Setting the Projection (Geospatial Modeling Wizard)

If the projection system cannot be determined from the information provided with the map, you need to specify the projection system. The most common cause of this condition is the absence of a projection (.prj) file associated with the map or a projection file that cannot be used.

• A city, region or country (Mercator)
• A large country, several countries, or continents (Winkel Tripel)
• An area very close to the equator (Mercator)
• An area close to one of the poles (Stereographic)

The Mercator projection is a common projection used in many maps. This projection treats the globe as cylinder that is rolled out onto a flat surface. The Mercator projection distorts the size and shape of large objects. This distortion increases as you move farther from the equator and closer to the poles. The Winkel Tripel and Stereographic projections make adjustments for the fact that a map represents a portion of a three-dimensional sphere displayed in two dimensions.