Aitoff projection

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An Aitoff projection of the Earth
An Aitoff projection of the Earth

The Aitoff projection is a modified azimuthal map projection. Proposed by David A. Aitoff in 1889, it is the equatorial form of the azimuthal equidistant projection, but stretched into a 2:1 ellipse while halving the longitude from the central meridian:

x = \mathrm{azeq}_x\left(\frac\lambda 2, \phi\right)\,
y = \frac 1 2 \mathrm{azeq}_y \left(\frac\lambda 2, \phi \right)

where azeqx and azeqy are the x and y components of the equatorial azimuthal equidistant projection. Written out explicitly, the projection is:

x = \frac{2 \cos(\phi) \sin\left(\frac\lambda 2\right)}{\mathrm{sinc}(\alpha)}\,
y = \frac{\sin(\phi)}{\mathrm{sinc}(\alpha)}\,

where

\alpha = \arccos\left(\cos(\phi)\cos\left(\frac\lambda 2\right)\right)\,

and sinc(α) is the unnormalized sinc function with the discontinuity removed. In all of these formulas, λ is the longitude from the central meridian and φ is the latitude.

Three years later, Ernst Hermann Heinrich Hammer suggested the use of the Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection in the same manner as Aitoff, producing the Hammer projection. While Hammer was careful to cite Aitoff, there has been some confusion since, wherein Aitoff has been attributed to Hammer's projection.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections, John P. Snyder, 1993, pp.130-133, ISBN 0-226-76747-7.

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