About the map and its sources

Why this exists

A flat map cannot preserve every property of the globe. On a Mercator world map, distortion is strongest at high latitudes. Moving an outline makes that effect easier to notice. The U.S. Geological Survey explains this in its overview of map projections.

Method & sources

The map uses 242 features from Natural Earth’s 1:50m Admin 0 Countries data. We simplify the boundary coordinates for a faster browser download while keeping small shapes in the dataset. The site serves its own copy; your browser does not need a third-party map service. The boundaries are intended for a broad world view, not precise local measurements.

The prepared dataset was retrieved and checked on 2026-09-30. Its input is pinned to Natural Earth repository revision 9380cca83db5. That revision identifies the exact boundary file behind these figures; it is not a claim that every border was surveyed on that date. The source data is public domain.

Each approximate area is calculated from the original polygon coordinates on a sphere before the display geometry is simplified. At its original position, the selected outline uses the same projected boundary as the map beneath it. Dragging rotates the boundary on a spherical globe so its anchor moves to the new location, then draws it in the chosen map view. This preserves its size on the globe, while the apparent shape and size can change in the flat map. The area number remains fixed.

The wide world view uses an equirectangular projection. It fits the whole world into a broad frame, but stretches apparent area near the poles. Mercator stretches high latitudes more strongly while preserving local angles. Equal Earth keeps a constant area scale across latitudes while curving the map’s edges inward near the poles.

What the comparison cannot show

Coarse boundaries omit small islands and shoreline detail. Moved polygons crossing the date line are split and drawn on both map edges. A shape surrounding a pole can span the top or bottom of an equal-area map. Mercator clips the drawing beyond 85° north and south because its poles cannot be shown at a finite height; clipped portions do not reduce the fixed area estimate. The area estimates may differ from official land or total-area figures, and borders and names follow the source file. This is an educational visualization, not a survey or statement about disputed boundaries.

The projection guide shows the scale changes in each view. The area guide distinguishes our map estimate from official land and total-area figures. The area index contains the approximate size of every mapped country and territory feature.

Updates and corrections

Areas are generated automatically from the pinned source polygons with a mean spherical Earth radius of 6,371.0088 km, subtracting holes before the display boundaries are simplified. The source checksum, anchor choices and generation settings are recorded with the site. A source update requires regenerating the dataset, checking all area values and reviewing changes to names, boundaries, rankings, quiz answers and saved map views before publication. The recorded data date changes when that work is completed.

If a boundary, name or explanation looks wrong, send the page address and the relevant source to [email protected]. Country names and territory grouping follow Natural Earth; they do not constitute a sovereignty ruling.

Publisher and contact

The company that publishes this site is identified in our privacy policy. Readers can write to [email protected] about corrections, sources or privacy requests.