Map Projection Explorer

Explore the world in different map projections

Azimuthal Equal Area

Projection Type:

Azimuthal

In standard presentation, azimuthal projections map meridians as straight lines and parallels as complete, concentric circles. They are radially symmetrical. In any presentation (or aspect), they preserve directions from the center point. This means great circles through the central point are represented by straight lines on the map.

Projection Property:

Equal-area

Area measure is conserved everywhere.

Stefan Reifenberg

What's new

  1. Two-city alignment and smooth dragging

    • Enter a second city and the globe rotates so the great circle between the two lies on the projection’s true-scale line. On Mercator this gives you an oblique Mercator; it works on every rotatable projection.
    • The route is drawn on the map with its great-circle distance and is included in the SVG download.
    • Dragging now runs at 60 fps. The map shows a lighter outline while you drag and snaps back to full detail when you let go.
    • The world data is six times smaller, so the page loads faster.

  2. Gingery lobes and faster rotation

    • The Gingery projection has a slider for its number of lobes.
    • Rotation recalculates less work per frame.

  3. SVG download

    • Download the current view as an SVG file with the download button.

  4. Area error color ramp

    • Toggle "Show Area Error" to color each country by how much the projection inflates or shrinks it, with a legend.

  5. Dark mode, mobile layout and Tissot

    • Dark mode, remembered between visits.
    • A layout that works on phones, including dragging.
    • Tissot’s indicatrix overlay to visualize distortion.

  6. Rotate, search and recenter

    • Drag any rotatable projection to spin the globe.
    • Search for a city to center the map on it.
    • Click anywhere on the map to recenter there.