Development of a Multi-Projection Approach for Global Web Map Visualization

The popularity of web mapping services such as Google and Bing Maps is growing. However, professional users experience several limitations while using these on-line mapping services. The first problem is the limited global coverage. The coverage ends at latitude of 85° north and south. The second problem is the systematic distortion that increases with latitude. For example, in Google Maps Greenland appears to be larger than South America, whereas in reality Greenland is 8 times smaller. The third problem is the lack of mathematical rigour for the cartographic projections because the Earth is treated as a sphere instead of an ellipsoid. Thus, a better web mapping system is needed for professional users and users interested in polar regions. This thesis presents a multi-projection approach for global web map visualization. The multi-projection approach minimizes the cartographic distortions by using different projections across the globe and for ranges of mapping detail levels.