A geographic information system comprising an apparatus for map projections, the apparatus comprising: storage means for storing surface data related to locations on a surface of the earth, which is to be represented on a projected map, wherein the surface data include a set of data elements related to spatiotemporal characteristics of the surface of the earth; one or more processing units connected to the storage means, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to project the surface data using a first projection method to generate first intermediate data, to project the surface data using a second projection method to generate second intermediate data, and to combine the first and second intermediate data to generate the projected map, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to combine the first and second intermediate data by selecting a weighting factor and applying the weighting factor to a weighted sum of the first and second intermediate data, wherein the first and second intermediate data correspond to positions on a plain and the combination corresponds to a weighted sum of said positions, and wherein the weighting factor is selected in such a way that it reflects the maximal minimal value of functions m p i ( k ) for a plurality of reference points p 0 , p 1 , p 2 , and p 3 with m p i ( k ) denoting the scale of the projection map for a reference point p i and weighting factor k; input means for selecting said plurality of reference points on the ellipsoid, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to transform the ellipsoid by calculating an oblique pole using said plurality of reference points, calculating oblique spherical coordinates for each of the data element on the ellipsoid and using the oblique pole and the oblique spherical coordinates to derive the surface data; and display means configured to display the projected map. storage means for storing surface data related to locations on a surface of the earth, which is to be represented on a projected map, wherein the surface data include a set of data elements related to spatiotemporal characteristics of the surface of the earth; one or more processing units connected to the storage means, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to project the surface data using a first projection method to generate first intermediate data, to project the surface data using a second projection method to generate second intermediate data, and to combine the first and second intermediate data to generate the projected map, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to combine the first and second intermediate data by selecting a weighting factor and applying the weighting factor to a weighted sum of the first and second intermediate data, wherein the first and second intermediate data correspond to positions on a plain and the combination corresponds to a weighted sum of said positions, and wherein the weighting factor is selected in such a way that it reflects the maximal minimal value of functions m p i ( k ) for a plurality of reference points p 0 , p 1 , p 2 , and p 3 with m p i ( k ) denoting the scale of the projection map for a reference point p i and weighting factor k; input means for selecting said plurality of reference points on the ellipsoid, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to transform the ellipsoid by calculating an oblique pole using said plurality of reference points, calculating oblique spherical coordinates for each of the data element on the ellipsoid and using the oblique pole and the oblique spherical coordinates to derive the surface data; and display means configured to display the projected map. <EOS>