conic projection

conic projection or conical projection n. A method of projecting maps of parts of the earth's spherical surface on a surrounding cone, which is then flattened to a plane surface having concentric circles as parallels of latitude and radiating lines from the apex as meridians.

conic projection

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conic projection  (knk) A map projection in which the surface features of a globe are depicted as if projected onto a cone typically positioned so as to rest on the globe along a parallel (a line of equal latitude). In flattened form a conic projection produces a roughly semicircular map with the area below the apex of the cone at its center. When the central point is either of Earth's poles, parallels appear as concentric arcs and meridians as straight lines radiating from the center. Distances along the meridians remain true to scale, while the distortion along the parallels is progressively greater moving away from the parallel on which the cone is assumed to rest. Conic projections centered over a pole are often used in regional or national maps of temperate zones, where the distortion in the middle latitudes (the resting point of the cone) is minimal. Compare azimuthal projectioncylindrical projection

conic projection

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

conic projection - a map projection of the globe onto a cone with its point over one of the earth's poles conical projection map projection - a projection of the globe onto a flat map using a grid of lines of latitude and longitude polyconic projection - a conic projection of a map having distances between meridians equal to those distances on a globe