Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices
This study compares the performance of five popular equal-area projections supported by Free and Open Source Software for Geo-spatial (FOSS4G)—Sinusoidal, Mollweide, Hammer, Eckert IV and Homolosine. A set of 21,872 discrete distortion vindicatrices were positioned on the ellipsoid surface...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-08-01
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| Series: | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/8/351 |
| _version_ | 1811287920495034368 |
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| author | Luís Moreira de Sousa Laura Poggio Bas Kempen |
| author_facet | Luís Moreira de Sousa Laura Poggio Bas Kempen |
| author_sort | Luís Moreira de Sousa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study compares the performance of five popular equal-area projections supported by Free and Open Source Software for Geo-spatial (FOSS4G)—Sinusoidal, Mollweide, Hammer, Eckert IV and Homolosine. A set of 21,872 discrete distortion vindicatrices were positioned on the ellipsoid surface, centred on the cells of a Snyder icosahedral equal-area grid. These indicatrices were projected on the plane and the resulting angular and distance distortions computed, all using FOSS4G. The Homolosine is the only projection that manages to minimise angular and distance distortions simultaneously. It yields the lowest distortions among this set of projections and clearly outclasses when only land masses are considered. These results also indicate the Sinusoidal and Hammer projections to be largely outdated, imposing too large distortions to be useful. In contrast, the Mollweide and Eckert IV projections present trade-offs between visual expression and accuracy that are worth considering. However, for the purposes of storing and analysing big spatial data with FOSS4G the superior performance of the Homolosine projection makes its choice difficult to avoid. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:26:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-35d3854afbd24a1ab96804b841c3654a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2220-9964 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:26:58Z |
| publishDate | 2019-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-35d3854afbd24a1ab96804b841c3654a2022-12-22T03:04:37ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642019-08-018835110.3390/ijgi8080351ijgi8080351Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion IndicatricesLuís Moreira de Sousa0Laura Poggio1Bas Kempen2ISRIC—World Soil Information, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Building 101, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsISRIC—World Soil Information, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Building 101, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsISRIC—World Soil Information, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Building 101, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsThis study compares the performance of five popular equal-area projections supported by Free and Open Source Software for Geo-spatial (FOSS4G)—Sinusoidal, Mollweide, Hammer, Eckert IV and Homolosine. A set of 21,872 discrete distortion vindicatrices were positioned on the ellipsoid surface, centred on the cells of a Snyder icosahedral equal-area grid. These indicatrices were projected on the plane and the resulting angular and distance distortions computed, all using FOSS4G. The Homolosine is the only projection that manages to minimise angular and distance distortions simultaneously. It yields the lowest distortions among this set of projections and clearly outclasses when only land masses are considered. These results also indicate the Sinusoidal and Hammer projections to be largely outdated, imposing too large distortions to be useful. In contrast, the Mollweide and Eckert IV projections present trade-offs between visual expression and accuracy that are worth considering. However, for the purposes of storing and analysing big spatial data with FOSS4G the superior performance of the Homolosine projection makes its choice difficult to avoid.https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/8/351FOSS4Gequal-area projectionHomolosineEckertIVMollweideHammerSinusoidalDiscrete Global Grid |
| spellingShingle | Luís Moreira de Sousa Laura Poggio Bas Kempen Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information FOSS4G equal-area projection Homolosine EckertIV Mollweide Hammer Sinusoidal Discrete Global Grid |
| title | Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices |
| title_full | Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices |
| title_short | Comparison of FOSS4G Supported Equal-Area Projections Using Discrete Distortion Indicatrices |
| title_sort | comparison of foss4g supported equal area projections using discrete distortion indicatrices |
| topic | FOSS4G equal-area projection Homolosine EckertIV Mollweide Hammer Sinusoidal Discrete Global Grid |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/8/351 |
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