How are equal-area projections of Earth inaccurate?(1 point)

Question

Responses

There are distortions near the center of the map.
There are distortions near the center of the map.

Directions and the shapes of the landmasses are distorted.
Directions and the shapes of the landmasses are distorted.

Areas close to the poles are disproportionately large.
Areas close to the poles are disproportionately large.
Skip to navigation

Answer 1

Equal-area projections preserve the relative sizes of areas on the map, but they can still be inaccurate in other ways. The most common inaccuracies in equal-area projections are:

1. Directions and the shapes of the landmasses are distorted. This means that while the area representation is accurate, the shapes of continents and countries can appear skewed or stretched.

2. Areas close to the poles are disproportionately large. This is especially true in projections like the Peters projection, where landmasses such as Greenland appear much larger than they are relative to landmasses near the equator.

Overall, equal-area projections prioritize area fidelity, which can lead to distortions in shape and direction.

Based on the context, the best response to highlight the inaccuracies is:

"Directions and the shapes of the landmasses are distorted."