Dymaxion (Airocean) projection
Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion (Airocean) map presents the world as a single island continent in a one world ocean. By projecting onto an icosahedron and placing cuts strictly through the seas, it keeps continental sizes nearly true and their shapes only slightly distorted.
One world island: breaking away from Eurocentric and polar biases
Buckminster Fuller published a first version in 1943 and the final, icosahedral one with Shoji Sadao in 1954. The Dymaxion projection breaks traditional cartographic rules. Fuller argued that standard North-up maps reinforce cultural bias and distort geographic truth. His map has no 'top' or 'bottom', so it can be read from any angle, revealing the natural continuity of landmasses, such as the proximity between Asia and North America.
Mathematically, the globe is projected onto an icosahedron, a regular polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. The map is flattened by unfolding these facets with cuts running through the oceans. While marine navigation suffers from the shredded oceans, it stands as one of the most accurate flat projections of landmasses ever created.
Global Cartographic Grid
Distortion Properties
| Property | Characteristic |
|---|---|
| Area | CompromiseCompromise: not equal-area, but area distortion is very small (usually within a few percent on our map) |
| Shape | CompromiseCompromise: small shape distortion because each of the 20 triangles is projected separately; the cuts run through the oceans |
| Distances | CompromiseCompromise: scale is true along the triangle edges and decreases toward their centers; distances cannot be measured across the ocean cuts |
| Angles and directions | CompromiseCompromise: not conformal; angular distortion is small, but directions break at the triangle edges |
| Continuity | InterruptedInterrupted (icosahedron unfolded onto a flat surface with cuts through oceans) |
History & Origin
The American architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller published a first version, based on a cuboctahedron, in Life magazine in 1943. He produced the final icosahedral version, the Airocean World Map, in 1954 with the cartographer Shoji Sadao. Fuller aimed to show the Earth as "one island in one ocean" (One Island, One Ocean), without splitting any major landmasses (like Asia and North America) and with as little distortion of their relative sizes as possible. Unlike most maps, it has no top or bottom, nor a preferred North-up orientation.
Applications
Primarily educational use, posters, geographic and environmental visualizations demonstrating global land continuity without Eurocentric or North-up biases. Entirely useless for marine and air navigation due to multiple interruptions.
How to read this map
Imagine wrapping the globe with 20 triangular stickers, then peeling them off in a single connected piece and laying them on a table, keeping all the landmasses joined.
- View the map from different angles; there is no fixed 'up' or North-up orientation.
- Notice how close Siberia and Alaska are. On traditional maps they are split by the paper's edge.
- Do not navigate ships using this map, as ocean routes are cut in multiple places.
- Compare the sizes of Africa, Russia, and America: their proportions are nearly true.
What you gain and lose
Dymaxion sacrifices ocean continuity and compass directions to keep continental areas nearly true and shapes only slightly distorted.
Showing the global connection of landmasses, human migration patterns, climate change issues, and lessons on the lack of absolute orientation in space.
Marine and aerial navigation, compass route finding, studying ocean currents and shipping lanes.
Not sure this projection fits your map? Answer three questions in the finder →
Want to see it next to another projection? Compare: Airocean (Dymaxion) vs Mercator →
Can you recognize this projection without the label?
The projection quiz uses graticules and world outlines, so it is a natural next step from this page.
One attempt, the same set for everyone
Size illusion · Build a streak and come back tomorrow for another map.
✦ How do different countries look in this projection?
Analyze shape distortions of 5 countries in this cartographic projection and test them in the sandbox.
The USA sits on a facet with excellent scale fidelity, directly connected to the rest of North America.
Test on map →
Russia does not dominate the map. Its area is shown in fair proportion to Africa.
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Greenland is shown as a medium-sized island, finally stripped of its colossal Mercator distortion.
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Brazil fully reflects its immense size, without the compression typical of the Gall-Peters projection.
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Poland sits in the European section of the land belt, maintaining correct proportions to other nations.
Test on map →Facts worth remembering
- The first, cuboctahedral version appeared in Life magazine on 1 March 1943 in the feature 'Life Presents R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion World'.
- The name 'Dymaxion' is a portmanteau of 'dynamic', 'maximum', and 'tension', words Fuller frequently used.
- The 1954 version was developed in collaboration with Shoji Sadao, who drew the cartographic grid.
Keep reading about maps that reshape intuition
Frequently Asked Questions
Buckminster Fuller argued that in the universe there is no 'up', 'down', 'east', or 'west', only 'in' and 'out'. He viewed traditional North-up maps as culturally biased, so the Dymaxion map can be oriented in any direction without losing its accuracy.
No. It is neither equal-area nor conformal, but its area distortion is very small because each of the 20 triangles is projected separately. It represents country proportions far more accurately than Mercator.
This is because the Earth is projected onto an icosahedron (a 20-sided regular polyhedron with triangular faces), which is then cut and unfolded flat. The cuts are strategically placed through oceans to keep major continents intact.
Do not use it for navigation or compass bearings, as straight line directions bend at the boundaries of the triangular facets. It is also very difficult to measure distances that cross the ocean cut lines.
Almost all continents and countries look excellent. Thanks to very small area distortion, northern regions like Russia, Canada, and Greenland maintain their actual, proportional sizes relative to Africa or South America.