The Choice of Map Projections

Most books on the technique of map compilation omit a detailed consideration of projections on the grounds that this subject is adequately treated at length elsewhere. Texts on map projections, however, are largely theoretical and rarely consider the practical problem of the proper choice and use of the graticules which are otherwise so ably described. An investigation of this little explored field has produced the following picture which it is thought may be of wider interest. A study of the fundamental properties which influence the choice of map projections is followed by a survey of projections in use, considered in relation to the fundamental properties.