Flattening the Globe

The Commission on Map Projections was founded just two years ago within the International Cartographic Association (ICA). As the first international organisation dedicated to small-scale geographic map projections, it may be surprising such a body took so long to come together. Yet that it happened at all is also surprising in some ways. Though a fundamental element of maps, map projections generally command little attention even in cartographic circles, much less among the public at large. Historically, those researching map projections have tended to work alone, mainly because there are so few of them. Everything a practising cartographer really needs to know about map projections can generally be condensed into a few pages in a textbook, so it would be fair to ask whether the topic merits a dedicated body.

On the other hand, despite the ready availability of basic projection knowledge we find projections rampantly misused. The field has weathered political controversies. Rapid advances in computing power have opened up new projection techniques and better practical ability to analyse projections. As surveys of celestial bodies increase in number and detail, projection techniques suited to less-regular bodies become crucial. Along with these challenges come more efficient vehicles of communication that allow researchers to seek each other out, disseminate their knowledge and collaborate to solve the old and new problems of mapping and education about map projections.

Several organisations concerned with large-scale projections already exist for geodesists. This commission complements those efforts by concentrating on small-scale projections more relevant to cartographers. We propose to consolidate and co-ordinate, advance and disseminate knowledge of small-scale map projections amongst map-projection researchers, professional and occasional cartographers and the public at large.

Our first projects, designed to support further endeavours, are to:

• build a glossary of terminology relevant to map projections and their research
  
• recommend names for map projections
  
• update and expand a bibliography of map-projection research
  
• build a website to disseminate the products of the commission.

Because these projects are collaborative and our membership is distributed all over the world, we have chosen to use an internet collaboration tool called a ‘wiki’ to collect, edit, and annotate material. We will then publicise it in some final form; an example of a vastly larger (and more chaotic!) wiki project is the well-known Wikipedia found at www.wikipedia.org. Any member is invited to help develop the content. The Geography Department at University of California at Santa Barbara currently hosts our website and wiki site. While we as yet have no substantial content posted publicly, our website can be seen at www.csiss.org/map-projections/.