daanstrebe

« laugh » No kidding…

Couple of points. * It’s not trigonometry. The inverse of a proper ellipsoidal Mercator has no closed-form solution. * Data generally are in geographic coordinates, not map coordinates. If your data are in map coordinates, then definitely do not use Web Mercator unless your map coordinates are also Web Mercator. The same is true for any projection: You need to know what coordinates your source data are in (Geographic? Than what datum? Or map? Then what projection?). If there is a mismatch between your data coordinates and the projection you’re using, you have to convert between them. Web Mercator adds nothing new to that problem. * There is nothing “inconsistent” about Web Mercator formulas.

It depends on the extent of the map. For local areas, what you suggest is just fine. At the scale of a continent, it’s problematic, and gets more and more problematic as you zoom out.

"Well, personally, I've never been exposed to other projections until 28 years…"

That is vanishingly unlikely. These are projections you have practically certainly seen: https://www.mapthematics.com/ProjectionsList.php?Projection=... https://www.mapthematics.com/ProjectionsList.php?Projection=... https://www.mapthematics.com/ProjectionsList.php?Projection=... https://www.mapthematics.com/ProjectionsList.php?Projection=...

And many others. Also, people often mistake any rectangular projection for Mercator. I have even seen this happen in academic literature.