A compromise aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection for world maps

Abstract

There are two problems with current cylindrical projections for world maps. First, existing cylindrical map projections have a static height-to-width aspect ratio and do not automatically adjust their aspect ratio in order to optimally use available canvas space. Second, many of the commonly used cylindrical compromise projections show areas and shapes at higher latitudes with considerable distortion. This article introduces a new compromise cylindrical map projection that adjusts the distribution of parallels to the aspect ratio of a canvas. The goal of designing this projection was to show land masses at central latitudes with a visually balanced appearance similar to how they appear on a globe. The projection was constructed using a visual design procedure where a series of graphically optimized projections was defined for a select number of aspect ratios. The visually designed projections were approximated by polynomial expressions that define a cylindrical projection for any height-to-width ratio between 0.3:1 and 1:1. The resulting equations for converting spherical to Cartesian coordinates require a small number of coefficients and are fast to execute. The presented aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection is well suited for digital maps embedded in web pages with responsive web design, as well as GIS applications where the size of the map canvas is unknown a priori. We highlight the projection with a height-to-width ratio of 0.6:1, which we call the Compact Miller projection because it is inspired by the Miller Cylindrical projection. Unlike the Miller Cylindrical projection, the Compact Miller projection has a smaller height-to-width ratio and shows the world with less areal distortion at higher latitudes. A user study with 448 participants verified that the Compact Miller - together with the Plate Carrée projection - is the most preferred cylindrical compromise projection.

Full text

A compromise aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection for world maps
Bernhard Jenny
a
*, Bojan Šavrič
a
and Tom Patterson
b
a
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis,
OR, USA;
b
US National Park Service, Harpers Ferry, WV, USA
(Received 11 September 2014; final version received 7 November 2014)
There are two problems with current cylindrical projections for world maps. First,
existing cylindrical map projections have a static height-to-width aspect ratio and do
not automatically adjust their aspect ratio in order to optimally use available canvas
space. Second, many of the commonly used cylindrical compromise projections show
areas and shapes at higher latitudes with considerable distortion. This article introduces
a new compromise cylindrical map projection that adjusts the distribution of parallels
to the aspect ratio of a canvas. The goal of designing this projection was to show land
masses at central latitudes with a visually balanced appearance similar to how they
appear on a globe. The projection was constructed using a visual design procedure
where a series of graphically optimized projections was defined for a select number of
aspect ratios. The visually designed projections were approximated by polynomial
expressions that define a cylindrical projection for any height-to-width ratio between
0.3:1 and 1:1. The resulting equations for converting spherical to Cartesian coordinates
require a small number of coefficients and are fast to execute. The presented aspect-
adaptive cylindrical projection is well suited for digital maps embedded in web pages
with responsive web design, as well as GIS applications where the size of the map
canvas is unknown a priori. We highlight the projection with a height-to-width ratio of
0.6:1, which we call the Compact Miller projection because it is inspired by the Miller
Cylindrical projection. Unlike the Miller Cylindrical projection, the Compact Miller
projection has a smaller height-to-width ratio and shows the world with less areal
distortion at higher latitudes. A user study with 448 participants verified that the
Compact Miller –together with the Plate Carrée projection –is the most preferred
cylindrical compromise projection.
Keywords: aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection; Compact Miller projection; Miller
projection; adaptive composite map projections; Mercator; Flex Projector
1. Introduction
Cylindrical projections with equatorial aspect show meridians and parallels as parallel
straight lines. The projected parallels and meridians intersect at right angles, and the world
is mapped to a rectangle. Many cartographers do not recommend using cylindrical
projections for mapping the world because of the notion that rectangular world maps
mislead the map user’s interpretation of the world’s shape. Despite resounding opposition
to the use of cylindrical projections for world maps, the Mercator projection has become
the most frequently used projection for web maps in recent years, regardless of a ‘long
history of discussion about its inappropriateness for general-purpose mapping, particularly
at the global scale’(Battersby et al. 2014, p. 85).
*Corresponding author. Email: jennyb@geo.oregonstate.edu
International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2014.997734
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
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We identify three arguments for the use of cylindrical projections: (1) certain phenom-
ena that change with longitude are presumably easiest to read on a map with straight
meridians, such as a map showing world time zones, (2) the appearance of land masses on
cylindrical map projections is familiar to all map users due to the widespread use of the
Web Mercator projection, and (3) the rectangular shape of cylindrical projections
considerably simplifies page layouts. Additionally, rectangular projections seem to be
preferred by some map-makers; however, it is unclear whether this is due to indifference,
ignorance or simply aesthetic preference. In 1993, before the widespread use of the
cylindrical Mercator projection for web maps, Werner studied projection preferences of
map users and found that projections with round shapes were preferred to maps with
rectangular outlines (Werner 1993). However, Šavričet al. (in press) found in a recent
user study that the cylindrical Plate Carrée is one of the most preferred projections among
nonexpert map users when comparing nine commonly used map projections for world
maps.
