As for the 2D geoscape, all you have to do is disable the 3D geoscape option in the game menu.
I know now what made me think it wasn't working: the first time you start the game, when I setup the options prior to starting the campaign, the 3D option is not checked, though I naturally expected to see flat Earth. Once I started the game, thoug, it was as round as Galilee claimed it to be. Having read your previous post, I went to check the 3D setting again, and surely, it was checked. Trned it off, and the world was comfortably flat again.
However, at 1024*1280, the 2D geoscape appears vertically stretched.
I would ask you to consider the following: remove (or at least make it an option which one can turn on/off) the navigation aid on the control pane. It really stands out with its big arrows. This functionality is readily available - and much more convenient to use - with the right mous button and scroll weel. I do think that some people - perhaps under a thousand - on this planet do not have an RMB on their mouse, or a scroll weel, but for those few a checkmark in the options could do the trick.
To make my point, there is a mod for another XCOM clone which removes arrows akin to those introduced in the latest builds of UFO:AI for same reasons as described above.