Washington DC to Kabul

This week's assignment was to look at how a maps distortion can affect the data we receive from maps. Pictured above was the starting map with Washington DC and Kabul. The distance on this map between Washington DC and Kabul was 6,934.478105 miles. Once the map projection changed so did the distance between the cities.

Here is a map using the Mercator projection. Washington DC and Kabul are still marked on this map but when measured the distance is different from the original map. The distance using the Mercator projection was 10,122.118968 miles.

The map here is using the Cylindrical Equal Area projection. Again using Washington DC and Kabul as two distances marked on the map the distance changes. The distance for the Cylindrical Equal Area projection is 10,108.051114 miles.

This last map projection is using the Equidistant Conic projection. Although this map looks the most unique of the maps used, to me it looks most like a globe. The distance between Washington DC and Kabul using the Equidistant and Conic projection was 6,957.649334 miles.

This activity was very interesting to me. I really enjoyed seeing how different projections can affect the final distance measured between two distances. This is something I think many people may not be aware of yet it can have a significant affect on them. This was a really fun assignment to complete!