Q: How to draw a map in Equidistant cylindrical (or some other) projection?

Check out the M_Map package (http://www2.ocgy.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html).

"M_Map is a set of mapping tools written for Matlab v5. These include:
* Routines to project data in 18 different spherical projections (and determine inverse mappings)
* A grid generation routine to make nice axes with limits either in lat/long terms or in planar X/Y terms.
* A coastline database (with 1/4 degree resolution)
* A global elevation database (1 degree resolution)
* Hooks into freely available high-resolution coastline and bathymetry databases "