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About TrueSize
TrueSize.net is a free, interactive map that shows the true size of countries, states, cities, historical empires and natural features. Ordinary world maps use the Mercator projection, which makes places near the poles look far bigger than they are: Greenland looks as large as Africa, although Africa is about 14 times bigger. In TrueSize you drag any region anywhere on the map or the 3D globe, and it keeps its real area while its shape adapts to the new latitude.
Why TrueSize?
- Real sizes everywhere. Every move happens on a sphere, so a region keeps its true area wherever you put it.
- More than 760,000 regions. Countries, states, provinces, counties, cities and towns, plus continents and 111 unions and alliances.
- History by year. A year-by-year timeline of historical borders with 4,186 historical entities and 22,255 border snapshots.
- Nature and languages. 787 natural features such as mountains, deserts, islands, peninsulas and plateaus, plus lakes, seas and rivers, and 4,810 approximate language areas, language families and official-language areas.
- Beyond Earth. See countries at true size on the Moon, Mars, Pluto and the other planets.
- Free, no account. Nothing to install or sign up for. Share any map with a link.
What You Can Do
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search and add | Find any country, state, city, union, mountain, lake or language and put it on the map. Load whole sets at once with Load All. |
| Move and compare | Drag, rotate and flip regions, see their total area and population, or compare two side by side. |
| Historical borders timeline | Pick any year and watch borders change; keep an empire from one year next to a country from another. |
| Countries on other planets | Show regions at true size on the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto or the Sun. |
| Mountains, deserts, islands and lakes | Compare natural features with countries. |
| Unions and alliances | Load the EU, NATO, BRICS and more than 100 other groups as a group of countries that moves together. |
| World languages map | See where languages and language families are spoken. |
| Living Earth | Live wind, ocean currents, waves, aurora and satellite imagery on the map. |
| Nuclear blast radius | See the effect rings of 29 nuclear weapons at true scale. |
| Population radius | Count how many people live inside a circle or a shape you draw. |
| Distance and bearing | Measure great-circle distances and directions. |
| Find a flag | Identify a flag from a description, colors or a picture among almost 50,000 flags. |
| Map styles and posters | 34 map skins, your own colors, and printable map posters as PNG, PDF or SVG. |
| Draw, divide and merge | Draw your own shapes, edit outlines, split a country into its regions or build your own union. |
| Share, import and export | Share a link, import GeoJSON, KML, GPX or Shapefiles, export your moved shapes. |
| Games | The TrueSize Challenge ("which is bigger?") and the Flag Quiz. |
The tutorial explains every feature step by step, and the examples show ready-made comparisons such as the USA on the Moon or the largest empires in history.
Who Is TrueSize For?
🎓 Educators and Students
- Geography lessons: show true country sizes and how map projections distort them
- History classes: compare empires and borders across the centuries
- Presentations and homework: clear visuals of scale in a few clicks
💼 Professionals and Researchers
- Data visualization: accurate size comparisons for reports and articles
- GIS work: import your own shapes and export the moved geometry
- Planning: compare the size of cities, regions and natural areas
🌐 Travelers and Map Lovers
- Trip planning: understand the real scale of where you are going
- Curiosity: find out how big things really are, on Earth and beyond
- Map art: make posters and wallpapers in 34 map styles
📰 Content Creators and Journalists
- Infographics and social posts: share a link or a screenshot of any comparison
- Videos: screen-record the interactive map
- Stories: give readers a sense of scale for places in the news
📱 TrueSize Mobile Apps
The free TrueSize app brings the map to your phone and tablet. It has the same core features as the website: search, moving and rotating regions, the historical timeline, measuring, drawing, map styles, the blast radius and population tools, and both games. A few features are only on the website: the 3D globe, planets, Living Earth, map posters, finding a flag by picture, comparing two regions side by side, and some import and export formats. See the mobile app page for the full list.
Is It Free?
Yes. TrueSize.net is completely free to use:
- ✅ No account registration required
- ✅ Compare as many regions as you like
- ✅ All historical years included
- ✅ Export to GeoJSON, TopoJSON, KML and Shapefile
- ✅ Commercial use permitted
- ✅ Free mobile apps for iOS and Android
To support us, please consider turning off ad blockers. It really means a lot to us. Thank you!
