Final answer:
Conformal projections are used in cartography to maintain the shape of small geographic areas, with the Mercator projection being a common example.
Step-by-step explanation:
Conformal projections are designed to maintain the shape of geographical areas. While they do preserve angles and the shapes of small areas, they inevitably distort areas and distances to some degree, especially toward the poles in global maps. The most common conformal projections include the Mercator projection, which is widely used for navigation because of its ability to represent lines of constant course, known as rhumb lines, as straight segments that conserve angles with the meridians.