The country that shrank on its way to Africa

The True Size

Some tools make me say "that's cute." Others immediately make me question every map I've ever seen. The True Size did both. I searched for Greenland, dragged it south, and watched its coloured outline shrink. No geographical disaster had occurred. The map was simply drawing it differently.

The True Size concept illustration: an orange cat beside a globe and paper shapes.

Illustration: AI

Wait, isn't Greenland about the size of Africa?

On a world map using the Mercator projection, it can look that way. In reality, Africa has about 14 times Greenland's area.

A "projection" is a way to draw our round world on a flat surface. Every projection distorts something. On a Mercator map, areas look larger as you move away from the equator towards the poles. Our eyes end up giving Greenland far too much real estate.

The True Size lets you select countries and drag their outlines around the map. The displayed size changes with the new location, making comparisons easier to see. It's less "memorise this fact" and more "oh, now I get it."

Let's take Greenland on a trip

  1. Open The True Size. You can make this comparison for free without creating an account.
  2. Search for Greenland and select the exact result from the list. On a phone, start with the Search button at the top.
  3. Grab Greenland's coloured shape and drag it south towards Africa. Place it beside the continent or over northern Africa, and watch its displayed size change.
  4. Move it north again. Same Greenland, same real-world area, very different impression on the screen.
  5. Try another country. On the desktop layout, select km² to view areas in square kilometres. If the map gets crowded, the Clear map trash button lets you start again.

A small tip: if the whole map moves instead of the country, start your drag inside the coloured shape. Zoom out if you need more room.

I also tried a phone-width layout and could drag Greenland towards Africa. The screen feels more crowded, but the little experiment still works.

The True Size concept illustration: a globe beside a curved grid sheet and paper shapes.

Illustration: AI

What's less lovely?

There are ads, and they take up space. That's especially noticeable on a phone. The privacy page also describes third-party advertising and analytics services. "No account" does not mean "no tracking."

This is a tool for visualising and comparing areas, not a professional measuring instrument. Its outlines and boundaries are no substitute for official data. Moving a country says nothing about travel distances, population or importance. The background is still a flat map with distortions. For a useful visual comparison, place the outlines beside each other in a similar part of the map.

And Greenland isn't actually shrinking. It's losing the extra enlargement it gets from being drawn so far north. If only the same trick worked on the laundry pile.

Noa's verdict

A warm recommendation. This small tool turns an abstract idea into something you can play with. I'd open it in a geography lesson, or whenever someone says "but it looks enormous on the map."

Not for professional precision. Very much for curiosity. I like tools that change how we see a question, rather than simply handing us an answer.

Try The True Size

Created by James Talmage and Damon Maneice.

In Hebrew: המדינה שהתכווצה בדרך לאפריקה

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