This map uses the Mercator projection — the one you've seen your whole life. It's great for navigation, but it badly stretches land the closer you get to the poles, so high-latitude places look far bigger than they truly are.

1. Search for a country or US state to drop it on the map.
2. Drag its coloured shape anywhere. It moves as a rigid shape on the globe, so its true size never changes — but Mercator inflates it near the poles and shrinks it near the equator, revealing the distortion.
3. The panel shows each shape's real area and how many times too big Mercator makes it look at its current latitude.
4. Switch View to Equal Earth or the Globe to see honest sizes, use Stack to overlap shapes, or Animate to slide a country from equator to pole.