The purpose of this assignment is to learn about the different projections and how they distort the Earths surface. The map below is of Minnesota and it compares three different map projections: Albers, UTM Zone 15N and a custom Mercator.  In the process of creating this map, I learn that the different map projections can change the distance between locations.  While measuring the distance between Lose Angeles and New York,  which has an 'on ground' distance of 2,444 miles, I found that the Albers projection has a distance  of 2,441.8 miles and in the Mercator projection 3,133 miles.