Choosing appropriate projected coordinate system for Africa

Question

I am using the NNjoin tool to compute the distance between points and a multilinestring. Both layers are in CRS 4326 and cover most of Africa.

I've understood that I need to reproject my layers to a projected coordinate system to be able to get the distance between the points in metres rather than degrees.

How can I choose which projected coordinate system to use?

Answer 1

You could create a custom Chamberlin trimetric projected CRS.

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From Snyder, John P. Map projections: A working manual. USGS Publications Warehouse. 1987:

The Chamberlin Trimetric projection is an approximate "three-point equidistant" projection, constructed so that distances from three chosen points to any other point on the map are approximately correct. The latter distances cannot be exactly true, but the projection is a compromise which the National Geographic Society uses as a standard projection for maps of most continents. This projection was geometrically constructed by the Society, of which Wellman Chamberlin (1908-76) was chief cartographer for many years.

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For the Wikimedia example:

Africa on Chamberlin trimetric projection. 10° graticule, anchor points at (22°N, 0°), (22°N, 45°E), and (22°S, 22°30'E).

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You can create the custom PROJ.4 string for the Chamberlin trimetric conversion method for a WGS84 datum:

+proj=chamb +lat_1=22 +lon_1=0 +lat_2=22 +lon_2=45 +lat_3=-22 +lon_3=22.5 +datum=WGS84 +type=crs

And ask its WKT2:2019 string with:

C:\>projinfo "+proj=chamb +lat_1=22 +lon_1=0 +lat_2=22 +lon_2=45 +lat_3=-22 +lon_3=22.5 +datum=WGS84 +type=crs"
PROJ.4 string:
+proj=chamb +lat_1=22 +lon_1=0 +lat_2=22 +lon_2=45 +lat_3=-22 +lon_3=22.5 +datum=WGS84 +type=crs

WKT2:2019 string:
PROJCRS["unknown",
    BASEGEOGCRS["unknown",
        DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984",
            ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
                LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
            ID["EPSG",6326]],
        PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8901]]],
    CONVERSION["unknown",
        METHOD["PROJ chamb"],
        PARAMETER["lat_1",22,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]],
        PARAMETER["lon_1",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]],
        PARAMETER["lat_2",22,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]],
        PARAMETER["lon_2",45,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]],
        PARAMETER["lat_3",-22,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]],
        PARAMETER["lon_3",22.5,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
                ID["EPSG",9122]]]],
    CS[Cartesian,2],
        AXIS["(E)",east,
            ORDER[1],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]],
        AXIS["(N)",north,
            ORDER[2],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]]]

Answer 2

You can change te projected coordinate system in QGIS of the project by using ctrl+shift+P --> CRS

To change the projection of a layer, right click on the layer in the layers pane --> Set CRS --> Set Layer CRS.

Somebody before you already asked the same question.

Changing unit of measure from degrees to meters in QGIS?