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:

In the Selection Form you can choose two projections from the menus;
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);
in the Selection via Thumbnail you can pick the desired projections… well, from a list of thumnails;
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:

For each projection, a few facts (the creator, year of creation, metric properties etc.) are listed;
there are some articles covering Basic Knowledge about Map Projections;
in the chapter Selected Projections I’m discussing a few chosen projections. Or at least I used to do – there will be no new articles in that place anymore, because …
Over on the website’s blog I’m introducing all projections that are added to the website, and if my time and level of knowledge permit, they will also be discussed in detail.

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

I’ve added four new conformal projections, see blogpost Lee, Markley, CALM & Grieger.
Guyou-Wagner, presented a few weeks ago, has also been added to my Projection Collection.

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

Completing the Canters projections,
completing the Györffy projections,
added the southern aspect of the 20/60 equidistant conic projection,
added two own projections, accompanied by name changes.

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

After introducing the Equal Earth projection briefly in August, there’s now a more detailed blogpost about it.

Aug 28, 2018

Additional projections/variants by Canters, Gringorten and McBryde-Thomas.
New projections: Kramer VII and Equal Earth.
Read more in blog.

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

Several new projections, modified Tissot indicatrix images. See blogpost.

Oct 27, 2017

Added the sinucyli projection. See Blogpost.

Sep 18, 2017

New projections. Complete exchange of projection images of the physical relief ocean bottom type.
A few changed projection images.
A blog has been added to this website!
Current news & changes are listed in detail over there. Additionally, I’ll use it for short articles regarding map projections.
Visit the blog at blog.map-projections.net!

Apr 12, 2017

Again, I had to postpone the article about the Wagner variants by Canters and Böhm.
Because before that, I felt I had to show Wagner’s own equal-area variations of Wagner VII. See The Wagner Bros.
Of course, images for these variations were added, too. Since I’m not aware of names that are already in use, I just called them Wagner VII.b, VII.c and VII.d here.
Further projections, that were added: Canters’ Optimization of Wagner IX, Aribert Peters’ Entfernungsbezogene Weltkarte (distance-related map – another variation of Wagner VII), and the modified Nell-Hammer, which was introduced by, ummm… Wagner.
And in order to prevent another »Wagner only update«, I also added the Bonne projection and by special request the uninterrupted Boggs eumorphic plus the polar aspect of Lambert’s azimuthal equal area-projection.
For reasons of consistency, some azimuthal projections were renamed.

Mar 17, 2017

The WVG (see update of Feb 2) was renamed to WVG-7 – because he now has a brother called WVG-9. And just like the WVG-7 generates variations of Wagner VII, the WVG-9 allow variations of Wagner IX.
(This also required some minor changes here and there, but they’re not worth to be mentioned here.)

Feb 28, 2017

Technical update: Overlay images now use fancyBox 3. This should offer a better experience especially (but not only) on mobile devices.

Feb 20, 2017

Added McBryde-Thomas #2 and Canters optimization of Wagner VII.
Strebe Asymmetric 2011 is now available using the full set of comparison images and the usual visual appearance.
In the WVG (see below) you now can select to display Tissot’s indicatrix for a better evaluation of the distortions in the projection you’ve generated.

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:

Canters optimization of Wagner VIII was added.
Wagner-Böhm I to IV are now available with all images, incl. Tissot and silhouette images, so finally, they can be compared decently to other projections.
Part 3 of my article series regarding Wagner’s work was added. Contrary to my prior announcements, it is not about Wagner variations but about Wagner’s transformation method that easily allows the derivation of variations: Das Umbeziffern – don’t fret, the article is in English. ;-)
And finally – maybe the most important part of this update:
I came up with a little tool that lets you play with the method of Umbeziffern. By changing a fistful of numerical values you can see the variation possibilities based on Wagner VII/VIII:
Have fun with the Wagner Variations Generator (WVG)!

Dec 9, 2016

Catching up on conformals, part 2:
Adams world in a square I and II, Adams hemispheres in a square, elliptic conformal, Lagrange in another configuration, Guyou conformal.
The previous images of the Briesemeister projection were replaced. Since the name Briesemeister is associated with a specific configuration of the Hammer projection, I felt compelled to match this configuration exactly, so I moved the projection center from the Greenwich meridian to 10° east.

Nov 19, 2016

So far, I neglected conformal projections a bit. Therefore I added three of them: August Epicycloidal, Eisenlohr and Lagrange. A few more will follow shortly.
Furthermore, I added Philbrick Sinu-Mollweide and the Times projection.
And another Winkel Tripel variant which I called Winkel Tripel BPOC. It might have been used before, but not using this name. For more information, see What’s the Winkel Tripel BOPC?
The images of the Larrivée projection were somewhat flawed, so they were replaced by better ones.

Aug 16, 2016

Added new projections: Airy Minimum Error Azimuthal, Hatano Asymmetric, Laskowski Tri-Optimal, Synder Minimum Error Flat-Pole, Synder Minimum Error Pointed-Pole, Strebe-Snyder Flat-Pole, Strebe-Snyder Pointed-Pole.
Peirce Quincuncial Projection is now available using the same imagery as (nearly) all other projections and in all styles (i.e. Tissot indicatrix images etc).
Approximations of Eckert II and Tobler Hyperelliptical were replaced by images generated from the original formula.
My own experiment, the Wagner-Denoyer, was renamed to Wagner-Denoyer I because an additional variant, the Wagner-Denoyer II, was added. See Wagner-Denoyer Projections.
The Wagner IX variant that was previously listed as Wagner Y5 was renamed to Wagner IX.i – read Naming Wagner IX.i for more information.

