In this article, the topic of Albers projection will be addressed from a multidisciplinary approach, with the purpose of providing a broad and complete vision of this topic. Different perspectives and recent studies will be analyzed to offer the reader a deep and up-to-date understanding of Albers projection. In addition, possible implications and practical applications of this topic in various areas will be explored, in order to highlight its relevance in contemporary society. Through this article, we seek to generate reflection and debate around Albers projection, thus contributing to the enrichment of knowledge and the promotion of critical thinking.
The Albers equal-area conic projection, or Albers projection (named after Heinrich C. Albers), is a conic, equal area map projection that uses two standard parallels. Although scale and shape are not preserved, distortion is minimal between the standard parallels.
The Albers projection is used by some big countries as "official standard projection" for Census and other applications.
Country | Agency |
---|---|
Brazil | federal government, through IBGE, for Census Statistical Grid |
Canada | government of British Columbia |
Canada | government of the Yukon (sole governmental projection) |
US | United States Geological Survey |
US | United States Census Bureau |
Some "official products" also adopted Albers projection, for example most of the maps in the National Atlas of the United States.
Snyder describes generating formulae for the projection, as well as the projection's characteristics. Coordinates from a spherical datum can be transformed into Albers equal-area conic projection coordinates with the following formulas, where is the radius, is the longitude, the reference longitude, the latitude, the reference latitude and and the standard parallels:
where
If just one of the two standard parallels of the Albers projection is placed on a pole, the result is the Lambert equal-area conic projection.