This article introduces a new compromise cylindrical map projection that adjusts the
distribution of parallels to the aspect ratio of the canvas. The following introductory
sections identify the rationale for developing another map projection, discuss existing
transformations that result in cylindrical projections with varying aspect ratios and
identify candidate projections for constructing an aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection.
The ‘Methods’section discusses the process for visually designing the members of the
aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection family and describes the method used for convert-
ing the visually designed projections to a polynomial expression. The first ‘Result’section
describes the aspect-adaptive map projection for aspect ratios between 0.3 and 1. The
second ‘Result’section describes the Compact Miller projection, a member of the aspect-
adaptive projection family with an aspect ratio of 0.6. The evaluation is split into two
sections. The first ‘Evaluation’section analyses distortion properties of the proposed
aspect-adaptive projections. The second ‘Evaluation’section discusses the Compact
Miller projection in further detail.
1.1. Rationale for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map projection
We de v e l oped a new f a m i ly of cyl i n d rical ma p p r ojectio n s t hat adju s t t he distr i b u tion
of parallels to the aspect ratio of the map for two reasons. First, modern web pages
use responsive web design that adapts the layout to the viewing environment by using
flexible-sized text, vector graphics and raster images. Adapting a map to available
canvas space in such responsive layout systems is desirable in order to use available
space efficiently, particularly on mobile devices with small displays. Projections
adjusting their aspect ratios to available screen space could also be beneficial when
integrated with a desktop or Web-based GIS where screen size is unknown a priori or
where the size of windows changes frequently. We also expect aspect-adaptive cylind-
rical projections to simplify the workflow for print cartography, where a map’s
dimensions often need to be adjusted to the available size determined by the page
layout.
The second reason for developing a new projection stems from our dissatisfaction
with available cylindrical compromise projections. This may be surprising considering
the hundreds of map projections invented by cartographers in the past. For example,
John P. Snyder’s(1993) seminal inventory of the history map projections lists 265 major
projections, but it could be extended further with less commonly used projections.
However, the number of cylindrical projections in Snyder’s inventory is relatively
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small. Only 39 of the 265 projections are cylindrical projections. Of those 39
projections, 12 are for large-scale maps based on ellipsoids and are not useful for
world maps, 4 projections are specialized projections for mapping satellite tracks and
similar applications, 5 projections are transverse or oblique variants and therefore not
useful for world maps with equatorial aspect, and the central cylindrical projection is
only useful for didactical purposes due to its gross area distortion. Of the remaining 17
cylindrical projections, one is the conformal Mercator, one is the equal-area Lambert
cylindrical with three variations (Gall-Peters, Behrmann, and Trystan Edwards), one is
the equirectangular with a variation by Gall, and five are variations of perspective
cylindrical projections (Gall, Braun, Braun’s second, Kamenetskiy and BSAM [after
the Bolshoi Sovetskii Atlas Mira or the Great Soviet World Atlas]). Only six cylindrical
projections designed for world maps using other approaches remain in Snyder’s list. The
six projections are the Pavlov, Miller Cylindrical, Arden-Close, Kharchenko-Shabanova,
Kavrayskiy I and Urmayev Cylindrical III projections.
Five additional compromise cylindrical projections for world maps that are not
listed by Snyder (1993)andnotmembersoftheequal-area,equirectangularor
perspective projection families can be found in other cartographic literature. These
include the Miller Perspective Compromise, Miller II, Urmayev Cylindrical II,
Tob ler Cy lindr ical I a nd Tobl er Cylindrical II projections. Tabl e 1 orders the 11
cylindrical compromise projections by increasing aspect ratio; 5 of the 11 projections
in Tab le 1 have aspect ratios greater than 0.8 and were designed to compensate for
the huge polar distortion of the Mercator projection. However, projections with such
high aspect ratios should be avoided if possible because of their tendency to grossly
distort areas and shapes. Figure 1 shows the projections listed in Table 1 with aspect
ratios between 0.5 and 0.8, as well as the Plate Carrée and Braun Stereographic
projections.
We could not identify additional compromise cylindrical projections with aspect
ratios between 0.5 and 0.8 (excluding variations of equirectangular and perspective
projections). The reason for this shortage may be that ‘because of the very simplicity
of cylindrical projections in the normal aspect, they were generally ignored by
mathematicians and the more scientific map-makers especially attracted to the devel-
opment of new projections’(Snyder 1993, p. 104). With the discovery of the only
Table 1. Cylindrical compromise projections ordered by aspect ratio.
Equirectangular, stereographic and equal-area cylindrical projections are not
included.
