Derrick Burke

Lab 2

Geography 370

8/10

1. List the buttons in the Data Frame Properties Coordinate System window. Give a short description of the function of each button.

  1. Clear – removes the coordinate system that the data frame is currently using setting it to no projection.
  2. Transformations- used when the data frame has layers to switch from Projected to geographic.(can convert to different coordinate systems)
  3. Modify – allows you to edit any of the parameters of the data frames’ current coordinate system.(can change the name, semimajor axix, opt for inverse flattening, alter angular units)
  4. Import – lets you specify the coordinate system by importing a coordinate system from an external source.
  5. New – allows you to define a new coordinate system for this data frame.
  6. Add to favorites

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2. Has the shape and appearance of the United States changed? If so, how?

Changed from GCS North American to USA Albers Equal Area Conic; from planner to conic; GCS preserved the shape; Albers preserves the area

-1

Yes, the projection has shrunken with the states now being depicted relative to the size they are.

3. List the names and values of the parameters that appear in the Coordinate System tab in Data Frame Properties window for this coordinate system

Projection: Albers

False Easting: 0.000000

False Northing: 0.000000

Central Meridian: -96.000000

Standard_Parallel_1: 29.500000

Standard_Parallel_2: 45.500000

Latitude_Of_Origin: 37.500000

4. Given the appearance of the data now, do you feel that the Albers Equal Area Projection is appropriate for viewing the entire world? Attach and describe the current view.

The Albers equal area conic projection is not appropriate for viewing the entire world, but more appropriate for viewing countries about the size of the United States. The current view shows, those continents such as South America and Africa are heavily distorted when projected in this manner. Shapes and sizes are not relative to what they are supposed to be. Only maintains correct land area, not shape, because an equivalent area map.

5. Describe and attach the current ArcMap window.

Below are 4 exact data frames of the world, portrayed in an Albers equal area projection.

6. Describe the difference between the four Data Frames: three projected and one unprojected.

The Mercator projection greatly distorts the size of the individual continents as Antarctica is considerably larger than all of the other countries, while Greenland is roughly the size of Africa which is also unrealistic. The GCS North American 1983 projection is closely related to the Robinson projection, only the GCS projection compromises distances but the relative shape of the countries are highly accurate. The Sinusoidal projection shows the relative size of countries more accurately than the other projections, however the shape of the countries are more distorted. The Robinson projection displays the world the best by not making large compromises. The image is shown below.

Robinson: not a conformal or equivalent projection; average between two or more similar projections which causes the amplitude of distortion across the map not to fluctuate as much as with other projections.

Sinusoidal: presents an accurate representation of area/distance at every parallel and the central meridian

Mercator: preserves shape

GCS: simply stretched across the screen from right to left

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FINAL MAP