It’s the end of the Gregorian year, a time to reflect on New Year’s resolutions. My resolution was to finish the fantasy map generator I’m working on. Instead I accidentally made three new map projections.
It’s well known that every world map is inaccurate, to one degree or another. The amount of distortion it introduces to the geographic features on it depends on the specific map projection used. Hundreds of map projections have been invented over the last two thousand years, but many commentators, including myself, remain dissatisfied with the current selection.
It was this that drove me to create the Elastic projections: the most accurate world maps of all time!* By using an arbitrarily large table of numbers to define each projection rather than simple mathematical formulas, the Elastic projections are able to control their distortion with precision hitherto unseen, yielding organic shapes that bend around the coastlines to highlight – and sometimes even magnify – the parts of the map deemed most important. They are a new and improved version of the Danseiji projections I wrote of four years ago. While the core concepts involved are all the same as what I had then, these new projections solve several outstanding issues I had with the Danseiji projections.
I’ll start by walking you through each Elastic projection, what its goals are, and how well it achieves them. Then I’ll talk about how to use these projections, or how to create new ones like them if you’re interested. After that, I’ll explain how they’re different from the Danseiji projections, and then I’ll wrap up. So without further delay, let’s look at the new maps!