NEW PROJECTIONS FOR WORLD MAPS / A QUANTITATIVE PERCEPTIVE APPROACH

The increasing use of maps in mass communication influences to a large extent our concept of geographic space. This is particularly so for world maps. Therefore, the preservation of continental shape should be regarded as an important property of such maps. This paper provides a quantitative measure of continental shape distortion. An operational tool is proposed for the development of world maps that are acceptable from a perceptive point of view but which, at the same time, result from the minimization of an objective distortion criterion. L'usage acru de cartes dans les communications de masse influence en grande partie notre conception de l'espace geographique. Ceci s'applique tout particulierement aux cartes du monde. La preservation de la forme des continents devrait donc etre consideree comme une importante propriete de telles cartes. Cet article presente une mesure quantitative de la distorsion de la forme des continents. On y propose un outil operationnel pour le developpement de cartes du monde ...