Projection Aspect ratio Reference
Pavlov 0.421 Graur (1956), Snyder (1993)
Miller Perspective 0.543 Miller (1942)
Miller II 0.629 Miller (1942)
Urmayev Cylindrical II 0.698 Bugayevskiy and Snyder (1995)
Tobler Cylindrical I 0.706 Tobler (1997)
Miller Cylindrical 0.733 Miller (1942)
Arden-Close 0.803 Arden-Close (1947), Snyder (1993)
Tobler Cylindrical II 0.832 Tobler (1997)
Kharchenko-Shabanova 0.838 Maling (1960)
Kavrayskiy I 0.877 Graur (1956), Snyder (1993)
Urmayev Cylindrical III 0.922 Maling (1960)
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conformal cylindrical projection (Mercator) and the two families of equal-area and
equidistant cylindrical projections, only compromise cylindrical projections can be
devised. To customize these compromise cylindrical projections, parallels are distrib-
uted in different ways. Among the few who customized cylindrical projections are
various Soviet cartographers (see Maling 1960 for an overview), Osborn Maitland
Miller (1942; see Monmonier 2002 for the development of Miller’s projection) and
Wal d o R . To b ler (1997).
Plate Carrée, 0.5
Miller Perspective, 0.543
Miller II, 0.629
Braun Stereographic, 0.637
Miller, 0.733
Tobler I, 0.706
Urmayev II, 0.698
Figure 1. Compromise cylindrical projections with aspect ratios between 0.5 and 0.8.
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1.2. Transformations for compromise cylindrical projections
The main objective when developing the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection was to
adjust the distribution of parallels to the aspect ratio of the map in a visually balanced
way. Other transformable compromise cylindrical projections that change their aspect
ratio and adjust the distribution of parallels are reviewed below. These transformable
projections served as inspirations for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection.
The equirectangular projection is an example of a transformable projection. The aspect
ratio can be adjusted by changing the standard parallel. However, at larger aspect ratios –
created with a standard parallel of 35° or higher –the equirectangular projection stretches
land masses in a visually disturbing way. The cylindrical stereographic projection, an
alternative projection where the aspect ratio can also be adjusted by varying the standard
parallel, has less drastic vertical stretching at large aspect ratios.
The Miller Cylindrical and the Miller II projections, developed by Miller (1942), are
two configurations of a continuous series of compromise cylindrical projections con-
structed by adding two terms (mand n) to the Mercator equation. By varying the values of
the two terms, a variety of cylindrical compromise projections can be constructed. The
limiting cases are the equirectangular projection on the one end and the (optionally
stretched or compressed) Mercator projection on the other. Miller’s projection series
shows areas close to the equator similar to the Mercator projection, which is a pleasing
characteristic to many cartographers and has made the Miller Cylindrical a popular choice
among map-makers.
Like Miller’s transformed Mercator, Canters (2002, p. 60) suggested modifying the
cylindrical equal-area projection. The equirectangular projection is also the limiting case
for this transformation. Miller’s and Canters’transformations can be combined by, for
example, choosing the Plate Carrée projection as the pivotal projection. Miller’s transfor-
mation is applied to maps with aspect ratios greater than 0.5, and Canters’transformation
is applied to maps with aspect ratios less than 0.5. The result is a smooth transition
between the Mercator projection for maps with an aspect ratio 1:1, and the Lambert equal-
area cylindrical projection for maps with an aspect ratio of 0.318. For both projections, the
mand nparameters can be computed for a given aspect ratio using the Newton–Raphson
method.
The drawback of the equirectangular, the stereographic, Miller’s transformed Mercator
and Canters’transformed Lambert projection families is that the polar areas are exces-
sively stretched or enlarged at larger aspect ratios. These projections are therefore not
viable options for an aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection.
1.3. Candidate projections for constructing the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection
The cylindrical projections with variable aspect ratios discussed in the previous section all
have shortcomings. In order to identify candidate projections for inclusion in the new
aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection, this section examines existing projections and
evaluates their potential for inclusion.
The described combination of Miller’s transformed Mercator projection and Canters’
transformed Lambert cylindrical projection uses the Plate Carrée as a pivotal projection
(Figure 1, top left). The Plate Carrée is a reasonable choice because of its simplicity,
equidistance property along meridians and low linear scale distortion, and many map
users are likely familiar with this projection. The Plate Carrée is the standard projection
for disseminating raster data-sets of the Earth, and many maps employ the Plate Carrée ‘as
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is’with no additional projection transformations. Šavričet al. (in press) found that map
users prefer the Plate Carrée projection over eight other commonly used projections for
world maps. Prevalence, convenience and user preference aside, the Plate Carrée is not
ideal for general mapping because of the horizontal stretching it applies to higher
latitudes.
The Miller Perspective projection (which is not constructed with Miller’s Mercator
transformation described in Section 1.2) shows the world with an aspect ratio of 0.543
(Figure 1). This relatively compact aspect ratio compresses both middle and high lati-
tudes, giving land masses a shortened appearance. Similar alternative projections include
Braun Stereographic, a cylindrical stereographic projection that uses the equator as the
standard parallel (Figure 1, bottom left), and Miller II. Although both of these projections
improve upon the original Miller projection, polar areas are still too large compared to the
mid-latitudes and tropics. The Urmayev II and Tobler I projections –both with aspect
ratios close to 0.7 –are similar in appearance to the Miller Cylindrical. The Tobler I
projection was developed as a computationally more efficient alternative to the Miller
projection. Although both Urmayev II and Tobler I projections are more compact and
devote slightly less space to polar areas, they are fairly unknown and unavailable in most
mapping software (Figure 1, top right).
