- Distortions near the center of the map: Equal-area projections, such as the Mollweide or Eckert IV projections, often have distortions near the central meridian or the central parallel. This means that the shapes and angles of landmasses near the center may be distorted or stretched.
- Directions and shapes of landmasses are distorted: Equal-area projections sacrifice the preservation of shapes and angles in favor of accurately representing areas. Consequently, the shapes of countries, continents, and other features might be altered or appear skewed on these maps.
- Sizes are not shown accurately: While equal-area projections maintain the relative size relationships between different areas, they do not show true sizes. This means that when comparing landmasses or regions, the proportional scale might be accurate, but the actual size might differ from reality.
- Disproportionate size near the poles: Equal-area projections tend to exaggerate the size of regions near the poles while compressing the areas nearer to the equator. This is because the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid cannot be accurately represented on a flat plane without some form of distortion.
It is worth noting that the degree of distortion varies depending on the specific equal-area projection used, as different projections have different trade-offs in preserving different map features.
How are equal-area projections of Earth inaccurate?
There are distortions near the center of the map.
Directions and the shapes of the landmasses are distorted.
This projection does not show true sizes.
Areas close to the poles are disproportionately large.
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