Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60From globe to map 5 The Lambert Conformal Conic projection can be adjusted to project the United States of America with an accurate shape and minimally distorted area. However, it has increasing distortion to the north and south of the U.S. A globe is the most common 3D representation of the Earth. Any place on the Earth’s surface can be accurately located using the intersection of latitude (north and south of the equator) and longitude (east and west of the prime meridian). A flat map is usually easier to work with than a globe. Features on a globe are transformed to a 2D surface mathematically, but we can think of this process as similar to shining a light source through a transparent globe to a surface. A globe can be projected in three different ways: onto a cylinder, a cone, or a plane (not shown). The Mercator projection is a cylindrical projection used for navigation, as it provides accurate angular measurement and direction. The size of land masses is accurate at the equator, but distorted in the northern and southern latitudes. The Lambert Conformal Conic projection provides an accurate shape and reasonable area for Wyoming. All the maps in this Atlas use the Lambert Conformal Conic projection adjusted for Wyoming. When using a Mercator projection, lines of latitude and longitude intersect at 90-degree angles to accurately portray direction. Unfortunately, this also distorts the spherical properties of the Earth, giving Wyoming the inaccurate appearance of a rectangle with squared-off corners. Cylindrical projection Conic projection