In our opinion, the projections in Figure 1 are the best available compromise cylind-
rical projections for a variety of aspect ratios up to now. However, these projections
generally dedicate too much canvas space to polar areas, considerably inflating the area of
higher latitudes, or apply too much compression to the mid-latitudes. For example,
southern South America looks unusually short in the Miller Perspective and Plate
Carrée projections.
2. Methods
To visually design the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map projection, eight different cylind-
rical projections with aspect ratios between 0.3:1 and 1:1 were produced using a custo-
mized version of Flex Projector (Jenny et al. 2010,2013). Flex Projector is a free, cross-
platform application for creating custom world map projections. The customized version
of Flex Projector differed from the standard version in that the user can lock the aspect
ratio for the projection that is designed. We adjusted, visually assessed and corrected the
vertical distances of parallels for the eight different projections with aspect ratios between
0.3:1 and 1:1 until no further improvement seemed possible. Each of the eight visually
designed cylindrical projections is defined by 18 vertical distances, one distance for every
5° of latitude between the equator and one pole. With eight projections and 18 values for
every projection, there are a total of 144 values. Coding equations with these many values
is impractical because of the increased likelihood of typographical errors. Additionally,
programmers would need to develop code to interpolate between vertical distances, which
would result in incompatible implementations if different interpolation methods were
applied. This is an issue for the Robinson projection, for example, which is defined by
two sets of numbers specifying the length and vertical distribution of parallels. As Šavrič
et al. (2011) point out, there are various incompatible interpolating and approximating
methods. Therefore, we used the least squares method to develop a polynomial expression
for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection (discussed in Section 3.1). The numerical
values defining the vertical distances of parallels for the eight projections served as the
basis for developing this polynomial expression. The polynomial expression provides the
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vertical distance of parallels from the equator for any given latitude and an aspect ratio
between 0.3:1 and 1:1.
Cylindrical projections, including projections by Pavlov, Urmayev, Kharchenko-
Shabanova and Tobler (see Table 1 for references), have also been defined using poly-
nomials. Šavričet al. (2011) provide details about creating polynomial expressions for
projections designed with Flex Projector using the Natural Earth projection as an example.
Similar to the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection, the Natural Earth projection was first
visually designed with Flex Projector, and then, polynomial equations were developed
using the method of least squares.
The goal when developing polynomial equations for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical
projection was to simplify the mathematical model to reduce the number of required
parameters and to simplify the programming of projection equations. Various poly-
nomial forms with different degrees were compared. The weighted least square
adjustment method was used, and weights were adjusted in a trial-and-error procedure
until the resulting expression closely approximated the eight visually designed
projections.
To evaluate the distortion properties of the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection, the
weighted mean error in areal distortion, the weighted mean error in the overall scale
distortion and the mean angular deformation were computed for a number of aspect ratios
using Equations (1), (2) and (3) (Canters and Decleir 1989, Canters 2002).
Dab ¼1
SX
k
i¼1
aq
iþbr
i
2#1
!"
cos ϕiΔϕΔλ(1)
Dan ¼1
SX
k
i¼1
2 arcsin ai#bi
aiþbi
!"
cos ϕiΔϕΔλ(2)
Dar ¼1
SX
k
i¼1
aibi
ðÞ
p#1ðÞcos ϕiΔϕΔλ(3)
where Dab is the weighted mean error in the overall scale distortion, Dan is the mean
angular deformation, Dar is the weighted mean error in areal distortion, aiand biare the
maximum and minimum scale distortions at the sample point, S¼P
k
i¼1
cos ϕiΔϕΔλis the
sum of the area weight factors, ϕiis the sample point latitude, Δϕand Δλare intervals in
the latitude and longitude (2:5&for all computations in this article), kis the number of
sample points, and p,qand rcoefficients are defined as
p¼1aibi'1
#1aibi<1
#;q¼1ai'1
#1ai<1
#;r¼1bi'1
#1bi<1
#
The three indices described above are the most commonly used measures in map projec-
tion literature and are applied, for example, by Snyder (1987,1993), Canters and Decleir
(1989), Canters (2002) and Šavričand Jenny (2014).
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3. Results
3.1. Result 1: the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map projection
Figure 2 shows the aspect-adaptive projection family for height-to-width aspect ratios
between 0.3:1 and 1:1. The highest aspect ratios (close to 1) resemble the Mercator
projection, but slightly reduce the extreme area distortion close to the poles. The projection
at the 0.6 aspect ratio is the Compact Miller, which is discussed in the following section.
