Ernest Ravenstein, Charles Close and Alexander Clarke

“ Measurement of Distance.—The shortest distance between two places on the surface of a globe is represented by the arc of a great circle. If the two places are upon the same meridian or upon the equator the exact distance separating them is to be found by reference to a table giving the lengths of arcs of a meridian and of the equator. In all other cases recourse must be had to a map, a globe or mathematical formula. Measurements made on a topographical map yield the most satisfactory results. Even a general map may be trusted, as long as we keep within ten degrees of its centre. ”

“ General Theory of Zenithal Projections.—For the sake of simplicity it will be at first assumed that the pole is the centre of the map, and that the earth is a sphere. According to what has been said above, the meridians are now straight lines diverging from the pole, dividing the 360° into equal angles; and the parallels are represented by circles having the pole as centre, the radius of the parallel whose co-latitude is z being ρ, a certain function of z. The particular function selected determines the nature of the projection. ”

“ The scale of that map, as determined by the equator or centre meridian, we will suppose to be 1:125,000,000, while the encircling meridian indicates a scale of 1:80,000,000; and a “mean” scale, equal to the square root of the proportion which the area of the map bears to the actual area of a hemisphere, is 1:112,000,000. In adopting a scale for their maps, cartographers will do well to choose a multiple of 1000 if possible, for such a scale can claim to be international, while in planning an atlas they ought to avoid a needless multiplicity of scales. ”

“ Scientific geography profited largely from the labours of Eratosthenes of Cyrene, whom Ptolemy Euergetes appointed keeper of the famous library of Alexandria in 247 B.C., and died in that city in 195 B.C. He won fame as having been the first to determine the size of the earth by a scientific method. Having determined the difference of latitude between Alexandria and Syene which he erroneously believed to lie on the same meridian, and obtained the distance of those places from each other from the surveys made by Egyptian geometers, he concluded that a degree of the meridian measured 700 stadia. ”

“ The construction of a map virtually resolves itself into the drawing of two sets of lines, one set to represent meridians, the other to represent parallels. These being drawn, the filling in of the outlines of countries presents no difficulty. The first and most natural idea that occurs to one as to the manner of drawing the circles of latitude and longitude is to draw them according to the laws of perspective. Perhaps the next idea which would occur would be to derive the meridians and parallels in some other simple geometrical way. ”

“ The globe itself rotates within a metallic meridian to which its axis is attached. Other accessories are an hour-circle, around the north pole, a compass placed beneath the globe, and a flexible quadrant used for finding the distances between places. These accessories are indispensable if it be proposed to solve the problems usually propounded in books on the “use of the globes,” but can be dispensed with if the globe is to serve only as a map of the world. The size of a globe is usually given in terms of its diameter. To find its scale divide the mean diameter of the earth (1,273,500 m.) ”

“ If A is the azimuth of this point at the centre, tan A = sin α cot φ. On paper a line from the centre is drawn at an azimuth A, and the distance θ is represented by 2 sin 1/2θ. This makes a very good projection for a single-sheet equal-area map of Africa. The exaggeration in such systems, it is important to remember, whether of linear scale, area, or angle, is the same for a given distance from the centre, whatever be the azimuth; that is, the exaggeration is a function of the distance from the centre only. ”

“ For instance, a series of projections may be constructed for zones, each having a range of 10° of latitude, from the equator to the pole. Treating the earth as a sphere and using the above formulae, the series will possess the following properties: the meridians will all be true to scale, the area of each zone will be correct, the scale errors of the limiting parallels will all be the same, so that the length of the upper parallel of any zone will be equal to that of the lower parallel of the zone above it. ”

“ The resulting projection is accurate near the central meridian, but as this is departed from the parallels increasingly separate from each other, and the parallels and meridians (except along the equator) intersect at angles which increasingly differ from a right angle. The real merit of the projection is that each particular parallel has for every map the same absolute radius, and it is thus easy to construct tables which shall be of universal use. This is especially valuable for the projection of single sheets on comparatively large scales. ”

“ But though one cannot fulfil all the requirements of the case, we may fulfil some by sacrificing others; we may, for instance, have in the representation exact similarity to all very small portions of the original, but at the expense of the areas, which will be quite misrepresented. Or we may retain equality of areas if we give up the idea of similarity. It is therefore usual, excepting in special cases, to steer a middle course, and, by making compromises, endeavour to obtain a representation which shall not involve large errors of scale. ”

“ The introduction of the projection is due to the fact that for navigation it is very desirable to possess charts which shall give correct local outlines (i.e. in modern phraseology shall be orthomorphic) and shall at the same time show as a straight line any line which cuts the meridians at a constant angle. The latter condition clearly necessitates parallel meridians, and the former a continuous increase of scale as the equator is departed from, i.e. the scale at any point must be equal to the scale at the equator × sec. latitude. ”

