diff --git a/lanelet2_projection/include/lanelet2_projection/Geocentric.h b/lanelet2_projection/include/lanelet2_projection/Geocentric.h
index 33808e00..93737efb 100644
--- a/lanelet2_projection/include/lanelet2_projection/Geocentric.h
+++ b/lanelet2_projection/include/lanelet2_projection/Geocentric.h
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ namespace projection {
 
 class GeocentricProjector : public Projector {
  public:
+  // initialize the origin so that it's not the default one which causes
+  // IOHandler::handleDefaultProjector to throw an exception
+  GeocentricProjector() : Projector{Origin({90.0, 0.0, -6356752.3})} {}
   BasicPoint3d forward(const GPSPoint& gps) const override;
   GPSPoint reverse(const BasicPoint3d& enu) const override;
 };