MapScaping presents
Paper Globe Shapes
Every globe here is a printable template — a flat net you cut out, fold, and glue into a 3D paper globe. These are the ten shapes the globe builder can fold any map into, from a ten-minute cube to a near-spherical folding sphere. Pick a free globe to download as a PDF, or open any shape in the builder.
Icosahedron
20 triangular faces · the classic
The best balance of roundness and foldability, and the shape every free globe on this site starts as. Twenty triangles fold into a convincingly round world in about twenty minutes.
Fold the IcosahedronFolding Sphere
12–24 tapered gores · most globe-like
The most globe-like of all: tapered gores that curl into a near-perfect sphere. More careful cutting, less gluing — the pattern mapmakers have used since the 1500s.
Fold the Folding SphereSoccer Ball
32 faces · 12 pentagons + 20 hexagons
The truncated icosahedron — the classic football pattern, and the geometry of the carbon-60 molecule. With 32 faces it folds into one of the roundest paper globes here.
Fold the Soccer BallAirocean
Fuller-style icosahedron
An Airocean layout in the spirit of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion map: the icosahedron unfolded so the continents stay almost unbroken and the cuts hide in the oceans.
Fold the AiroceanCahill–Keyes M
octahedral · the classic M
The Cahill–Keyes projection unfolds the world into its famous butterfly-like M with remarkably low distortion — a projection-lover's globe that almost nobody has held folded.
Fold the Cahill–Keyes MDodecahedron
12 pentagonal faces
Twelve pentagons give broad, readable map panels and a satisfyingly solid result — a favourite for classrooms and desks.
Fold the DodecahedronRhombic Dodecahedron
12 diamond faces
The rhombic dodecahedron folds from twelve diamonds — an unusual solid that goes together fast and can stand on a point.
Fold the Rhombic DodecahedronCube
6 faces · easiest fold
Six squares, ten minutes, scissors and glue — the easiest paper globe to make and a great first build for kids.
Fold the CubeOctahedron
8 faces · butterfly fold
Eight triangles that fold up like a butterfly. Nearly as quick as the cube, noticeably rounder.
Fold the OctahedronTetrahedron
4 faces · minimal
The minimal globe: four faces, very angular, very fast — and a hands-on demonstration of why every flat map must distort the Earth.
Fold the TetrahedronAll ten shapes work with every map style. Grab a free printable globe to start with the classic icosahedron, or build a custom globe in any shape with your own pinned places.