What is the difference between a conformal map and an equal area map?

What is the difference between a conformal map and an equal area map?

The Earth is a sphere, while a map is flat. Making a map will therefore introduce distortions, but the map maker can choose the kind of distortion.

In conformal maps and equal area maps the distortion is chosen differently. In a conformal map the angles are preserved, meaning that the shapes are conform to reality.

In equal area maps the areas are preserved, meaning that if one country is twice as big as another, then it will also appear twice as big on the map.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 5:40 am and is filed under area maps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “What is the difference between a conformal map and an equal area map?”

cakes4africa on January 24th, 2012 at 11:00 am

The Earth is a sphere, while a map is flat. Making a map will therefore introduce distortions, but the map maker can choose the kind of distortion.

In conformal maps and equal area maps the distortion is chosen differently. In a conformal map the angles are preserved, meaning that the shapes are conform to reality.

In equal area maps the areas are preserved, meaning that if one country is twice as big as another, then it will also appear twice as big on the map.
References :

Area List