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## 6.2.6 Gnomonic projection (-Jf -JF)

The Gnomonic azimuthal projection is a perspective projection from the center onto a plane tangent to the surface. Its origin goes back to the old Greeks who used it for star maps almost 2500 years ago. The projection is neither equal-area nor conformal, and much distortion is introduced near the edge of the hemisphere; in fact, less than a hemisphere may be shown around a given center. The directions from the center of projection are true. Great circles project onto straight lines. Because it is mainly used for pictorial views at a small scale, only the spherical form is necessary.

To specify the Gnomonic projection you must supply:

- Longitude and latitude of the projection center.
- Optionally, the horizon, i.e., the number of degrees from the center to the edge (90°, default is 60°).
- Scale as 1:xxxxx or as radius/latitude where radius is distance on map in inches from projection center to a particular [possibly oblique] latitude (-Jf), or map width (-JF).

Using a horizon of 60°, our example of this projection centered on 120°W/35°N can therefore be generated by the following pscoast command:

    pscoast -Rg -JF-120/35/60/4.5i -B30g15 -Dc -A10000 -Glightgray -Wthinnest -P > GMT_gnomonic.ps

Figure 6.14: Gnomonic azimuthal projection.

Next: 6.3 Cylindrical projections Up: 6.2 Azimuthal projections Previous: 6.2.5 Azimuthal Equidistant projection Contents Index