A map projection method is a conversion describing the mapping from a mathematical earth model (spheroid like a sphere or ellipsoid) to the plane.

All processes/tasks for map projections are also known as "Flattening the Earth".

It is not possible to map from a curved surface like a sphere or ellipsoid to a plane without distortion.

There are a lot of different map projection methods known. In literature, more than 200 methods are found.

There are different possibilities for describing the properties and characteristics of map projections.