Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to the Mercator projection like you've never seen it before
An interactive playground to explore the extreme distortions of the Mercator projection. Set any point on Earth as the new North Pole. Warp the map in real-time. See the world in a whole new way.
This interactive tool lets users explore how the Mercator projection distorts maps by choosing any point on Earth as the new North Pole and watching the map warp in real-time. Unlike standard Mercator projections, it… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. the Mercator projection like you've never seen it before launched in 2014; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1IE
2017 · mjmdavis.com · its alternatives →
- 2LW
Hi HN, I made a web game to practice country locations a while ago and HN liked it, so I thought I'd post my updated version as well. As for how the game works and feels, I'd really recommend you checking it out for yourself, it's free, no signup, no ads. The tech stack is Vue + ts + Tailwind/Daisy for the looks. The learning algorithm is a slight modification of the ts version of FSRS. If you have anything to add, it's open source as well (https://github.com/koljapluemer/learn-worldmap), although not well documented yet. In the end it's just a little sideproject,…
2025 · map.koljapluemer.com · its alternatives →
- 3
I've been working on this project for about 4 years. It began as terrain only because world wide elevation data was publicly available. I then added buildings from OpenStreetMap (crowd sourced) and more recently from Overture Maps data. Some computer vision/machine learning advancements [1] in the past few years have made it possible to estimate tree canopy heights using satellite imagery alone making it possible to finally add trees to the map. The data isn't perfect, but it's within +/- 3 meters of so. Good enough to give a general idea for any location on Earth. Happy to answer…
2024 · shademap.app · its alternatives →
- 4
EarthGuessr▲192I built it as a way to practice programming. There are probably much better alternatives out there.
2025 · earthguessr.com · its alternatives →
- 5
The world map has been lying to you — see the truth
2025 · truesizeofcountries.org · its alternatives →
- 6
Compare the old Mercator world map with the new Equal Earth map side by side. Pan or zoom one map and the other follows — see every country
Sep 2026 · newworldsize.com · its alternatives →
- 7
Flexible tool to build planet-scale vector tilesets from OpenStreetMap data fast - onthegomap/planetiler
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
mercator▲4Weather, ocean & elevation data as value-encoded map tiles
Jul 2026 · mercator.blue · its alternatives →
- 9
AstraPixelsfree tier, from $5/mo▲267A pixel-art solar system at its real current positions.
Aug 2026 · astrapixels.com · its alternatives →
- 10
I built a drag-and-drop map playground to compare the true sizes of countries and visualize Mercator distortion, just for fun and sharing. Open source + easy to replace the GeoJSON with your own data. Demo: https://www.runcell.dev/tool/true-size-map Source: https://github.com/ObservedObserver/world-map-reality
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Ever wondered if you dig a straight hole through the Earth, where would you end up? Use our interactive Antipodes Map (Land Hunter) to find the exact opposite side of your location. Challenge your geography knowledge now!
2025 · true-size.com · its alternatives →
- 12
OP here: I created this visualization tool as the byproduct of a supply chain class I taught at Columbia. The pedagogical exercise grew into a full blown visualization and paper about global oil trade. The model: The mechanics are the same as the financial network Eisenberg-Noe: Instead of banks, every country consumes oil interconnected via bilateral trading. Shocks propagate throughout the network, depleting oil reserves when bottleneck nodes (such as the Strait of Hormuz) are blocked. Insights: The interesting part is the mechanics of how the crisis unfolds: for example, France receives 0…
Jul 2026 · globaloilnetwork.staffinganalytics.io · its alternatives →
- 13
A rotatable Earth that drags today's countries and major cities through the Merdith 2021 plate reconstruction model, plus a simple future extrapolation. Continents keep their color families while the land follows plate motion from 1000 million years ago to 250 million years ahead.
Aug 2026 · douwe.com · its alternatives →
- 14
This is a service I've built to provide equirectangular cloud maps of the whole Earth, updated every 3 hours, for free. It's based on infrared and visible light data from EUMETSAT, processed to enhance the clouds and try to reduce the impact of surface temperatures on the final image. I built it because it's surprisingly hard to find these kinds of images in a format that's useful to developers and hobbyists. I was building a 3D ISS tracker and wanted to include live clouds but couldn't find anything good, so I got sidetracked, and here we are.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15
TiltMaps▲175Create map posters of your favorite places & memories.
2017 · tiltmaps.com · its alternatives →
- 16
A "virtual satellite" to map Earth in unprecedented detail
2025 · deepmind.google · its alternatives →
- 17IM
Hi HN, I built a little tool to help me get better at remembering country locations on the map: https://learn-worldmap.netlify.app/ It's made from plain HTML/CSS/JS, and not intended to make any money or anything. Just thought that maybe someone else may enjoy it. Also of course happy about any feedback! Cheerz.
2023 · learn-worldmap.netlify.app · its alternatives →
- 18
PixelSpace▲68A tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
2014 · joshworth.com · its alternatives →
- 19
- 20
UpToWhere▲28The idea came to me after spotting the sea peeking through mountains on a drive near Barcelona. It left me wondering what else was visible from different locations. Some of the features I later added include 3D maps, sun path calculation, adjustable elevation (calculate from a drone/plane POV), and mountain detection. To celebrate the launch, the first 100 HN users can get 1 month of free premium access with the code: UTWfirst100. I’d love your feedback, questions, and suggestions. What would you use this for? What features would you like to see?
2025 · uptowhere.com · its alternatives →
- 21G3
I made a web app to generate 3D models of real places on earth from land cover and elevation data. Click anywhere on the map to get a polygon, and then click "generate". It should work at most scales, but if your watershed or region selection is too large, the result can be less exciting because it's so flat. As a warning, the 3D models can sometimes be too much for my phone. It's nicer on desktop. I'm still working better on mobile support. The land cover data I'm using gives a cool effect, but at some point I'd like to add in global imagery and clouds. The backend is a Python thread…
2025 · topography.jessekv.com · its alternatives →
- 22
MapScroll▲109Hi HN, I built this after getting frustrated trying to map out things like “Ancient mayan ruins” or “James Bond movie locations” on Google "My" Maps. You basically have to drop pins manually, hunt down photos, copy links, it’s slow and never feels like an actual story. With MapScroll, you just type something like “Marco Polo’s route” or “forgotten WWII sites in France”, and it geocodes, grabs images + articles, and plots everything into a shareable story map. Each marker comes with a little gallery and sources tied to your prompt. You can also refine the first draft which AI creates before…
2025 · mapscroll.ai · its alternatives →
- 23
I've been working on GeoTraceroute for a while and just shipped v2.3 with submarine cable inference. A few things that might interest HN: - 320 community-contributed nodes across 50 countries, all volunteer-run - Three views: 3D globe with day/night rendering, 2D map, and a topological mode that infers submarine cable routing - The submarine cable inference is the part I find most interesting. Since cable routers don't respond to ICMP, the underwater segments are invisible to standard traceroute. The tool detects ocean crossings by geolocation delta between consecutive hops, then infers…
Apr 2026 · geotraceroute.com · its alternatives →
- 24
Also compare
- Interactively explore different map projections alternatives
- Learn where countries are on the world map with Spaced Repetition alternatives
- Every mountain, building and tree shadow mapped for any date and time alternatives
- EarthGuessr alternatives
- TrueSizeOfCountries.org alternatives
- Mercator vs. UN's new Equal Earth map, synced side by side alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →