These world maps were created in Ptolemy, a map projection conversion program that I wrote about 1992.  I have been collecting map projection formulas as a hobby ever since, usually implementing one new projection each Christmas card season.  The program is written in AutoLISP, and runs inside AutoCAD. In principle, the software can convert any of these maps into any of the others.

With the advent of AutoCAD Map, which incorporates its own map projection conversion system, the commercial prospects of Ptolemy narrowed considerably. Their version is many times faster, and tightly integrated into an extremely well-designed product.  However, it cannot do any of these maps.

If you don’t have Whip! you can still see the JPGs, but to fully appreciate these engineering-quality maps, download and install the free Whip! viewer plug-in (3.5MB).  You will then be able to see the scalable vector versions of select maps.

Click on the Vector Map link on each page to view the DWF file.  You can pan around and zoom in on them, because they are true scaleable vector drawings.  Using the Right Click menu, you can even turn layers on and off individually.

The extreme precision and detail of these maps cannot be reproduced in raster formats.  The world maps are designed to be plotted at sizes up to 24” by 36” by robotic pen plotter. Some of the oil and gas maps were designed to be viewed up close when plotted at 300 dpi, at sizes up to 3 feet by 10 feet. The size of a BMP file of that scale would be approximately 1.5 gigabytes.

If you have limited bandwidth, be aware that the DWF files contained in this site range from about 100KB to about 750KB.