Projections are the information used to orient points or features from a grid or vector file on the surface of the earth. Since the earth is round and maps (computer screens, too) are flat various ways have been devised to "project" the earth's curved surface to a flat display.
WARNING: FlamMap expects all provided projection information to be configured in the Open Geospatial Consortium-Well Known Text (OGC WKT) format. Some projection information may deviate from this standard, to be safe stick to a standard EPSG supported projection. The following links may provide help in sorting out projection problems,
FlamMap best practices include utilizing datum/projection information for landscapes and auxiliary themes. Local rectangular projections (UTM and state Albers are good ones) are best.
However, projection information is not required to use FlamMap, a Landscape (.LCP) File without a Projection (.PRJ) File can be loaded. Remember, there is always a projection for a Landscape (.LCP) File - FlamMap just doesn't have to know what it is. So outputs can be created, viewed, and saved - they will have the same projection as the loaded Landscape (.LCP) File. Auxiliary themes without a Projection (.PRJ) File can also be loaded and displayed as long as the user makes sure they were created in the same projection as the loaded Landscape (.LCP) File.
FlamMap will not create GeoTIFF (.TIF) or KMZ format outputs or attach a Projection (.PRJ) File to saved outputs without valid projection information. The GeoTIFF format also requires OGC WKT compliant projections, see the above warning.
Projection information for FlamMap is saved/transferred in two basic ways, embedded within the points file and as a separate file.
GeoTIFF (.TIF) and Keyhole Markup Language (.KMZ & .KML) files are examples of where the projection information is stored with the feature information in one file.
Shapefiles (.SHP), Landscape (.LCP), and Grid (.ASC) files are are examples of where the projection information is stored in a separate Projection (.PRJ) File. Typically the Projection (.PRJ) File has the same name and location as the feature file and is differentiated by the .PRJ extension.
If datum/projection information is available FlamMap will automatically transform and reproject Auxiliary Themes (both grid and vector) into the landscape projection. These reprojected Auxiliary Themes can also be used as masks when editing a landscape.
The datum/projection for a FlamMap Project is set by the datum/projection of the landscape. Valid datum/projection information can be linked to a FlamMap Project in several ways;