[Qgis-user] projection for equal distance in all directions, not equal angle

[Dave Kimble]

Up till now I have only looked at small areas, so this problem may not 
have been apparent, but now, looking at a "World" shapefile, the screen 
image is obviously distorted.

View > Decorations > Grid > X=1 Y=1
gives a square grid pattern, when I was expecting a "rectangular" 
pattern - reflecting the length of a degree of Latitude (constant at 60 
nautical miles = 111 Km) and the length of a degree of Longitude 
(variable - shorter near poles).

I have tried various different CRS selections, and 3 different 
shapefiles, but always the same - the screen image appears stretched in 
the E-W direction.

Plug-in "Globe" correctly maps the shapefile onto a globe, so it's not 
file at fault.

I'm at a loss for vocabulary to describe it properly, or to look it up 
in Help.