Conformal map projections are important for navigation. Equal area projections can be conformal over small areas, but not over large areas.
Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere is a good default for a software application to use. It is global, meaning that regardless of what data you dump onto it, it will show up on the map. It is conformal, which means if you zoom in, shapes will be preserved. If you zoom in on a town square that is actually square, it will be square on the map, too. North is up in all locations.
That being said, it's only a good default because if you users aren't knowledgeable enough to select the right projection, web Mercator aux sphere is the least bad, lowest common denominator option. When you as a user choose what projection to use to visualize your data, it's usually wrong to select web Mercator aux sphere. But if you were never going to make the effort to select the right projection anyway, it's not a completely terrible default.
Note that web Mercator is different from web Mercator aux sphere. Web Mercator is not conformal, which makes it pretty useless. Many people use the terms web Mercator and web Mercator aux sphere interchangeably, which they shouldn't.
Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere is a good default for a software application to use. It is global, meaning that regardless of what data you dump onto it, it will show up on the map. It is conformal, which means if you zoom in, shapes will be preserved. If you zoom in on a town square that is actually square, it will be square on the map, too. North is up in all locations.
That being said, it's only a good default because if you users aren't knowledgeable enough to select the right projection, web Mercator aux sphere is the least bad, lowest common denominator option. When you as a user choose what projection to use to visualize your data, it's usually wrong to select web Mercator aux sphere. But if you were never going to make the effort to select the right projection anyway, it's not a completely terrible default.
Note that web Mercator is different from web Mercator aux sphere. Web Mercator is not conformal, which makes it pretty useless. Many people use the terms web Mercator and web Mercator aux sphere interchangeably, which they shouldn't.