

The Tobler hyperelliptical projection is a family of equal-area pseudocylindrical projections that may be used for world maps. Waldo R. Tobler introduced the construction in 1973 as the hyperelliptical projection, now usually known as the Tobler hyperelliptical projection.[1]
Overview
As with any pseudocylindrical projection, in the projection’s normal aspect,[2] the parallels of latitude are parallel, straight lines. Their spacing is calculated to provide the equal-area property. The projection blends the cylindrical equal-area projection, which has straight, vertical meridians, with meridians that follow a particular kind of curve known as superellipses[3] or Lamé curves or sometimes as hyperellipses. A hyperellipse is described by
x
k
+
y
k
=
γ
k
{\displaystyle x^{k}+y^{k}=\gamma ^{k}}
, where
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
and
k
{\displaystyle k}
are free parameters. Tobler's hyperelliptical projection is given as:
-
x
=
λ
[
α
+
(
1
−
α
)
(
γ
k
−
y
k
)
1
/
k
γ
]
α
y
=
sin
φ
+
α
−
1
γ
∫
0
y
(
γ
k
−
z
k
)
1
/
k
d
z
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}&x=\lambda [\alpha +(1-\alpha ){\frac {(\gamma ^{k}-y^{k})^{1/k}}{\gamma }}]\\\alpha &y=\sin \varphi +{\frac {\alpha -1}{\gamma }}\int _{0}^{y}(\gamma ^{k}-z^{k})^{1/k}dz\end{aligned}}}
where
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
is the longitude,
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
is the latitude, and
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is the relative weight given to the cylindrical equal-area projection. For a purely cylindrical equal-area,
α
=
1
{\displaystyle \alpha =1}
; for a projection with pure hyperellipses for meridians,
α
=
0
{\displaystyle \alpha =0}
; and for weighted combinations,
0
<
α
<
1
{\displaystyle 0<\alpha <1}
.
When
α
=
0
{\displaystyle \alpha =0}
and
k
=
1
{\displaystyle k=1}
the projection degenerates to the Collignon projection; when
α
=
0
{\displaystyle \alpha =0}
,
k
=
2
{\displaystyle k=2}
, and
γ
=
4
/
π
{\displaystyle \gamma =4/\pi }
the projection becomes the Mollweide projection.[4] Tobler favored the parameterization shown with the top illustration; that is,
α
=
0
{\displaystyle \alpha =0}
,
k
=
2.5
{\displaystyle k=2.5}
, and
γ
≈
1.183136
{\displaystyle \gamma \approx 1.183136}
.
See also
References
- Snyder, John P. (1993). Flattening the Earth: 2000 Years of Map Projections. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 220.
- Mapthematics directory of map projections
- "Superellipse" in MathWorld encyclopedia
- Tobler, Waldo (1973). "The hyperelliptical and other new pseudocylindrical equal area map projections". Journal of Geophysical Research. 78 (11): 1753–1759. Bibcode:1973JGR....78.1753T. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.495.6424. doi:10.1029/JB078i011p01753.