From Conic to Cylindrical Map Projections

Abstract

In books and textbooks on map projections, cylindrical, conic and azimuthal projections are usually considered separately. It is sometimes mentioned that cylindrical and azimuthal projections can be interpreted as limiting cases of conic, but this is rarely proven. The goal of this article is to show in a rigorous and systematic way how to generally approach solving the problem of transition from a conic to a corresponding cylindrical projection. This article points to the fact that J. H. Lambert showed as early as 1772 that a conformal cylindrical projection is created from a conformal conic projection. Following his idea, this paper shows that not only conformal, but also equal-area and equidistant cylindrical projections can be derived from corresponding conic map projections. Although it seems that the paper deals with quite well known and intuitive property of conic projections, it will also show that the transition from the conic to the corresponding cylindrical projection is not always possible.