Many books, textbooks and papers have been published in which the classification of map projections is based on auxiliary (developable) surfaces and projections are divided into conic, cylindrical and azimuthal projections. We argue that such a classification of map projections is unacceptable and give many reasons for that. Many authors wrote in more detail about the classification of map projections, and our intention is to give a new refined and rectified insight into the classification of map projections. Our approach can be included in map projection publications of general and thematic cartography. Doing this, misconceptions and unnecessary insistence on conceptuality instead of reality will be avoided.

This paper explains that the terms “horizontal and vertical scales” are not appropriate in map projections theory. Instead, the authors suggest using the term “scales in the direction of coordinate axes.” Since it is not possible to read a local linear scale factor in the direction of a coordinate axis immediately from the definition of a local linear scale factor, this paper considers the derivation of new formulae that enable local linear scale factors in the direction of coordinate x and y axes to be calculated. The formula for computing the local linear scale factor in any direction defined by dx and dy is also derived. Furthermore, the position and magnitude of the extreme values of the local linear scale factor are considered and new formulas derived.

The Web Mercator projection is a projection of a relatively recent date. There has been a lot of controversy about its application. Some believe that this projection is not a projection of either the sphere or the surface of the ellipsoid. Therefore, in this paper, several projections of the surface of a rotational ellipsoid into a plane are investigated and it is shown that the Web Mercator projection is one of such projections. Namely, although the equations of this projection are identical to the equations for the projection of the sphere, the basic difference is in the choice of the area of definition, i.e., the domain of the projection. Furthermore, we have shown that the Web Mercator projection can also be interpreted as double mapping: mapping an ellipsoid to a sphere according to the normals and then mapping the sphere to the plane according to the formulas of the Mercator projection for the sphere. The Web Mercator projection is not a conformal projection, but it is close in properties to the Mercator projection.

INDEXING OF MAPING SCIENCE JOURNALS

The paper is a review on map projections. The introductory part gives the definition of map projections, their classification, and describes the basic problem, which is the impossibility of mapping a spherical or ellipsoidal surface into a plane without distortion. The following chapter presents the historical development of map projections, from their beginnings more than 2,500 years ago to the present day. The following is a description of the development and application of map projections in Croatia. In particular, official map projections in Croatia and map projections in Croatian education are investigated.