Use an Equal Earth map in your next document

Start with a standard map or a custom composition

The download collection offers a labeled world, a blank outline map and a two-projection presentation composition. These are fixed files, so you can download them without running the interactive renderer. The paper sizes and file dimensions are listed beside each download.

Use Make a map when you need a different title, center, orientation, color theme or highlighted place. It also offers Physical relief. The custom tool exports PNG and SVG in your browser; the standard collection supplies prepared PDFs. There is no separate editable presentation deck in the collection.

Choose the file format

Format	Useful for	What to check
PNG	A map placed in a document, web page or slide	Pixel dimensions and readability at the final size.
SVG	Editors that support vector paths and text	Font substitution and the application’s SVG support.
PDF	Printing a prepared map at a named paper size	Page size, print scaling and printer margins.

Atlas SVGs keep their map outlines as vectors. A physical-relief SVG embeds the terrain as a raster image beneath the vector boundaries and labels. Enlarging that file preserves the boundary curves, but cannot invent terrain detail beyond the embedded image’s resolution.

The larger PNG contains more pixels, not a different composition. In the map maker, 3200 × 1880 and 1600 × 940 use the same layout. Choose the larger size when the map will occupy more space or needs to remain clear on a high-resolution display.

Relate pixels to print size

Print resolution is pixels divided by inches. At 300 pixels per inch, a 3200-pixel image is about 10.7 inches, or 27.1 cm, wide. A 1600-pixel image at the same resolution is about 5.3 inches, or 13.5 cm, wide. These are arithmetic examples, not a guarantee that a particular printer will make small labels readable.

For a large printed map, a standard vector PDF can be more useful than enlarging a small PNG. Open the PDF’s page properties and choose the intended paper. Use actual-size printing when you need the prepared dimensions, or fit-to-page when you deliberately want the printer to rescale it. Check a print preview for clipping.

Keep the map readable after placement

Resize proportionally. Stretching width and height independently adds shape distortion on top of the projection’s own geometry. Although a uniform planar stretch affects all filled areas by the same factor, the resulting shapes no longer match the intended projection, and circles or orientation cues can look misleading.

Check the map at the size your audience will actually see. A label readable on a large monitor can become too small in a two-column report. If many labels compete, use a blank map with a few highlights and explain the selected places in the surrounding text. Do not rely on color alone when readers need to distinguish two regions.

For a side-by-side projection comparison, disclose that each world was fitted independently. A larger outline on one panel does not by itself establish a geographic area ratio. Use the site’s shared-scale comparisons for that task.

Include enough information to identify the map

A useful source note names the map creator, projection, geographic dataset and page. For a map generated here, adapt this example to the file you actually used:

Map: Equal Earth Lab. Equal Earth projection. Natural Earth 5.1.2 boundaries; boundary-model area on a 6,371 km sphere. Source: equalearthlab.com.

For physical terrain, add “Natural Earth I 3.2.0 relief.” For a changed central meridian, unusual orientation or highlighted scope, mention that too when it affects interpretation. The custom map itself has no printed source caption; its SVG metadata retains the render settings and license information.

Check the applicable reuse terms

Natural Earth’s data are public domain. That describes the underlying geographic data, not every article or original composition that uses it. Check the license shown alongside this site’s downloads and the sources and licenses page for the asset you intend to reuse.

The same distinction applies to Equal Earth itself: a mathematical projection and a particular finished map are different works. Crediting the projection’s authors is useful, but does not replace checking the terms of a downloaded piece of artwork.