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Map Projections

Map Projections are the flattening of the sphere to produce maps. However, they also produces distortions. The most common projection used in aviation is the Lambert conformal conic where the globe is projected onto a cone, and then the cone is flattened. With this projection a straight line approximates a Great Circle which is the shortest distance over the surface between two points on a sphere. VNC charts use this projection. A Mercator projection places a cylinder over the globe and if the cylinder is parallel to the equator it is known as a Transverse Mercator projection.