagner VII.

Jan 5, 2024

Seven new projections, (very) similar to Winkel Tripel.
See blogpost The Winkel-Denner Projections.

Jun 16, 2023

New projections: 1 × Adams, 3 × Baranyi, 1 × Winkel-Snyder. See blogpost.

Jan 15, 2023

I have added a modification of Canters W32. See 13 Projections for 2023 (Part 1).

Nov 25, 2022

I have added Four Flexify Projections and Gott-Wagner to my Projection Collection.

Oct 20, 2022

Important Update!
All projections on map-projections.net are now additionally shown with a political map image. Read the blogpost for more informations.

Oct 2, 2022

I added two variants of Canters W30 to my Projection Collection.

Sep 26, 2022

Added Two Ginzburg and Four Baranyi Projections.

Aug 20, 2022

Second Serving: Two More Lee Variants.

July 29, 2022

June 23, 2022

Paul B. Anderson’s comprehensive gallery of map projections is now available at anderson.map-projections.net.
See blogpost The Anderson List.

April 26, 2022

I’ve added A Quintet of World Ocean Maps, made by Athelstan F. Spilhaus.

April 14, 2022

I applied A Few Minor Changes recently.

Jan 24, 2022

I added A Fistful of Asymmetric Projections.

Jan 15, 2022

Added the “Autobiographic” Wagner IX, see blogpost.

Dec 12, 2021

Added the Cupola projection, see blogpost.

Nov 26, 2021

In the event of the 80th birthday of the Wagner VII I’ve added two more Wagner variants: Wagner VII.e and Wagner VII.b Asymmetric

Jun 14, 2021

Added the Danseiji projections. See blogpost.

Mar 26, 2021

See blogpost.
 

Jan 15, 2021

I introduced more customizable projections for d3-geo-projection.
– See blogpost More Umbeziffern for d3-geo-projections;
– explore the options using the WVG-ESP (which replaced the former WVG-9)
– or at Customizable Wagner Projections using d3-geo – Seven Of Nine.

Jan 07, 2021

I’ve added six Canters projections. Three others were renamed. See the blogpost.

Dec 24, 2020

I’ve added 14 projections developed in 1971 by Nedjeljko Frančula, plus an experiment of my own based on one of them. See The Frančula Projections.

Feb 3, 2020

Added the lenticular Wagner II – a little experiment of my own, which I introduced on Jan 15 in a blogpost.

Jan 1, 2020

New: Bertin-Rivière and Györffy E. New variants of projections that already are listed, a few adjustments.
See Blogpost.

Jun 3, 2019

Six new projections, four of them of the conformal polyhedral type.
See Blogpost.

Jan 15, 2019

Added two more Wagner variants.
See Blogpost.

Jan 4, 2019

Four new polyhedral projections, an accompanying update regarding the filter box on the website.
See Blogpost.

Nov 26, 2018

Aug 28, 2018

Aug 6, 2018

Added more of Strebe’s 1992 series of equal-area projections.
Read more in the blogpost.

Jun 6, 2018

A little extension of the WVG-7 and an implementation of the Customizable Wagner VII for d3js.org.
Read more in the blogpost.

Jan 1, 2018

Oct 27, 2017

Sep 18, 2017

Apr 12, 2017

Mar 17, 2017

Feb 28, 2017

Feb 20, 2017

Feb 9, 2017

This year marks the 111. anniversary of Karlheinz Wagner’s birth. Let’s celebrate this repdigit birthday with an update that’s all about Wagner:

Dec 9, 2016

Nov 19, 2016

Aug 16, 2016

July 28, 2016

July 16, 2016

June 11, 2016

June 6, 2016

May 28, 2016

To be honest, this is a bit of a »quick & dirty« update – for nearly five months, nothing has happened here, so I was in a rush to get the stuff online at last. So in case you’ll find any typos more typos than usual in the new article; in case something shouldn’t work… fear not! In the days and weeks to come, I’ll take care of it.
 

Jan 5, 2016

Dec 18, 2015

Dec 15, 2015

Dec 4, 2015

Nov 17, 2015

Oct 26, 2015

Sept 23, 2015

Sept 10, 2015

Aug 28, 2015

Aug 15, 2015

Aug 7, 2015

Aug 3, 2015

Jul 19, 2015

Jun 22, 2015

Jun 11, 2015

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