The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stereographic \Ste`re*o*graph"ic\, Stereographical \Ste`re*o*graph"ic*al\, a. [Cf. F. st['e]r['e]ographique.] Made or done according to the rules of stereography; delineated on a plane; as, a stereographic chart of the earth.
Stereographic projection (Geom.), a method of representing the sphere in which the center of projection is taken in the surface of the sphere, and the plane upon which the projection is made is at right andles to the diameter passing through the center of projection.
Wikipedia
In geometry, the stereographic projection is a particular mapping ( function) that projects a sphere onto a plane. The projection is defined on the entire sphere, except at one point: the projection point. Where it is defined, the mapping is smooth and bijective. It is conformal, meaning that it preserves angles. It is neither isometric nor area-preserving: that is, it preserves neither distances nor the areas of figures.
Intuitively, then, the stereographic projection is a way of picturing the sphere as the plane, with some inevitable compromises. Because the sphere and the plane appear in many areas of mathematics and its applications, so does the stereographic projection; it finds use in diverse fields including complex analysis, cartography, geology, and photography. In practice, the projection is carried out by computer or by hand using a special kind of graph paper called a stereographic net, shortened to stereonet, or Wulff net.
Usage examples of "stereographic projection".
On one large wall screen the Earth was shown in flat, stereographic projection, with colours which were lifelike as seen from space.