Jordan Hale
Writer, Oh My Maps!
Writes the how-to guides on Oh My Maps! — painting maps, building choropleths from spreadsheet data, and picking the right projection for the job.
Articles
Equal-Area vs Compromise Projections: Which One Does Your Map Actually Need?
The UN recommended equal-area projections, but equal-area is not automatically right for every map. A decision guide covering Equal Earth, Natural Earth, Robinson and when each one wins.
·4 min
What Is the Equal Earth Projection? The Map the UN Named, Explained
Equal Earth is a pseudocylindrical equal-area projection from 2018 that looks like Robinson but gets every country's area exactly right. Here is what it preserves, what it distorts, and when to use it.
·4 min
How to Make an Equal Earth Map Online (Free, No Sign-Up)
A step-by-step walkthrough of building a world map on the Equal Earth projection in the browser: paint or import your data, switch projection, add a legend, and export it print-ready.
·4 min
The True Size of Africa: Why Mercator Shrinks a Continent
Africa is about 14 times the size of Greenland, but a Mercator map draws them nearly equal. Here is the arithmetic behind the distortion, and why a UN resolution ended up being about it.
·4 min
The UN Endorsed the Equal Earth Projection: What the Resolution Actually Says
On 4 September 2026 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/80/L.104, 'Correct the map', by 164 votes to 1. Here is what it does, what it does not do, and why almost every headline about it was wrong.
·5 min
How to Make a US Sales Territory or Regional Map (Census Regions Included)
Build a US territory or regional business map: apply Census regions as a starting point, adjust the states that don't fit, and colour by customer count, revenue or any other value from a spreadsheet.
·3 min
How to Share a Custom Map with a Link (No Account, No File Upload)
Send someone your painted map with a single link that reproduces it exactly, without creating an account and without any map data ever reaching a server.
·3 min
How to Make a Rotating Globe Map (Orthographic Projection)
Turn your painted world map into a rotatable globe: how to spin it, frame a hemisphere, and export a view centred exactly where you want it.
·4 min
How to Make Every Country a Different Colour (Random Colour Tool)
Colour every country on the map a distinct hue in one click, useful for reference maps and presentations where no data is behind the colours.
·3 min
PNG vs SVG vs JPEG vs WebP: Which Export Format Should You Use for Your Map
A practical guide to the four export formats in Oh My Maps!: which one to pick for a slide, a printed page, a social post, or a file you will keep editing.
·4 min
How to Colour Country Groups and Alliances (EU, NATO, BRICS and More) in One Click
Paint whole continents, the European Union, NATO, BRICS, OPEC, ASEAN or Mercosur in a single click, then adjust the two or three countries you disagree with.
·3 min
Free Alternatives to MapChart: How Oh My Maps! Compares for Custom Maps
An honest, feature-by-feature comparison between Oh My Maps! and MapChart for painting custom maps, with what each tool actually offers and where they differ.
·4 min
How to Make a Geography Quiz or Classroom Map
Build a blank or partially labelled map for a geography quiz or handout: paint the countries you're asking about, control exactly which names show, and export a print-ready file.
·3 min
How to Make a Colour-Blind-Friendly, Print-Safe Map with Patterns
Add diagonal hatching or dots to a painted country so your map still reads correctly in black-and-white print and for colour-blind viewers.
·3 min
How Oh My Maps! Places Country Labels Automatically (and What Happens When It Can't)
How the editor decides where a country name goes when it doesn't fit inside its own borders, and what happens on a map too crowded for labels to fit at all.
·4 min
How to Make a US Election Map (or Any Map of the 50 States)
Build a map of the 50 states and DC in the browser: paint states by hand, apply Census regions in one click, import results from a spreadsheet by state name, abbreviation or FIPS code, and export without a watermark.
·7 min
How to Make a Map of Europe
Colour a map of Europe in the browser: 51 countries and territories including the microstates, five projections, flags beside labels, spreadsheet import by name or ISO code, and an unwatermarked export.
·7 min
How to Make a Map of Brazil's States
Colour the 27 Brazilian federative units in the browser: paint them by hand, apply the five IBGE regions in one click, import a spreadsheet by state name or two-letter code, and export a print-ready file.
·7 min
Which Map Projection Should You Use? Natural Earth vs Equal Earth vs Mercator (and 3 more)
A practical guide to the six world map projections in Oh My Maps!: what each one distorts, what it preserves, and which to pick for a travel map, a choropleth, a navigation chart or a slide.
·7 min
How to Make a Map of Countries You've Visited
Build a travel map of the countries you've been to in a few minutes: paint them, separate 'lived in' from 'passed through', add a legend, and export a print-ready image or a shareable link.
·6 min
How to Create a Choropleth Map from Spreadsheet Data
Paste a CSV or TSV of country values and get a shaded choropleth map: matching countries, choosing sequential or diverging scales, equal intervals vs quantiles vs custom thresholds, and exporting with a generated legend.
·6 min
How to Make a Custom World Map Online (Free, No Sign-Up)
A complete walkthrough of building a custom world map in the browser: painting countries, selecting whole continents, patterns, labels and flags, a legend, projections, and exporting a print-ready file.
·9 min