Maps are not neutral. Learn how to read them.
Stories, experiments, and mathematics that turn an ordinary map into a tool for thinking critically about the world.
Editor's selection
Three reads that best explain the idea behind RealSize.World.
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Why all maps of the world lie
Find out why a 3D sphere cannot be perfectly projected onto a flat map. An explanation of Gauss's theorem and Mercator's distortions.
How Giant is Africa? The shrunken continent
The African continent is so massive that the entire USA, China, India, Japan, and most of Europe would fit inside its actual boundaries simultaneously. Test this anomaly.
The Greenland Illusion: Why the icy island is not a continent
On the Mercator projection, Greenland appears the size of Africa. In reality, it is 14 times smaller than Africa and 1.5 times smaller than India. See for yourself.
The Projection War: Mercator vs Gall-Peters and the search for fairness
The political and educational debate surrounding map projections. Why do Gall-Peters advocates accuse Mercator of Eurocentrism, and how does it affect schools?
The Equal Earth Projection: A modern answer to map distortion
The story behind the creation of the Equal Earth projection in 2018. See how cartographers designed a modern, equal-area, and visually pleasing world map.
Why Airlines Fly in Arcs? Great circle vs rhumb line
Explaining why flights from Europe to the USA travel in arcs near the Arctic Circle. Discover geodesics and the shortest paths on a globe.
10 Giant Countries that are actually much smaller
A list of 10 nations at high latitudes that look significantly larger on flat maps than their actual land area would dictate.
The Orange Peel Dilemma: Why flat maps are always a compromise
A simple, intuitive explanation of Gauss's theorem. Why you cannot flatten a 3D sphere without tearing it, and what it means for global mapping.
Exotic Projections: Peirce, Berghaus and beyond
Explore unusual cartographic projections: Peirce Quincuncial (star map), August Epicycloidal, or Orthographic Globe. Flattening the world differently.
Should Google Maps Use a 3D Globe? Evolution of web maps
How web maps evolved from a flat Web Mercator view to interactive 3D globes on smartphones, and why it is critical for geodesy.
Great circle vs rhumb line — why the shortest route looks longer
The great circle is the shortest path on the globe; the rhumb line keeps a constant bearing. On the Mercator map their roles swap. We explain why planes fly along a curve and how to test it.
Gnomonic vs Mercator — which straight line is shortest?
Two maps, two straight lines, and two different questions: shortest route versus constant compass bearing.
Where is the center of the world? The UN map explained
How the azimuthal equidistant projection works and why Antarctica can become a ring.
Why do cartographers cut the world like an orange peel?
The Interrupted Goode Homolosine shows why a visible seam can be more honest than stretching.
How humanity measured the shape of Earth
From Eratosthenes' stick to satellites: two millennia of measurements that pinned down Earth's shape and size — long before the first photo from space.
Do not take an article at face value. Test the map.
Move countries, change projections, and enable distortion layers in the main RealSize.World lab.