XYZ to UVW Projection maps are also known as planar projection or flat mapping. This Projection map takes the coordinates in world or object space and uses them as UVW coordinates. For images, only the X and Y coordinates are relevant, which map to U and V. In other words, the images use flat mapping projected along the Z axis.
Rotating the mapping around the Z-axis rotates the image around the center, as the UVW rotation would do.
Figure 1: The XYZ Projection applied to various primitive shapes