Masthead

Learning Module: Selecting Spatial References for Spatial Analysis

Purpose

This module exposes you to the various spatial reference systems that are available for performing spatial analysis.

Learning Outcomes

Reading

Presentations/Discussions

Activities

Understanding how projections work is a challenge for almost all students. Two methods for getting a better understanding for how we convert spherical data to planar data are:

  1. Optional: Find an "American Educational Map Projection Model" and play with the overlays on the globe until you can visualize data on a sphere being "projected" onto the two dimensional overlays.
  2. Purchase an inflatable globe and then cut it open along a meridian line (line of longitude). Notice that it will not lay flat. Make additional cuts trying to make the earth lay on a flat surface. This is actually quite difficult even though the globe was created using strips that were originally flat!

Both of these activities help illustrate a key concept that no matter how we "project" data there will always be some distortion.

Additional activities

Lab

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