5.5.4 Robinson Projection (-–Jn -JN)

The Robinson projection, presented by Arthur H. Robinson in 1963, is a modified cylindrical projection that is neither conformal nor equal-area. Central meridian and all parallels are straight lines; other meridians are curved. It uses lookup tables rather than analytic expressions to make the world map ``look'' right^5.2†. The scale is true along latitudes $\pm$ 38$^{o}$. The projection was originally developed for use by Rand McNally and is currently used by the National Geographic Society. To use it you must enter

$\bullet$

The central meridian

$\bullet$

Scale along equator in inch/degree or 1:xxxxx (-Jn), or map width (-–JN)

Again centered on Greenwich, the example below was created by this command:

#!/bin/sh
#    $Id: GMT_robinson.sh,v 1.1 2001/03/21 04:10:21 pwessel Exp $
#

pscoast -R-180/180/-90/90 -JN0/4.5i -Bg30/g15 -Dc -A10000 -G128 -P > GMT_robinson.ps

Figure 5.29: World map using the Robinson projection