Sinusoidal projection

The Sinusoidal projection is an equal-area world map projection that has straight, horizontal parallels spaced equally at their true distances. The central meridian is straight, and the others are curves that derive from a true division of each parallel. At one time this grid was called the "Sanson-Flamsteed" projection in honor of Nicholas Sanson, the French cartographer, and Flamsteed, the English astronomer, however the name was abandoned when it was discovered that Mercator and others had used this projection at an earlier date.

The best uses for this projection are mapping Africa or South America, since the distortion is least in these areas.

Sinusoidal world map projection

More Information

• Cylindrical Projections
• The Nomenclature and Classification of Map Projections Empire Survey Review No. 51, Vol VII January 1944 Pages 190-200 ; L.P. Lee, Lands Survey Department, Wellington, N.Z.
• Matching the Map Projection to the Need
• List of ESRI-supported map projections
• Weisstein, Eric W. Map Projections. From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.
• Map Projections. Atlas of Canada.
• Cartographical Map Projections, Carlos A. Furuti website, www.progonos.com.
• Elements of Map Projection. (26 MB download) U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Special Publication 68 (1938).
• Map Projections. USGS Publications. December 2000.
• What are map projections? ArcGIS 10 Online Help
• University of Colorado at Boulder - Map Projection Overview with Illustrations
• Data Projections. GeoCommunity Web site.
• Wiki.GIS.com - Types of Projections