“ The projection has the property of equal areas, since each small element bounded by two infinitely close parallels is equal in length and width to the corresponding element on the sphere or spheroid. Also all the meridians cross the chosen parallel (but no other) at right angles, since in the immediate neighbourhood of that parallel the projection is identical with the simple conical projection. Where an equal-area projection is required for a country having no great extent in longitude, such as France, Scotland or Madagascar, this projection is a good one to select. ”

“ We have seen that the stereographic projection of any circle of the sphere is itself a circle. But in the case in which the circle to be projected passes through V, the projection becomes, for a great circle, a line through the centre of the sphere ”

“ Of great value for cartographical work is a careful survey, carried out by American engineers (1897–1898) , for a continental railway running along the west coast from Mexico to Chile. In South America, in proportion to the area of the country, only few surveys of a thoroughly scientific nature have been made, and it is therefore satisfactory that the service géographique of the French army should be publishing, since 1900, a map of the entire continent on a scale of 1 : 1,000,000. ”

“ The oldest rectangular map of the world is contained in a most valuable work written by Cosmas, an Alexandrian monk, surnamed Indicopleustes, after returning from a voyage to India (535 A.D.) , and entitled Christian Topography. According to Cosmas (fig. 6) the inhabited earth has the shape of an oblong rectangle surrounded by an ocean which breaks in in four great gulfs—the Roman or Mediterranean, the Arabian, Persian and Caspian Sea. Beyond this ocean lies another world, which was occupied by man before the Deluge, and within which Cosmas placed the Terrestrial Paradise. ”

“ If the surface of the map is everywhere equally valuable it is clear that an arrangement by which errors of scale are larger towards the pole than towards the equator is unsound, and it is to be noted that in the case quoted the great bulk of the land is in the north of the map. ”

“ The distortion of the countries represented would thus increase with the distance, north and south, from this central parallel. The number of places whose position had been determined by astronomical observation was as yet very small, and the map had thus to be compiled mainly from itineraries furnished by travellers or the dead reckoning of seamen. The errors due to an exaggeration of distances were still further increased on account of his assuming a degree to be equal to 500 stadia, as determined by Posidonius, instead of accepting the 700 stadia of Eratosthenes. ”

“ The shell thus formed is then cut along the line of the intended equator into two hemispheres, they are then again glued together and made to revolve round an axis the ends of which passed through the poles and entered a metal meridian circle. The sphere is then coated with plaster or whiting, and when it has been smoothed on a lathe and dried, the lines representing meridians and parallels are drawn upon it. Finally the globe is covered with the paper gores upon which the map is drawn. The adaption of these gores to the curvature of the sphere calls for great care. ”

“ When dealing with maps not drawn on an equal area projection we substitute quadrilaterals bounded by meridians and parallels, the areas for which are given in the “Smithsonian Geographical Tables” (1894) , in Professor H. Wagner’s tables in the geographical Jahrbuch, or similar works.
It is obvious that the area of a group of mountains projected on a horizontal plane, such as is presented by a map, must differ widely from the area of the superficies or physical surface of those mountains exposed to the air. Thus, a slope of 45° having a surface of 100 sq. m. ”

“ The correct relations in the length of degrees of latitude and longitude are maintained in the first case along the latitude of Thule and the equator, in the second along the parallel of Agisymba, the equator and the parallels of Meroe, Syene and Thule. Following Hipparchus he divided the equator into 360° drawing his prime meridian through the Fortunate Islands (Canaries) . The 26 special maps are drawn on a rectangular projection. As a map compiler Ptolemy does not take a high rank. ”

“ When h is very small, the angles between the meridian lines in the representation are very small; and proceeding to the limit, when h is zero the meridians are parallel—that is, the vertex of the cone has removed to infinity. And at the limit when h is zero we have r = a loge cot 1/2z, which is the characteristic equation of Mercator’s projection. ”

“ Ordnance maps of the United Kingdom are plotted, a meridian being chosen for a group of counties. It is also used for the 1-in., 1/2 in. and 1/4 in. Ordnance maps of England, the central meridian chosen being that which passes through a point in Delamere Forest in Cheshire. This projection should not as a rule be used for topographical maps, but is suitable for cadastral plans on account of the convenience of plotting the rectangular co-ordinates of the very numerous trigonometrical or traverse points required in the construction of such plans. ”

“ In Norway a geographical survey (Opmaaling) has been in progress since 1783, but the topographical map of the kingdom on a scale of 1:100,000 in 340 sheets, has not yet been completed.
Of Russia in Europe only the more densely peopled governments have been surveyed, since 1816, in the manner of other European countries, while for most regions there are only so-called “military surveys.” The most readily available map of the whole country is the 10-verst Russia. ”

“ The term “gnomonic” was applied to this projection because the projection of the meridians is a similar problem to that of the graduation of a sun-dial. It is, however, better to use the term “central,” which explains itself. The central projection is useful for the study of direct routes by sea and land. The United States Hydrographic Department has published some charts on this projection. False notions of the direction of shortest lines, which are engendered by a study of maps on Mercator’s projection, may be corrected by an inspection of maps drawn on the central projection. ”