Digital maps today are often high fidelity works of art, with a precision, detail, and range of color not seen in other formats. Modern digital cartography also boasts a range of interactive features. Actions like zooming and panning have become second nature. But this was not always the case. Early digital maps were simpler, more abstract interfaces held back by—and testing the limits of—smaller screens with few colors and low refresh rates. Interactivity, if present, was limited to turning data layers on or off, or switching to other static maps as part of a series.
MapSCII is a modern map that blends both worlds. Launched from the console by text input, it draws Earth using ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters. With a palette of just 128 characters and 33 colors, MapSCII retrieves data from OpenStreetMap and renders a map using only text.
Developed by Michael Straßburger, the MapSCII project began in 2016 and has been contributed to by several others. The program carries an MIT license, granting wide permissions to use, share, and modify its underlying code.
While using MapSCII, you begin with a map of the world. From there, you can pan, zoom, and explore countries, cities, and even neighborhoods as the map redraws with increasing detail. As you zoom in, areas are filled in with land cover like forests and parks, along with features of the built environment like roads, building footprints, and other points of interest.
Advanced users can use MapSCII to view data on other vector tile servers, or customize the style and colors used to render the map.
Although it is modern and makes use of present-day technology, MapSCII is a fun and fast way to explore the world in a design reminiscent of those from decades ago.