The Plate Carrée projection is used for the aspect ratio of 0.5 for reasons outlined in Section
1.3. The lowest aspect ratio of 0.3 produces a map that is nearly equal-area with highly
flattened polar land masses.
Equation (4) defines the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map projection for aspect ratios
between 0.3:1 and 0.7:1. This is a polynomial surface with 12 polynomial terms deter-
mined with the method described in the previous section.
x¼λand y1φ;αðÞ¼
φ(k1þφ3(k2þφ5(k3
n(α(π(4)
where xand y1are the projected coordinates, φand λare the latitude and longitude, αis
the height-to-width aspect ratio of the map canvas, k1¼A1þA2(αþA3(α2þA4(α3,
k2¼A5þA6(αþA7(α2þA8(α3and k3¼A9þA10 (αþA11 (α2þA12 (α3, and nis a
normalization factor. The values of the 12 polynomial coefficients Aiare given in Table 2.
The coefficients k1,k2and k3are independent of φand λand they can be precomputed
during the initialization of the projection when the aspect ratio αis known. After
initialization, they can be treated as constants. The same is the case for the normalization
factor n, which is equal to φp(k1þφ3
p(k2þφ5
p(k3with φp¼π=2. The computational
cost per point consists of four multiplications and two additions when the polynomial for y
in Equation (4) is factorized as in Equation (5):
x¼λand y1φ;αðÞ¼φ(k1þφ2(k2þφ2(k3
$%$%
(5)
with ki¼kiαπ
n.
For the aspect ratio between 0.7:1 and 1:1, the vertical ycoordinate of the aspect-
adaptive cylindrical map projection is computed in two steps: (1) the y1coordinate is
computed with Equation (5) using the aspect ratio 0.7:1, and (2) y1for areas above 45° N
and below 45° S is modified by adding a four-term polynomial (Equation (6)).
y2φ;αðÞ¼y1φ;0:7ðÞþ
~
φ(k2;1þ~
φ2(k2;2
$% (6)
~
φ¼
φ#π
4;φ>π
4
0;φ
jj)π
4
φþπ
4;φ<#π
4
8
<
:
where y2φ;αðÞis the ycoordinate for the aspect ratio greater than 0.7, φis the latitude, αis
the aspect ratio of the map canvas, y1φ;0:7ðÞis the ycoordinate computed with Equation
(5) and an aspect ratio of 0.7, k2;i¼k2;iα#0:7ð Þ(π
n2, where k2;1¼B1þB2(α,
k2;2¼B3þB4(α, and n2is a normalization factor equal to π=4(k2;1þπ=4ðÞ
3(k2;2.
The values of the four polynomial coefficients Biare given in Table 3. The additional
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0.3
0.5 Plate Carrée
0.6 Compact Miller
0.7
0.8
0.4
1.0
0.9
Figure 2. The aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection for aspect ratios between 0.3:1 and 1:1.
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computational cost per point above or below the *45&parallel consists of three multi-
plications and two additions when the k2;iparameters are precomputed.
Figure 3 shows the polynomial surface defined by Equations (5) and (6). The vertical
axis shows the vertical distance of parallels to the equator. For a more accurate compar-
ison, the distances defined by Equations (5) and (6) have been divided by α(π, which
reduces distances to the range [0 …1]. Figure 4 shows the distance of parallels to the
Table 3. Polynomial coefficients Bifor
Equation (6).
Coefficient k2;1Coefficient k2;2
B10:0186 B3#1:179
B2#0:0215 B41:837
Table 2. Polynomial coefficients Aifor Equations (4)
and (5).
Coefficient k1Coefficient k2Coefficient k3
A19:684 A5#0:569 A9#0:509
A2#33:44 A6#0:875 A10 3:333
A343:13 A77:002 A11 #6:705
A4#19:77 A8#5:948 A12 4:148
–30°
–60°–45°
–15° 0°
30° 45° 60°
90°
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
–0.8
–0.6
–0.4
–0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
–1
1
Parallel
Distance of parallel from equator
Aspect
–90° –75°
15°
75°
Figure 3. Polynomial surface defined by Equations (5) and (6) with distances normalized to [0...1].
The equator and aspect ratio of 0.5 (Plate Carrée) are highlighted.
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equator for selected aspect ratios between 0.3:1 and 1:1. For the aspect ratio of 0.5:1, the
distribution is linear and the resulting projection is the Plate Carrée. For aspect ratios less
than 0.5:1, the slopes of the curves indicate a gradual decrease of spacing between
parallels towards the poles. For aspect ratios greater than 0.5:1, the curves bend in upward
direction, indicating an increasing spacing between parallels. When designing the poly-
nomial expression, care was taken to obtain curves that gradually diverge towards higher
aspect ratios to avoid sudden discontinuities in the graticule.
