21 Map Projections And Spherical Trignometry (Space)
Description
This article is from the Space FAQ, by Jon Leech leech@cs.unc.edu and Mark Bradford tla@surly.org with numerous contributions by others.
21 Map Projections And Spherical Trignometry (Space)
Source code for cartographic projections may be found in
ftp://charon.er.usgs.gov/pub/PROJ.4/
Two easy-to-find sources of map projections are the "Encyclopaedia
Britannica", (particularly the older editions) and a tutorial appearing
in "Graphics Gems" (Academic Press, 1990). The latter was written with
simplicity of exposition and suitability for digital computation in mind
(spherical trig formulae also appear, as do digitally-plotted examples).
More than you ever cared to know about map projections is in John
Snyder's USGS publication "Map Projections--A Working Manual", USGS
Professional Paper 1395. This contains detailed descriptions of 32
projections, with history, features, projection formulas (for both
spherical earth and ellipsoidal earth), and numerical test cases. It's a
neat book, all 382 pages worth. This one's $20.
You might also want the companion volume, by Snyder and Philip Voxland,
"An Album of Map Projections", USGS Professional Paper 1453. This
contains less detail on about 130 projections and variants. Formulas are
in the back, example plots in the front. $14, 250 pages.
You can order these 2 ways. The cheap, slow way is direct from USGS:
Earth Science Information Center, US Geological Survey, 507 National
Center, Reston, VA 22092. (800)-USA-MAPS. They can quote you a price and
tell you where to send your money. Expect a 6-8 week turnaround time.
A much faster way (about 1 week) is through Timely Discount Topos,
(303)-469-5022, 9769 W. 119th Drive, Suite 9, Broomfield, CO 80021. Call
them and tell them what you want. They'll quote a price, you send a
check, and then they go to USGS Customer Service Counter and pick it up
for you. Add about a $3-4 service charge, plus shipping.
A (perhaps more accessible) mapping article is:
R. Miller and F. Reddy, "Mapping the World in Pascal",
Byte V12 #14, December 1987
Contains Turbo Pascal procedures for five common map projections. A
demo program, CARTOG.PAS, and a small (6,000 point) coastline data
is available on CompuServe, GEnie, and many BBSs.
Some references for spherical trignometry are:
"Spherical Astronomy", W.M. Smart, Cambridge U. Press, 1931.
"A Compendium of Spherical Astronomy", S. Newcomb, Dover, 1960.
"Spherical Astronomy", R.M. Green, Cambridge U. Press., 1985 (update
of Smart).
"Spherical Astronomy", E Woolard and G.Clemence, Academic
Press, 1966.
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