The azimuthal equidistant projection
Azimuthal equidistant is the 'you are here' map. Pick one spot — your city, or the North Pole — and every straight line drawn out from that spot shows the real distance and the real direction to get there.
Key facts
- Family
- Azimuthal
- Designer
- Known since antiquity; long-standing use in polar and navigational charts
- Year
- Known since antiquity
- Preserves
- True distance and True direction
- Best for
- True distance and direction from one specific point — flight-range maps, the UN emblem
- Weak at
- Area and shape, which distort more and more the farther you get from the center
What it looks like
Pick a center point, and this map draws the rest of the world as circles spreading out from it, like ripples on a pond. The closer something is to the center, the closer it looks; the farther away, the farther it looks — and that distance is real, not just visual.
What it keeps true
Distance and direction — but only from that one center point. If you're standing at the center, every straight line out to anywhere else on the map tells you exactly how far it is and which way to go.
What it distorts, and why
Everywhere that is not the center. The farther a place is from your chosen center point, the more its shape and size get stretched and warped, until places near the opposite side of the world can look strangely huge or oddly shaped.
Where you meet it: the UN emblem
You've probably seen this map without realizing it: it's on the United Nations flag and logo, centered on the North Pole, showing every country at its real distance and direction from the top of the world.
When to use it, and when not to
Reach for this map whenever the whole point is 'how far and which way from here' — flight ranges from an airport, radio signal reach, or just a cool 'me at the center of the world' picture. Don't reach for it to compare how big two far-off countries are.
Try it yourself
Frequently asked questions
Why does the United Nations flag use an azimuthal equidistant map?
The UN emblem uses an azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the North Pole, which shows every country at its true distance and direction from that single point. It's a fitting symbol for an organization built around every nation's relationship to one shared center, rather than any one country's viewpoint.
What does azimuthal equidistant actually preserve?
True distance and true direction, but only measured from the one center point the map is built around. Any straight line drawn out from that center accurately shows both the real distance and the real compass bearing to get there.
Can you use an azimuthal equidistant map to measure distance between any two countries?
Only if one of them is the map's center point. The distance-and-direction guarantee holds strictly for lines radiating from the center; distance between two other, off-center points on the map isn't reliably accurate.
Why do shapes get so distorted far from the center on this map?
The projection's whole design is built around getting distance and direction right from one point, and it makes no promises about area or shape anywhere else. That distortion grows steadily with distance from the center, becoming most extreme near the point directly opposite it, which gets stretched into the map's entire outer edge.