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Selecting a Map Projection

You can view maps with several different geographic projections. Depending on the type of projection, you can change certain projection parameters.

To change the map projection:

  1. Choose Map > Projection
  2. Select the drop-down menu and choose a projection
  3. Change the projection parameters as desired
  4. Click OK

Note: Another way to access projections is to right-click with the mouse on the date in the legend. A contextual menu will appear; choose Projection.

Definitions of Map Projections:

Polar Stereographic - the Earth is projected geometrically onto a surface from a fixed point on the opposite face of the Earth.

Albers Conic Ellipse - features on a ellipse are projected onto a cone.

Albers Conic Sphere - features on a sphere are projected onto a cone. The area of a map section has the same area as the corresponding part of the Earth, at the same reduced scale.

Flat Earth - latitude and longitude lines are spaced at right angles to each other and are equidistant from each other.

Lambert Conformal - features on a sphere are projected onto a cone, when at any point the scale is the same in every direction.

Mercator - widely used as a navigation map, it is drawn as it would appear if projected on a cylinder wrapped around the earth.

Orthographic - the Earth is projected geometrically onto a surface as if seen from space.