A single polynomial equation cannot sufficiently approximate all reference projections
because the distributions of parallels between 55° N and S are almost identical for aspect
ratios between approximately 0.7 and 1. This phenomenon is visualized in Figure 4 by the
curves for aspect ratios 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1. At lower latitudes, the four curves overlap; the
curves begin diverging at latitude 45°. When developing equations for the aspect-adaptive
cylindrical projection, it was therefore necessary to extend the polynomial in Equation (5)
with Equation (6) for higher aspect ratios despite extensive trials with different poly-
nomial degrees for Equation (5) and adjusting weights for the least square adjustment for
selected aspect ratios and latitude ranges.
3.2. Result 2: the Compact Miller projection
The Compact Miller projection is a particular case of the aspect-adaptive cylindrical
projection family with a 0.6 aspect ratio (Figure 5). The Compact Miller has been
carefully designed because it is likely to be used frequently for mapping due to its
favourable aspect ratio. We presume that many professional cartographers would select
this aspect ratio when asked to choose a cylindrical projection because it is relatively close
to the natural 1:2 ratio between the length of meridians and the equator, and it shows land
masses in a balanced manner.
The Compact Miller preserves the shape of equatorial and mid-latitude land masses
found on the Miller Cylindrical, which is a familiar projection to many users. Higher
latitudes are shown with a compromise between minimizing areal exaggeration and
retaining the characteristic shapes of land masses, such as Greenland. When designing
the Compact Miller projection, it was important that the distance between lines of latitude
3.25
2.75
2.5
2.25
2
1.75
1.5
1.25
0.75
0.5
0.25
3
1
0
0° 5° 10° 15° 20° 25° 30° 35° 40° 45° 50° 55° 60° 65° 70° 75° 80° 85° 90°
Latitude
y coordinate
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Figure 4. Distance of parallels to the equator for aspect ratios between 0.3:1 and 1:1.
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did not decrease towards the poles. The Compact Miller projection duplicates the spacing
of parallels from the Miller Cylindrical projection between latitude 55° N and S. From
latitude 55° N and S to the poles, the Compact Miller projection maintains approximately
constant spacing. This construction principle is similar to the composite projection
proposed by Kavrayskiy for his first projection (Snyder 1993). Kavrayskiy used the
Mercator projection between latitudes 70° N and S and the equirectangular projection
beyond these latitudes (for equations, see Jenny and Šavričin press).
Equation (5) defines the Compact Miller projection with k1¼0:9902, k2¼0:1604
and k3¼#0:03054.
4. Evaluation
4.1. Evaluation of the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection
The aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection smoothly adjusts the distribution of parallels
when the aspect ratio changes. The aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection shows the
central equatorial part with relatively small distortion, but accepts a compromise in higher
latitudes where shape and area distortions are larger. We consider aspect ratios between
0.55 and 0.70, a good compromise between acceptable areal distortion at high latitudes
and an overall pleasing appearance. Cylindrical maps with aspect ratios beyond this range
either introduce disproportionate areal distortion or distort the shape of map features
considerably. Deciding on a specific aspect ratio within the 0.55–0.70 range depends on
the map’s purpose, available space for the map in a graphical layout and personal taste. As
the aspect ratio increases from 0.70 to 1, areal distortion at high latitudes increases
dramatically while the distribution of parallels closer to the equator remains constant
and mid-latitude land masses, up to latitude 55° N and S, maintain a familiar appearance
(Figure 2). Latitudinal compression becomes stronger with aspect ratios less than 0.5. The
Areal Distortion Maximum angular
distortion
3
4
3
4
1.5
5
3.5
2.5
2
1
0
2
5
2.5
1.5
1
3.5
20º
120º
80º
60º
40º
100º
10º
5º
0º
20º
120º
80º
60º
40º
10º
5º
100º
Figure 5. Compact Miller projection with areal (left) and maximum angular distortion isolines
(right) and Tissot indicatrices (centre).
12 B. Jenny et al.
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lowest aspect ratio (0.3) produces a map that is nearly equal-area with highly flattened
polar land masses.
Figures 6–8show the weighted mean error in areal distortion, the mean angular
deformation and the weighted mean error in the overall scale distortion for aspect ratios
between 0.3 and 1 for four transformable families of cylindrical projections –equal-area,
stereographic, equirectangular, Canters’transformed Lambert and Miller’s transformed
Mercator (described in Section 1.2, with m¼n)–as well as for selected cylindrical
projections with fixed aspect ratios.
Figure 6 shows the weighted mean error in areal distortion. For the aspect-adaptive
projection, the weighted mean error in areal distortion increases almost linearly with the
aspect ratio. It is interesting to note that almost all compromise cylindrical projections
Aspect ratio
2.5
2.25
1.75
1.5
0.5
1.25
0.25
0.75
2
1
0
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
Pavlov
Miller Perspective
Miller II
Miller
Urmayev II Tobler I
Tobler II
Kharchenko-Shabanova
Kavrayskiy I
Urmayev III
Plate Carrée
Compact Mill er
Equal-area
Equirectangular
Canters’ transformed Lambert
Aspect-adaptive
Stereographic
Miller’s
transformed
Mercator
Figure 6. Weighted mean error in areal distortion Dar for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map
projection (solid line) and other selected cylindrical map projections.
