Map Projections Overview and How They Distort the Earth

Overview of many different types of map projections, how they came to be, and what each one may be used for. I discuss the general characteristics as well as looking at specific projections to determine which ones are the best and worst.

Website to compare sizes of countries and states:

Album displayed:
Robert Cray - "Strong Persuader" (1986)

[tullyparker]

I love that your videos are interesting enough in themselves that you don't need super fancy background music, transitions, intros, etc. Your content is just so good.

[dtps_champion]

The reason your videos are good is because you are passionate about what you do. I originally found this channel after I was quite sick a few months ago. I'm normally a joyful and engaged person but after my illness I experienced relatively severe anhedonia, which is the inability to enjoy things. I listened to your channel when I was commuting for work and just hearing someone talk about something they really enjoy helped me claw my way out of that. It was a really odd experience but I just wanted to let you know about what happened since I thought you might find it interesting, as it is a bit of a different way that your channel helped someone out. Keep doing what you're doing.

[lukavidanovic]

Dude I absolutely love all your videos, particularly your videos about US geography are very interesting to me as I live in Switzerland. You've been one of my favorite content creators for a while now, keep up the good work :)

[ELMS]

Hey! 200+K. Congratulations! Well deserved, Kyle!

[rymcmanus]

I'd like to point out that technically speaking there is no such thing as "an entire Mercator projection", as you mention at 3:34. This is because- as you move closer to the poles- things become increasingly stretched by a factor that approaches infinity, which means an infinitely high map in the absence of some cutoff.

My favorite one is the equirectangular projection.

[tsurdyk]

I've had a wall map in my house for the past 30+ years, and my kids grew up with a large map always on the wall in the breakfast area. Most days, someone was looking at the map for some reason. The past 10yrs, it's been a Winkel Tripel projection, which was the best large map I could get at the time; I've yet to find a better map for general use.

My undergrad Intro to Geography class used the Goode's atlas as one of the texts, so the Goode Homolosine is pretty familiar to me. The Armadillo projection does indeed leave a few things out: New Zealand, Antarctica, the South Pacific islands, and Southern Chile/Argentina.

[michaelj]

You really do a fantastic job. It super fun when you're just candid and honest about your opinion. Always worth the watch.

[ChippewaValleyUrbanist]

Thank you for mentioning the practical uses of the Mercator projection when it comes to navigation. Some people seem to treat it as if it was intentionally created to fool people. That said, I much prefer the Robinson projection when it comes to teaching and studying geography.

[Parborway]

"Equirectangular Doesn't have any practical uses" My heart literally. It has ALL the practical uses. 1 degree= 1 (insert unit for size of map). I use it for everything. As a bonus, it also doesn't look half bad.

[timmmahhhh]

I had to relisten at 3:29 to be sure you said comical versus conical. 😁
11:24 and one nice thing about this project and is that it doesn't leave anything off the map.
New Zealand: ummm...

Thanks for walking through those Kyle enjoyed them very much! Love the Robert Cray album too.

[janetmavie]

I don't even need to go through my textbook. This is more informative and interesting. Thank you!

[erynpimentel]

Should be required knowledge for everyone! So many people do not understand the basic concept of projections and how maps lie without this context.

[butler-macdonald]

As a GIS tech turned Engineer tech, I had to learn this in college three times lol

You know your stuff, Kyle. Great video. Cheers

[t.vanoosterhout]

More nerdery please!, solid content made by a man who does not underestimate his audience.

[chrisng]

Equirectangular is my favourite because it's so easy to deal with, lines of Lat and Lon are just displayed as-is, and it doesn't look too egregious

[tompolak]

Thank you! I've been looking for a good video explaining different map projections thoroughly and you did a great job!

[johnalan]

The armidillo map "Doesn't leave anything off the map"

New Zealand, "Do I even exist?"

[roberts.]

I like the nod to Robert Cray's "Strong Persuader" there in the background.

[SwanShadow]

This was a really fascinating video, Kyle. Thanks for all the research, and an excellent presentation!

[anix]

I'm a bit of a fan of the Waterman Butterfly Projection, myself, but I get that it's not the most aesthetically pleasing map. Fun video, no matter how you slice it.