How to Flatten a Sphere, and What You Lose in the Process
Every flat map is a lie. The moment you peel the curved surface of a sphere and press it flat, something must give: areas stretch, angles warp, distances bend. For five centuries, cartographers have invented ingenious projections that sacrifice one truth to preserve another. Mercator keeps your compass bearings straight but inflates Greenland to the size of Africa. Mollweide preserves area but warps shapes at the edges. The Robinson projection compromises on everything, distorting nothing too badly. Explore ten interactive demonstrations of how we flatten our world—and discover what each projection preserves, what it sacrifices, and why it matters.
The foundational projections that shaped navigation, education, and our mental image of the world.
The navigator's projection with Tissot circles showing how area distortion grows explosively toward the poles. Drag to pan.
Neither conformal nor equal-area, Robinson distorts everything a little but nothing too much. Hover to see local distortion values.
Perfect area preservation in an elegant ellipse. Rotate the central meridian and watch Tissot ellipses change shape while keeping equal area.
All distances from center are true. The projection used on the United Nations flag. Pick any city as the center point.
Perfectly conformal: every angle preserved, every circle remains a circle. Move the tangent point and zoom to explore.
Interrupted projections, navigation routes, smooth morphing, and the radical Dymaxion map.
An interrupted equal-area projection: sinusoidal near the equator, Mollweide at high latitudes. Toggle between land and ocean views.
Pick any two projections and compare them directly. See how the same Tissot circles look wildly different under each mapping.
Click two points to compare the shortest path (great circle) with the constant-bearing path (rhumb line). See distances and percentage difference.
Watch the graticule smoothly transform as projections morph into each other. Auto-cycle through five projections or drag manually.
Fuller's radical idea: project Earth onto an icosahedron, then unfold the 20 triangular faces. Minimal distortion, maximum insight.