How to match up map shapes of different map projections, in Illustrator?

Question

In Illustrator, I've got vector map data that I want to match up to a map of Australia that I've pulled from Open Street Map (OSM).

Problem is, the map my data is on is a different map projection. OSM is Web Mercator, my data is on a different map projection.

I think my best bet for lining up the two maps and my map data is to use something like Photoshop's Warp tool.

I don't want the data to be rasterised though, so I figure I need to edit it in Illustrator.

Does Illustrator have a similar tool for editing shapes? I tried the Illustrator Warp tool, but it just seemed to move selected anchor points, rather than a 'mesh' of the selected art.

Any other suggestions for matching up the maps would be helpful, too!

If it's possible to do in Inkscape, I'm happy to use that, too.

Answer 1

I would say the correct answer is: You dont. This is not exactly the kind of stuff you want to eyeball. I suppose you can do a script that does this, if you know the lat long of some datapoint.

In anycase illustrator has the exact same wrap tool (in fact illustrator had this first). Just use Object → Envelope Distort → Make with Mesh.

I just think this is potenttially a very bad idea. I would use mathematica for this. But any GIS tool would do.There are some free gis tools out theher. I suggest using:

• QGIS it is free. You can simply tell the layers what projections thy use and it automatically turns the layer to your master projection.