A characteristic of the Transverse Mercator grid system is that

• A. Meridians are straight and evenly spaced, with no distortion near the poles
• B. It preserves area locally
• C. There is a 90° transposition of the poles to point at opposite positions on the equator
• D. Parallels are equally spaced

Answer: (C)

Transverse Mercator is formed by rotating the projection so that a meridian becomes the principal axis of the map. This orientation makes meridians straight on the chart and minimizes distortion along the chosen central meridian, but it does not preserve area.

The idea captured by the statement about a 90° transposition of the poles describes how the projection’s orientation swaps the natural vertical/horizontal roles, placing the poles effectively at opposite positions on the equator of the projection plane. This reflects the rotated geometry of the Transverse Mercator grid and explains why this system behaves as it does around the central meridian.

The other properties don’t fit TM: it isn’t an equal-area projection, distortion exists away from the central meridian, and parallels are not evenly spaced in the TM grid.