Waterman butterfly projection: interactive map

Waterman butterfly projection at a glance

Distortion class

Compromise

Graticule type

Interrupted polyhedral

Creator

Steve Waterman

Year

1996

Area

Compromise: not equal-area, but area distortion stays moderate

Shape

Compromise: landmasses keep fairly natural shapes because the cuts run through the oceans

Distances

Compromise within each lobe; unreliable globally because the map is interrupted into eight lobes

Angles and directions

Compromise: not conformal, with moderate angular distortion

Add countries from the tools panel and drag them to other latitudes. The outline keeps its true shape and area on the globe, so any change in its size on the map shows this projection's distortion. Tissot's indicatrices and the area distortion map show the same effect across the whole world.