I would like to try and show data such that it appears as if it was on google earth. For example, in this case, the view of the earth is circular-like and the data shown curves around. Are there any map projections that enable me to do this?
(I do understand that geographic projections convert information from a 3D space into a 2D space. What I want to do, just for illustration purposes is to make the 2D space look like 3D!)
You find some examples of an orthograhic projection and how to create them in this question:
How do I project a Azimuthal Equidistant global map into a circle in QGIS?
A lot of examples are used by Wikipedia:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grey-green_orthographic_projections_maps
You can set the central point wherever you want. I have used a projection not placed on the equator in my avatar image ;-)
D3.js, a javascript library for creating data-driven documents, provides some common projections. See link below for examples and a link to more projections available via plugin: https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Geo-Projections
A nifty example showing a globe with selectable projections: http://mbostock.github.io/d3/talk/20111018/azimuthal.html
An interactive comparison of projections here: http://bl.ocks.org/syntagmatic/3711245
