In this projection the world is enclosed in a circle. The central meridian and Equator are straight lines; other meridians are arcs of circles. Scale is true along the Equator only. Area distortion is extreme near the poles. This projection is neither conformal nor equal-area. The projection was created by Alphons J. Van der Grinten in 1898. He obtained U.S., British, Canadian and French. patents in 1904-1905. The National Geographic used this projection as its official world map from 1922-1988, when the Robinson projection replaced it.