Charter of the
Commission on
Map Projections
of the International Cartographic Association (ICA)

INTRODUCTION
Every map requires a map projection. This basic truth establishes the importance of map
projections in the cartographic endeavor. Yet sometimes map makers do not choose worthy
projections for their maps. They may not know how to. They may not have suitable tools at
their disposal. It may not be convenient. Regardless of the reason, a map with an unworthy
projection is an unworthy map.
The computing and telecommunication revolutions transformed cartography forever, bringing
massive effi ciencies, new techniques, and deluges of information to bear on an ancient craft.
The Global Positioning System made surveyors out of anyone who cared to follow a track.
Geographic Information Systems made cartographers out of anyone who had a spatial data
story to tell. The Internet made researchers out of anyone who had a question to answer. The
new tools have hugely improved the productivity of expert map makers. They have also en-tranced
a generation of dilettantes so naïve they believe themselves expert solely by virtue of
the tools they wield. As in every other fi eld rebuilt around computers, novices use these new,
egalitarian tools to proliferate awful products with mind-boggling effi ciency. Of all the ele-ments
of a map that can be corrupted by ignorance, the projection receives the worst abuse:
It is the only component likely to be left off the list if a typical person were asked to inventory
everything visible on a map.
Projecting the globe distorts it. To study map projections is to study distortions. This study,
being primarily a mathematical endeavor, benefi ts crucially from computer automation. Com-puters
bring the practical ability to analyze projections, synthesize optimal ones, automate
projection choice, and disseminate knowledge about projections. The classical projections can
be imaged instantly to any practical precision. New projections conceived in the minds of map
projectionists can be explored, tuned, and developed into real maps. Suitably programmed, a
computer can be given a set of criteria and charged with constructing the map projection that
optimally fulfi lls those criteria. Understanding the extraordinary benefi ts computers impart to
the fi eld, map projectionists pioneered their use in the latter half of the twentieth century. The
fi eld advances comparatively rapidly now despite the rarity of map projectionists.
The pioneers tended to work alone. They were distributed exceedingly thinly thoughout the
population; nor had they the benefi t of any organized body dedicated to map projections.
Hence map projection knowledge is scattered throughout isolated texts, Internet sites, and
occasional professional papers hosted by journals devoted to mathematics, cartography, or
geodesy.
The Commission on Map Projections within the International Cartographic Association (ICA)
has been established with the goals of consolidating, coordinating, advancing, and disseminat-ing
knowledge of small-scale map projections. Its audiences are map projection researchers,
professional and happenstance cartographers, and the public at large.

Daniel R. Strebe
Founding Chair
16 September 2003

 

1. MOTIVATION
The public at large refers to maps often. Their perception of the world is informed by maps.
If they cannot properly interpret maps, their perceptions cannot be accurate. At the scale of
world maps, at least, the public ought to understand rudiments of map projection.
Map projections, which have always been important to maps, are more practically available
now than they ever have been. They play, or ought to play, an important role in the daily work
of cartographers everywhere in order to improve the maps they produce. Hence the cartogra-pher
ought to be knowledgeable about map projections and ought to have practical access to
the best tools for and information about map projections.
Many researchers are active in the fi eld of map projections today. Their efforts have lacked
coordination, standardization, and accessibility. Researchers ought to be able to effi ciently
research map projections as well as coordinate and disseminate their results.
To advance the knowledge of the public, the skills of the cartographer, and the effi ciency of
the researcher, we establish this COMMISSION ON MAP PROJECTIONS under the auspices of the
International Cartographic Association. The commission was approved as an ICA group at the
21 st International Cartographic Conference on 16 August, 2003, in Durban, South Africa.

2. PURVIEW
This commission shall devote itself to the subject of small-scale map projections. Groups dedi-cated
to large-scale map projections already exist, primarily in the fi eld of geodesy. The pur-poses,
methods, and applications of large-scale projections differ from small-scale projections.
Therefore this commission excludes large-scale projections from its purview.
This commission defi nes small-scale map projections to be those which are intended to model
planetary bodies, and which are meaningful when the model is spherical or an irregular solid.
Qualifying projections may also have meaning using an ellipsoidal datum, and this commis-sion
embraces ellipsoidal developments. However, no projection whose meaning derives
solely from its ellipsoidal development qualifi es under this charter.
Hereafter, all references to “map projections” or even “projections” shall mean “small-scale
map projections” unless otherwise noted.

3. GOALS
• To establish a repository of map projections knowledge;
• To promote map projections to all relevant audiences;
• To provide a platform promoting research, collaboration, and a common language within
the fi eld of map projections.

4. ACTIVITIES
In no particular order, and not limited to:
• Research cartograms;
• Research deformation analysis for map graticules and methods for comparative deforma-tion
analysis;
• Research map projections for planetary bodies, including graticules for irregular bodies;
• Research effi cient algorithms for calculating map projections, supplying numerical exam-ples
in those results;
• Research optimal map projection choice and use;
• Research historical map projection usage;
• Research map projections and spatial cognition;
• Disseminate research products;
• Maintain map projections bibliography;
• Maintain a World Wide Web site hosting the Commission’s products;
• Maintain a database of commission members and interested parties;
• Recommend canonical names for map projections;
• Recommend terminology and taxonomies for map projections;
• Monitor computer software published by other parties for availability and accuracy of map
projections they implement;
• Monitor the state-of-the-art in map projections research and translate it into practical rec-ommendations
and methods for map projections selection and use;
• Lend technical support and consulting to cartographers, teachers, and other scientists deal-ing
with map projections;
• Provide channels for teachers to exchange information on map projections;
• Serve as an authority on map projections for the general public as well as for our ICA hosts.

5. DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Recognizing the prohibitive cost of print publishing, the Commission shall supply all of its
products in electronic form and shall make them available via the Internet. From time to time
the Commission and the ICA may determine that a particular publication ought to be available
in printed form; this charter does not prohibit that.
The Commission shall adhere to public, free standards wherever practicable in the exchange
and dissemination of knowledge. The Commission shall respect intellectual property rights
and shall endeavor to properly attribute all substantial information.
The Commission shall procure and maintain a World Wide Web domain of suitable name and
shall continuously host a site at that domain as a repository for Commission knowledge.
From time to time the Commission may host workshops on relevant themes at venues ap-proved
by the ICA.

6. COLLABORATION WITH RELATED ORGANIZATIONS
The Commission shall maintain contacts and exchange information with organizations likely
to be clients of its knowledge or interested in its proceedings. Some of the organizations
thought to be relevant are listed here.
• Other ICA working groups and commissions: Map Production, Planetary Mapping, Maps
and the Internet, Mapping from Satellite Data, Education and Training, Visualization,
Theoretical Cartography, Cartography and Children, History of Cartography.
• EUREF (EuroGeographics Work Group 8).
• Swiss Society of Cartography (SGK).
• MapHist discussion group and mailing list (www.maphist.org).
• North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS).
• Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS).

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Commission gratefully acknowledges Dr. Christoph Brandenberger of the Institute of Car-tography
within the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zürich. He recognized the need
for this commission and organized the effort to establish it. This charter is based substantially
on his original petition to the ICA.