Which projection is recommended as a test projection (yardstick) to evaluate projection success and bearing/distance error?

• A. Mercator
• B. Azimuthal equidistant
• C. Lambert conformal conic
• D. Gnomonic

Answer: (B)

Assessing projection performance is most straightforward when you use a projection that keeps true distances and true directions from a central point. The azimuthal equidistant projection does exactly that: distances from the center to any other point on the map are proportional to their real geodesic distances, and the directions (azimuths) from the center to those points are preserved as well. That combination lets you treat the map as a yardstick—measuring how far off the map’s distances are from reality and how much the map rotates bearings away from their true values as you move away from the center. Other projections distort distance or bearing in more complex, nonuniform ways, making it harder to quantify overall projection error across the sheet. So this projection provides a clean reference framework for evaluating both distance error and bearing accuracy.