Attribution and License
Maps and visualizations you create with TrueSize are free for private and commercial use. Attribution is appreciated (but not required):
- Recommended: "Created with TrueSize.net"
- Alternative: Keep the built-in "TrueSize.net" watermark visible
- Minimal: Include a link to TrueSize.net in your credits
Data Sources and Thanks
Base Map Data
- Modern boundaries: OpenStreetMap contributors
- Historical maps: Historical Basemaps project by Alexandre Ourednik
- Satellite imagery: Esri World Imagery
- Geographic data: Natural Earth Data
Historical Borders
Historical borders are partly derived from Cliopatria by the Seshat Global History Databank (paper, data), licensed under CC BY 4.0. The outlines were simplified, clipped to the coastline and edited.
Languages
- Language areas from Glottography, dataset asher2007world (data), digitized from Asher, R. E. & Christopher J. Moseley (eds.) 2007. Atlas of the World's Languages, 2nd edn. Routledge.
- Official-language areas from Glottography, dataset wikipedia2024officiallang (data), based on Wikipedia contributors. 2024. "List of official languages by country and territory".
- Language classification from Glottolog: Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Bank, Sebastian. Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (glottolog.org)
These language datasets are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The areas were simplified and edited for the map.
Special thanks to the open-source community and geographic data maintainers who make projects like this possible.
Who Built This?
TrueSize is built and maintained by a single, map-obsessed developer passionate about making geography accessible and accurate. The project started from a simple question: "Why does Greenland look bigger than Africa on most maps?" and evolved into a comprehensive tool for geographic education and visualization.
Get in Touch
- Reddit: r/TrueSize — Community discussions and feature requests
- Bug reports: Use Reddit for now; GitHub coming soon
- Custom development: Contact via Reddit for new features or questions
Our Friends & Partners
GuessWhereYouAre.com — Free Geography Guessing Game
Love maps? Test your spatial skills with GuessWhereYouAre!
Drop into random Google Street View scenes worldwide and race to identify the country (or exact location) before time runs out. Inspired by GeoGuessr, but built for fast, free play in your browser.
Features:
- Daily challenges with global leaderboards
- Multiplayer mode for competing with friends
- Educational focus — Learn flag recognition, architecture, vegetation, and cultural clues
- Free to play — No sign-in required
Perfect for TrueSize users who want to test their geographic knowledge interactively! Available also under shorter domain FreeGuessr.com!
TuneJourney™ — Live Radio Globe powered by AI
TuneJourney brings together more than 70,000 live radio stations across 11,000+ cities and regions, with browser-based AI that listens in real time to detect music, talk, ads, and noise. Features:
- Interactive 3D globe for discovering stations by city, region, country, genre, bitrate, and language
- AI audio intelligence that can auto-skip DJ chatter and ad breaks to keep music playing
- ISS Auto-Tune that follows the International Space Station and switches to nearby radio stations as it orbits Earth
- Favorites and playlists with cross-device sync for signed-in listeners
- Always free — no signup required to start listening
Perfect for TrueSize users who enjoy exploring the world through real places, local culture, and live sound.
🗺️ PaintMyMap.com — Custom Map Creator
Need publication-ready, styled maps? Visit PaintMyMap.com!
PaintMyMap offers professional map creation with:
- Choropleth maps with data-driven coloring
- Labels, legends, and annotations for polished presentations
- Print-quality exports (PDF, SVG, high-res PNG)
- Statistical overlays and custom data visualization
- Hundreds of base maps — country, regional, and thematic options
TrueSize is great for size comparisons; PaintMyMap excels at detailed, styled cartography. Use them together for comprehensive map projects!
🗺️ GeoUtil.com — Free Online Map & Geography Tools
Need free online map and geography tools? Visit GeoUtil!
GeoUtil offers an all-in-one online geography toolkit with:
- Measure distance & area — Calculate precise measurements on interactive maps
- Convert formats — Transform GeoJSON, TopoJSON, and JSON files effortlessly
- Merge or minify files — Optimize your geographic data for better performance
- Fast, free, and browser-based — No downloads or installations required
Perfect for TrueSize users who need additional map utilities and geography tools!
Wikimedia Commons
Some flag icons are sourced from Wikimedia Commons and are used under their respective licenses.
Feedback & Roadmap
TrueSize is actively developed based on community feedback. Your input shapes the future! Join the r/TrueSize community to share ideas, report bugs, and vote on features.
TrueSize™ is an independent interactive map tool and is not affiliated with any other “True Size” website.