Distortions in maps
Maps are a projection on a 2 dimensional flat surface of a 3 dimensional sphere, the earth . At best they are an approximation to help understand the relative positions of the various continents and oceans. There are always some distortions of conformality, distance, direction, scale, and area during this process. While it may be possible to minimize distortions in the projections for some of the properties, the errors in other properties may be increased. Other map projections will try to minimize distortion of all of these properties to an equal extent.
Conformality
A projection is considered to be conformal,if the scale of a map at any point on the map is uniform in any direction . Meridians (lines of longitude) and parallels (lines of latitude) intersect at right angles on these maps. Shape is preserved on conformal maps locally .
Scale
Scale of a map is the ratio of the distance portrayed on a map and the same distance on the Earth.
Area
When the areas on a map over the entire map are shown so that all mapped areas have the same proportional relationship to the actual area on the surface of the Earth that they represent, the map is an equal-area map.
Different map projections can show different spatial relationships between regions, as hilly regions may not be correctly drawn.