July 28, 2016

As announced, I added a longer review of the Wagner-Denoyer projection.
(Still to be continued…)

July 16, 2016

In light of recent events, I added an article about Naming Canters’ Projections.

June 11, 2016

A short(!) introduction of my own attempt at map projections: The Wagner-Denoyer projection. A longer review will be given later! Sometime. Soon. I hope.

June 6, 2016

As promised, the articles about the Patterson and Strebe projection were updated.

May 28, 2016

Finally, the article The Wagner Projections (Part 2): Usage is available.
And because of that, the Patterson and Strebe articles will be updated soon…
I’ve applied a few changes which should enhance your browsing experience on this site if you’re using a mobile device with a small screen (commonly referred to as smartphone). Further changes in this regard will be made anytime soon, but I’m not going to report them here.

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

Gall Isographic, Gall-Bomford, Kavraisky I, Raisz Half-Ellipsoidal in two variants.
New article about the Wagner projections. I split up this article: Part 1 is available, part 2 is coming soon.
In this context, I’ve build a Wagner IV approximation for use in the Flex Projector.

Dec 18, 2015

A few minor edits on the Hufnagel projections article.

Dec 15, 2015

Finally, I’m able to generate the Hufnagel projection images myself. Thus, they’re available now using the same base images as (nearly) all other projections and include the full set of silhouette and Tissot indicatrix images.
Since the »alternative« images of Eckert IV and Behrmann were included only for better comparison to the old Hufnagel images, they were removed.
The image of the Tobler hyperelliptical projection was replaced by a very close approximation.
Learn more about this in the article Approximations.

Dec 4, 2015

Important Change:
All projection images (well, almost all, anyway) are now optionally available using a physical map image showing the ocean with flat blue tint. You can toggle between the old and the new images using the menu Viewing Options in the upper right corner of each page.
For more information, read the Viewing Options article.
In the Single View Section there are Previous/Next navigation buttons now. You can use them to navigate through all avaiable projection images without being forced to return to the overview.

Note: In case you’ve set filters, these buttons will refer to the given selection. For Example, if you’ve used the filters to get a list of pseudocylincrical equal-area projections only, the Prev/Next buttons will navigate through this list, i.e. you will see nothing but pseudocylincrical equal-area projections.

Nov 17, 2015

The Hufnagel projections finally get some attention. Therefore, I revised and extended the Hufnagel article.

Oct 26, 2015

If you apply filters on Compare via thumbnails or in the Single View, the current settings are now saved to you don’t have to re-apply them when you go back to that page.
Renamed Putnins P4 to Craster’s Parabolic.
After all, it was Mr. Craster who developed this projection first (which Putnins duly noted when he introduced his series of projection).
Added Nicolosi Globular and Quartic Authalic
Added silhouette and Tissot indicatrix maps for Hufnagel 7, 9 und 10.
Note that these are approximations.
For the sake of better comparability, I replaced the previously used image of Eckert II projection with an approximation using the same base image as most other projections.
And since I now work with approximations, I added a chapter about approximations.

Sept 23, 2015

Added of few projections by F. Webster McBryde:
McBryde-Thomas #1 and the uninterrupted versions of McBryde-Thomas Flat Polar Sinusoidal, McBryde P3, McBryde Q3, McBryde S2.

Sometime soon, I’m going to add the (more common) interrupted versions as well, though I’m not sure yet whether to present the interruptions according to Goode’s scheme (for better comparability) or to McBryde’s own design (in order to show them as the creator intended) or both kinds (in order to add some clutter)… ;-)

Sept 10, 2015

Added eight cylindric projections:
Arden-Close, BSAM, Kharchenko-Shabanova, Miller Perspective Compromise, Tobler’s variant of Miller Cylindrical 1 and 2, Urmayev II and III.

Aug 28, 2015

There’s a new article about two really beautiful equal-area projections:
Strebe 1995 and Strebe Asymmetric 2011

Aug 15, 2015

Added projections from the Flex Projector Gallery:
A4 Projection, Ciric I, Cropped Ginzburg VIII, Dedistort, Hammer-Cylindrical.

Aug 7, 2015

Completed the Patterson article with a paragraph about the usage as decorative map.

Aug 3, 2015

Added Patterson Cylindrical Projection and Compact Miller.
Added an article about the Patterson Cylindrical Projection.
The images of the Equirectangular projection with standard parallels at 40° were replaced with ones having the standard parallels at 36.5° (for better comparability to Patterson).

Jul 19, 2015

Added Strebe Asymmetric 2011, plus an alternate depiction of Strebe 1995 for better comparability.
Added Braun Perspective Cylindrical projection.
For better comparability among the azimuthal projections, added the hemisphere views of Gott-Mugnolo Azimuthal and the Azimuthal Equidistant Projection.

Jun 22, 2015

New article: »Scaled to fit« vs. »Scaled to same width«
Explains why I felt compelled to add these two kinds of comparison.
South-up mode: You can view all map projections upside-down, i.e. with the south pole on top.
Read more…

Jun 11, 2015

map-projections.net gets launched.

Go to top