Editing Azimuthal equidistant projection (section)

== History ==
While it may have been used by [[ancient Egypt]]ians for star maps in some holy books,<ref name="Snyder">{{Cite book
| publisher = University of Chicago Press
| isbn = 0-226-76747-7
| last = SNYDER
| first = John P.
| title = Flattening the earth: two thousand years of map projections
| date = 1997
}}, p.29</ref> the earliest text describing the azimuthal equidistant projection is an 11th-century work by [[Abu Rayhan Biruni|al-Biruni]].<ref>David A. KING (1996), "Astronomy and Islamic society: Qibla, gnomics and timekeeping", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 1, p. 128–184 [153]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref> The first use of the projection on a terrestrial map is the pair of hemispheres by [[Heinrich Glarean|Glareanus]] of about 1510.<ref name="Snyder"/> Another early example of this system is the world map by ‛Ali b. Ahmad al-Sharafi of Sfax in 1571.<ref> Edward S. Kennedy, 1996, Mathematical geography, in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 1, [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>

The projection appears in many Renaissance maps, and [[Gerardus Mercator]] used it for an inset of the north polar regions in sheet 13 and legend 6 of his well-known [[Mercator 1569 world map|1569 map]]. In France and Russia this projection is named "Postel projection" after [[Guillaume Postel]], who used it for a map in 1581.<ref>Snyder 1997, p. 29</ref> Many modern star chart [[planisphere]]s use the polar azimuthal equidistant projection.

{{comparison_azimuthal_projections.svg}}


The polar azimuthal equidistant projection has also been adopted by [[Modern flat Earth beliefs|21st century Flat Earthers]] as a map of the Flat Earth, particularly due to its use in the UN flag and its depiction of Antarctica as a ring around the edge of the Earth.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-12 |title=Fact Check: The UN Flag Does NOT Show Flat Earth {{!}} Lead Stories |url=https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2022/09/fact-check-the-un-flag-does-not-show-flat-earth.html |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=leadstories.com |language=en-US}}</ref>