It turns out that another projection — the azimuthal equidistant projection – provides exactly what we want: It measures distance accurately from the center of the map.

The azimuthal orthographic is thousands of years old. In the first century, Ptolemy described how a geographer named Hipparchus used the projection, which he called the analemma, to map the globe.

By their calculations, the Mercator projection scores 8.296 and Winkel Tripel does better at 4.563. Their own azimuthal equidistant double-sided projection, meanwhile, scores 0.881.

This "azimuthal" polar projection is depicted on the United Nations flag. North America was prominent on the initial 1945 UN flag (which had the longitude line 90 degrees west pointing upwards).

Map with Equidistant Polar Projection, Supposed to Antedate Mcreator's Chart, Found. Share full article. LONDON TIMES -- NEW YORK TIMES Special Cablegram. July 18, 1902; ...

Rogerson’s technique uses what geographers call an azimuthal equidistant map projection, which preserves important qualities related to distance when a rounded 3-D portion of the ... Of course, ...

MR. STEERS's useful little book on map projections, the third edition of which has recently been issued, is written for those students of geography who have only the most elementary knowledge of ...

Two of London's most famous landmarks were transformed with giant projections telling the history of human evolution. London’s County Hall and the London Eye were transformed with a surprise ...

Rogerson’s technique uses what geographers call an azimuthal equidistant map projection, which preserves important qualities related to distance when a rounded 3-D portion of the Earth is projected as ...