page_title: Orthographic projection in cartography
hierarchical_section_title: Orthographic projection in cartography
caption_attribution_description: English: Eastern hemisphere on orthographic projection. 15° graticule, 60°E central meridian. Imagery is a derivative of NASA’s Blue Marble summer month composite with oceans lightened to enhance legibility and contrast. Image created with the Geocart map projection software.
context_page_description: The use of orthographic projection in cartography dates back to antiquity. Like the stereographic projection and gnomonic projection, orthographic projection is a perspective projection, in which the sphere is projected onto a tangent plane or secant plane. The point of perspective for the orthographic projection is at infinite distance. It depicts a hemisphere of the globe as it appears from outer space, where the horizon is a great circle. The shapes and areas are distorted, particularly near the edges.
context_section_description: The use of orthographic projection in cartography dates back to antiquity. Like the stereographic projection and gnomonic projection, orthographic projection is a perspective (or azimuthal) projection, in which the sphere is projected onto a tangent plane or secant plane.  The point of perspective for the orthographic projection is at infinite distance.  It depicts a hemisphere of the globe as it appears from outer space, where the horizon is a great circle.  The shapes and areas are distorted, particularly near the edges.
caption: Orthographic projection (equatorial aspect) of eastern hemisphere 30W–150E
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