Understand the major map projections — how they distort shape, area, distance, and direction, and which is right for your mapping purpose.
| Projection | Shape (conformal) | Area (equal-area) | Distance | Direction | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercator | ✓ Excellent | ✗ Distorted at poles | ✗ Distorted | ✓ Rhumb lines straight | Navigation |
| Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) | ✓ Good (not exact) | ✗ Significant | ✗ Distorted | ✓ Approx | Web maps (Google/OSM) |
| Robinson | ~Compromise | ~Compromise | ~Moderate | ~Moderate | General world maps |
| Mollweide | ✗ Distorted at edges | ✓ Accurate | ✗ | ✗ | Density/distribution maps |
| Winkel Tripel | ~Good | ~Good | ~Good | ~Good | World maps (National Geo) |
| Azimuthal Equidistant | ✗ Distorted | ✗ Distorted | ✓ From centre | ✓ From centre | Radio/aviation circles |
| Lambert Conformal Conic | ✓ Excellent | ✗ | ~Along standard parallels | ✓ Local | Aeronautical charts, mid-latitudes |
| UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) | ✓ Excellent (local) | ~Near zone centre | ✓ Near zone | ✓ Local | Topographic maps, GPS coordinates |
| Gall-Peters | ✗ Stretched | ✓ Equal-area | ✗ | ✗ | Area comparison, political maps |
| Stereographic | ✓ Conformal | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | Polar maps |