12. Map projection: Explain the four features of a map that can be distorted.
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A cartographer cannot force all aspects of a map to be completely accurate, so whoever makes a map must decide which distortion are less important than others. They can also allow distortion in all four of the following features: conformality, distance, are/equivalence, and direction. Conformality is basically making sure that the shapes of the places and destinations are accurate. Mark Newman took conformality to a whole new level by creating a map projection in which places are proportional to their populations. You can imagine that the map does not look like what the world is supposed to look like.
Distance is pretty explanatory. It's the accuracy of the measured distances. But distance is a bit relative and it is inevitable that you would have a few wrong answers and distances. The distances on most maps are off because you can't measure the exact same distance and get the exact same answer every time.
Area/Equivalence-the areas represented on the map are proportional to their area on Earth. When you make a curved object into a flat one, many shapes will become smaller or bigger than they really should be to fit on the map. Take Africa for example. On a globe, you can see and tell and comprehend how big it is, but when you flatten it out, it becomes a lot smaller. It's all about distortion.
Last but (probably) not least, direction. The angles of direction are portrayed accurately. If the angles are portrayed correctly, then congratulations, you have beat distortion. Yet, you can never fully escape distortion because there's always going to be one element of the map that which is distorted or even completely messed up. Or sometimes all of the features of the map will be distorted just to make the map somewhat more accurate than usual.
Reygan Jones
Manual CF 11
Cartography: A Popular Perspective
