Searchable Map of the World from Google maps

Click on the "Sat" button to see a map of the world made of satellite photos. You can zoom in to see geographical features around the world like mountains, lakes, beaches and islands, and also man-made features on the map like bridges, cities, buildings or even your own house.

This map of the world is called a Mercator Projection, which means that the 3D globe is stretched out as you move towards the top and bottom of the map to make it fit on a rectangular map. The effect is that Antactica (in the south) and Greenland (in the north) are made to look wider and larger than they actually are in reality. For a more accurate 3D globe effect on your computer try Google Earth.