Map Projection Reference
Searchable reference for common map projections — what each is good for.
| Name | Family | Distortion | Common use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercator Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) |
Cylindrical | Preserves angles; severely distorts area away from equator | Web maps (Google, OSM, Bing tiles), nautical charts Lines of constant bearing are straight. Greenland appears as large as Africa. |
| Transverse Mercator Gauss-Krüger, UTM zone projection |
Cylindrical | Preserves angles within a narrow longitude strip | National grids, UTM zones Cylinder is rotated 90° — accurate along the central meridian. |
| Lambert Conformal Conic LCC, EPSG:2154 (France) |
Conic | Preserves angles; standard parallels minimise scale distortion | Aeronautical charts, mid-latitude national maps Two standard parallels chosen to bracket the region of interest. |
| Albers Equal-Area Conic Albers |
Conic | Preserves area; small angle distortion at standard parallels | US Geological Survey region maps, thematic choropleths Often used for the contiguous USA with standard parallels 29.5°N and 45.5°N. |
| Equirectangular Plate carrée, EPSG:4326 |
Cylindrical | Distorts both area and angle but trivial to compute (x = λ, y = φ) | Quick visualisations, satellite raster storage Almost always the wrong choice for printed maps. |
| Mollweide Babinet |
Pseudo-cylindrical | Preserves area; horizontally compressed at the poles | World thematic maps, global statistics displays Elliptical world map shape. |
| Robinson | Pseudo-cylindrical | Compromise — neither equal-area nor conformal | General reference world maps (NGS used 1988-1998) Designed to 'look right' rather than be mathematically pure. |
| Winkel Tripel Winkel III |
Pseudo-cylindrical | Compromise — minimises three sources of distortion | National Geographic world maps since 1998 Average of equirectangular and Aitoff projections. |
| Orthographic | Azimuthal | Distorts area near the limb; preserves nothing globally | Looks like a globe — useful for context illustrations Only one hemisphere visible at a time. |
| Stereographic Polar stereographic (EPSG:3995) |
Azimuthal | Preserves angles; preserves circles | Polar regions, navigation, complex analysis Used for Antarctic and Arctic mapping at scales smaller than 1:5M. |
| Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area LAEA |
Azimuthal | Preserves area | European environmental reporting (ETRS89-LAEA EPSG:3035) Useful for continent-scale equal-area presentations. |
| Goode Homolosine Interrupted |
Pseudo-cylindrical | Preserves area; breaks oceans to reduce continental distortion | Educational and thematic world maps Familiar 'orange peel' interrupted form. |
| Sinusoidal Sanson-Flamsteed |
Pseudo-cylindrical | Preserves area; severe shape distortion away from prime meridian | Equal-area thematic maps; satellite swath storage Common in early atlases. |
| Cassini-Soldner Cassini |
Cylindrical | Preserves distance along the central meridian | Cadastral surveying in narrow regions Used historically for Ordnance Survey grids. |
About this tool
Quick reference for common map projections including Mercator, Lambert Conformal Conic, Albers Equal-Area, Robinson, Winkel Tripel and more. Each row lists distortion behaviour and typical use cases.