John P. Snyder

Who was John P. Snyder?

John Parr Snyder was an American cartographer most known for his work on map projections for the United States Geological Survey. Educated at Purdue and MIT as a chemical engineer, he had a lifetime interest in map projections as a hobby, but found the calculations tedious without the benefit of expensive calculators or computers. At a cartography conference in 1976, he learned of the need for a map projection that would suit the special needs of LandSat satellite imagery. He had recently been able to purchase a pocket calculator of his own and set to work creating what became known as the space-oblique mercator projection, which he provided to the USGS at no charge.

He was subsequently offered a job within the USGS within two years, where his work apparently led him to the eventual publication of the definitive technical guide to map projections entitled Map Projections: A Working Manual among other works. He also authored Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections which details the historical development of hundreds of map projections.