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
Aspect ratio
Plate Carrée
Pavlov
Miller II Kharchenko-
Shabanova
Compact Miller
Kavrayskiy I
Urmayev II Urmayev III
Tobler II
Tobler I
Miller
Miller Perspective
Aspect-adaptive
Equal-area
Equirectangular
Stereographic
Canters’
transformed
Lambert
Miller’s
transformed
Mercator
Figure 7. Mean angular deformation Dan for the aspect-adaptive cylindrical map projection and
other selected cylindrical map projections.
International Journal of Geographical Information Science 13
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align in Figure 6. The areal distortion of the aspect-adaptive projection for aspect ratios
above 0.65 is high when compared to the equirectangular and the stereographic. This is
expected because the aspect-adaptive projection increases the spacing of parallels from the
equator towards the poles, which is a general characteristic of conformal projections and
projections with small angular distortion. The mean angular deformation of the aspect-
adaptive projection is low in comparison with other projections. Figure 7 illustrates that
the aspect-adaptive projection has less angular distortion than most of the other projec-
tions for aspect ratios greater than 0.5. For aspect ratios less than or equal to 0.5, angular
distortion is similar to that of other cylindrical projections.
Figure 8 shows that scale distortion of the aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection is
similar to all projections with a fixed aspect ratio. The stereographic and equirectangular
projection families have lower scale distortion values.
4.2. Evaluation of the Compact Miller projection
When designing the Compact Miller with Flex Projector, the aspect ratio was not initially
predefined. Through a process of continuous graphical improvements aiming to optimize
the balance between aspect ratio and distribution of parallels, the 0.6 aspect ratio resulted
‘naturally’. Larger aspect ratios either disproportionally stretched higher latitudes and
wasted canvas space or stretched mid-latitudes, creating an elongated appearance of
equatorial land masses, such as Africa, that would appear ‘unnatural’to most map
users. The 0.6 aspect ratio is close to the golden ratio (0.618) frequently found in classical
architecture and art. However, research suggests that world maps with a golden aspect
ratio are not innately preferred by map users (Gilmartin 1983).
Figure 5 shows distortion characteristics of the Compact Miller projection with areal
and maximum angular distortion isolines and Tissot indicatrices. The equator is the
standard parallel without areal or angular distortion. Weighted mean error in areal
0.65
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.55
0.45
0.35
0.25
0.15
0.05
0
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
Aspect ratio
Pavlov
Plate Carrée
Tobler II Kavrayskiy I
Urmayev III
Kharchenko-
Shabanova
Miller
Tobler I
Miller
Perspective
Urmayev II
Compact
Miller
Miller II
Canters’
transformed
Lambert
Aspect-adaptive
Equal-area
Equirectangular
Stereographic
Miller’s transformed
Mercator
Figure 8. Weighted mean error in the overall scale distortion Dab for the aspect-adaptive cylind-
rical map projection and other selected cylindrical map projections.
14 B. Jenny et al.
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distortion, mean angular deformation and weighted mean error in the overall scale
distortion indices of the Compact Miller are marked on Figures 6,7and 8.
To evaluate the opinions of the general map users and map-makers regarding the
Compact Miller projection, we asked 355 map users and 93 map projection experts,
cartographers and experienced GIS users to do a pairwise comparison of the Plate Carrée,
Braun Stereographic, Mercator, Miller and Compact Miller projections. This online
survey was part of the larger user study about user preferences for world map projections
(Šavričet al. in press). Participants were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk,
online forums and social networks. Participants were shown all possible 10 pairs created
from the set of 5 projections and asked to select the projection they preferred in each pair.
Details about the user study survey process, recruiting and statistical analysis can be found
in Šavričet al. (in press).
Tab le 4 shows the results for general map users. Of the 355 participants, 52%
preferred the Plate Carrée to the Compact Miller. The Compact Miller was preferred
to the Braun Stereographic by 59% of the participants; 70% preferred the Compact
Miller to the Miller and 86% preferred the Compact Miller to the Mercator. Tabl e 5
shows the results for the map projection experts, cartographers and experienced GIS
users. Of the 93 participants, 58% preferred the Compact Miller to the Plate Carrée, 70%
preferred it to the Braun Stereographic, 83% preferred it to the Miller and 94% preferred
it to the Mercator. The overall test of equality (David 1988) was used to determine
whether any of the map projections had a significantly different preference compared to
Table 4. Pairwise preference of five cylindrical compromise pro-
jections by general map users. The names of the projections are
arranged in both rows and columns according to the total scores.
Each row shows the percentage of participants that have a pre-
ference for the projection in the row to other projections listed in
the column. Compact Miller projection is marked in bold.
12345
1-Plate Carrée 52% 57% 71% 85%
2-Compact Miller 48% 59% 70% 86%
3-Braun Stereographic 43% 41% 75% 87%
4-Miller Cylindrical 29% 30% 25% 87%
5-Mercator 15% 14% 13% 13%
Table 5. Pairwise preference of five cylindrical compromise pro-
jections by projection experts, cartographers and GIS users. The
table has the same ordering and units of measure as Table 4. The
Compact Miller projection is marked in bold.
12345
1-Compact Miller 70% 58% 83% 94%
2-Braun Stereographic 30% 49% 77% 92%
3-Plate Carrée 42% 51% 62% 88%
4-Miller Cylindrical 17% 23% 38% 94%
5-Mercator 6% 8% 12% 6%
International Journal of Geographical Information Science 15
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all other projections. The test showed that differences in preference existed for both
study participants groups: χ2
4;0:01 ¼13:28 and Dn¼928:86 for general map users and
χ2
4;0:01 ¼13:28 and Dn¼328:52 for map projection experts, cartographers and experi-
enced GIS users. To determine which graticules were significantly different in prefer-
ences, a post hoc analysis was performed with the multiple comparison range test
(David 1988). The results, displayed in Figure 9, are arranged with the most preferred
projections on the left. Projections circled individually and not grouped with other
projections were significantly different in preferences.
General map users preferred the Plate Carrée, Compact Miller and Braun
Stereographic projections to the Miller and Mercator projections. There was an almost
even split in preference for the Plate Carrée (52%) and Compact Miller (48%) projections.
Because the total scores of the Plate Carrée and Compact Miller projections were very
close for general map users, we cannot assume that either one of these two projections
was preferred more to the other. Experts most frequently preferred the Compact Miller
projection to the other four projections. Based on the post hoc analysis with a multiple
comparison range test, this preference for the Compact Miller projection is significant
(Figure 9).
5. Conclusions
Our advocacy of cylindrical projections with moderate aspect ratios and less exaggerated
polar areas parallels the famous Peters controversy. In 1973, Peters reintroduced the Gall
projection, an equal-area cylindrical projection with an aspect ratio of 0.636 but flawed by
grossly stretched land masses, as a reactionary response to the perceived ‘Eurocentric’
Mercator projection (Sriskandarajah 2003, Vujakovic 2003). The Gall-Peters projection
was lauded by popular media and found advocates among international organizations
despite objections from respected professional cartographers (e.g. Robinson 1985,1990).
Some cartographic associations, in an attempt to thwart the popularity of the Gall-Peters,
took the extreme position of denouncing all rectangular (i.e. cylindrical) world maps
(American Cartographic Association et al.1989). Neither position won the argument: the
Gall-Peters projection has largely become a historical curiosity, and cylindrical projections
dominate today’s online mapping services. The Mercator projection is ubiquitous once
again. Our call for using cylindrical projections with moderate aspect ratios, less extreme
polar area distortion and recognizable continental shapes is a new attempt at finding
Miller
Cylindrical Mercator
Compact
Miller
Plate
Carrée
Braun
Stereographic
General map users
Compact
Miller
Plate
Carrée
Braun
Stereographic
Miller
Cylindrical Mercator
Projection experts, cartographers and GIS users
Figure 9. Significant differences in the preferences between the projections in paired comparison
test for each participants group. Projections are arranged with the most preferred on the left.
Projections circled individually and not grouped with other projections were significantly different
in preferences.
16 B. Jenny et al.
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acceptable alternatives to the Mercator projection for world maps. Sociopolitical concerns
about the exaggerated size of industrialized countries in the ‘north’compared to devel-
oping tropical countries are a valid argument against using cylindrical world maps with
high aspect ratios. Because many other projections show the entire world with consider-
ably less distortion, cylindrical projections should only be used with compelling reason-
ing. If using compromise cylindrical projections, we recommend avoiding those with
aspect ratios less than 0.55 or more than 0.7. If possible, we recommend using the
Compact Miller projection with an aspect ratio of 0.6 or one of its close neighbours of
the aspect-adaptive cylindrical family with a similar aspect ratio. We believe these
projections achieve an acceptable compromise between distortion properties and visual
appearance, and the Compact Miller was well received by both general map users and
experts in map projections, cartography and GIS.
The aspect-adaptive cylindrical projection family extends the adaptive composite map
projection framework by Jenny (2012), which automatically selects projections based on
the geographic extent of a map. Adjusting projections to the aspect ratio of maps could be
extended in future research to include aspect-adaptive pseudocylindrical projections or
world map projections with curved parallels. We hope to see aspect-adaptive projections
of various types being used on websites with responsive design and within GIS software.
Acknowledgements
The support of Esri is greatly acknowledged, including valuable discussions with David Burrows,
Scott Morehouse, Dawn Wright and others. The authors also thank Brooke E. Marston, Oregon
State University, for editing the text of this article, and Christine M. Escher and Eugene Zhang, both
from Oregon State University, for their help in finding polynomial equations. The authors also thank
the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.
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