Old maps you can actually reuse.
Describe the map you need. Find Any Map searches the Library of Congress, other archives and the USGS topographic map collection at once, keeps only maps that are public domain, and tells you why each one is free to use.
167,403 public-domain maps and atlases indexed, including 186,061 USGS topographic map editions.
“map of the Roman Empire”
“Battle of Gettysburg troop positions”
1905
“bird's-eye view of San Francisco”
1868
“16th century world map”
1600
“plan of the city of New York, 1800s”
1863
“map of the Holy Land”
1659
Half of the old maps you find online aren't free to reuse.
An old map can carry a new licence: a modern scan or redrawing under CC BY-SA, a non-commercial collection, or a file tagged both ways. In our test of 30 real map requests, 48% of Wikimedia Commons' own results weren't free to reuse. Find Any Map checks every file's licence before it enters the index, leaves out anything that isn't clearly public domain or CC0, and writes the reason and the credit line on each map.
How it works
- Step 1
Describe the map
Say the place, the time and what the map should show: "Europe in 1914", "Gettysburg troop positions", "Chicago in the 1890s".
- Step 2
Check where it's from
Every result shows its archive, its date and why it is free to reuse: published before 1931, a US government map, or its maker died long ago.
- Step 3
Download and credit
Download the full-size scan from the archive and copy a ready-made credit line. Or ask Claude to find the maps for a whole video, lesson or book.
Browse by topic
All topics- Maps of the Roman Empire
The Empire at its height, the Republic, provinces and roads, from historical atlases.
- Maps of Europe in 1914
Empires, alliances and borders on the eve of the First World War.
- Maps of Europe in 1939
Borders on the eve of the Second World War and the war's situation maps.
- Civil War maps
Battle maps, campaigns and troop positions, 1861–1865.
- World War 1 maps
The Western Front, trench maps, Gallipoli and the Eastern Front.
- World War 2 maps
D-Day, the Pacific and US Army situation maps.
- Revolutionary War maps
Boston, Saratoga, Yorktown and the colonies at war, 1775–1783.
- Old maps
World maps, city plans, bird's-eye views and atlases, 1500s–1920s.
- Old world maps
Waldseemüller, Ortelius, Blaeu and double-hemisphere world maps.
- Maps of the ancient world
Egypt, Greece, Persia, Alexander and the ancient Near East.
- Medieval maps
Mappae mundi, portolan charts and maps of medieval Europe.
- Maps of the Holy Roman Empire
The Empire's states from the Middle Ages to 1806.
- Maps of the Ottoman Empire
The empire's growth and decline, Constantinople and the Balkans.
- Maps of colonial America
The Thirteen Colonies, New England, Virginia and New Netherland.
- Maps of westward expansion
The Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, trails and territories.
- Old railroad maps
Railroad companies, routes and land grants in the 1800s.
- Bird's-eye views of American cities
Panoramic maps of American towns drawn from above, 1850s–1920s.
- Sanborn fire insurance maps
Building-by-building plans of American towns, volume by volume.
- Historical USGS topographic maps
Every edition of USGS quadrangles since the 1880s.
- Old nautical charts
Harbours, coasts and oceans with soundings.
- Old star charts and celestial maps
Constellations drawn as figures, planispheres and maps of the heavens.
- Old maps of New York City
Manhattan from New Amsterdam to the 1920s, Brooklyn and atlases.
- Old maps of Chicago
Before and after the Great Fire, views and Sanborn atlases.
- Old maps of Washington, D.C.
L'Enfant's plan, the 19th-century city and the Civil War defences.
- Old maps of London
Before the Great Fire, Georgian and Victorian London.
- Old maps of Paris
The Turgot plan, Paris before and after Haussmann.
- Old maps of Jerusalem and the Holy Land
Bible maps, the twelve tribes and plans of Jerusalem.
- Old maps of Japan
Edo-period maps of Japan, plans of Edo and Kyoto.
- Old maps of China
Chinese maps of the empire, Beijing and European maps of China.
- Old maps of Africa
The continent from the 1500s, the Cape, the Nile and the colonial era.
Every map comes with its paperwork
Each map says why it is public domain, in plain words, and which record that was read from. Files that carry a Creative Commons licence next to a public-domain tag are left out, and so are collections that license their scans for non-commercial use only, so “public domain” here means public domain.
Turn on Safest licences to see only maps published before 1931, US government maps and CC0. How licences work
Use it inside Claude
Writing a script, a lesson or an article with Claude? Add Find Any Map and ask for the maps you need. Every app uses the same address; you sign in once with your email or Google account.
Claude (web, desktop, iPhone, Android)
Use the button, or go to Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste the address. Free plans can add one custom connector; Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise can add more.
https://findanymap.com/api/mcpClaude Code
Run this in your terminal, then type /mcp in Claude Code and sign in.
claude mcp add --transport http find-any-map https://findanymap.com/api/mcpCursor and other MCP apps
Add this server to your MCP settings (mcp.json). Your app opens a browser window to sign in.
{"mcpServers":{"find-any-map":{"url":"https://findanymap.com/api/mcp"}}}Free to start
Map pages, downloads and credit lines are free. 50 searches a month are free with an account; Pro is $8 a month, or $60 a year, for 2,000.
Questions
- Are the maps free to use?
- Yes. Every map in the index is public domain in the United States or dedicated to the public domain (CC0), so you can use it, including commercially, without asking or paying. Each map shows why: published before 1931, made by the US government (all USGS maps are), or its maker died long ago. Maps licensed CC BY, CC BY-SA or non-commercial are left out, and so are files that carry a Creative Commons tag next to a public-domain one. Copyright terms differ outside the US, so check if you publish elsewhere.
- Why not just search Wikimedia Commons or Google Images?
- Because about half of what comes back isn't free to reuse. In our test of 30 real map requests, 48% of Wikimedia Commons' own results carried a licence that requires attribution or share-alike, or mixed tags. Find Any Map searches the Library of Congress maps on Commons, other archives and the USGS topographic map collection at once, keeps only maps whose licence is clearly public domain or CC0, and shows the reason on each one.
- Are the maps AI-generated?
- No. Every result is a real scan from an archive: the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library and other archives through their copies on Wikimedia Commons, and the US Geological Survey. AI is used only to read the archive records so they can be searched by meaning.
- What about Sanborn maps and USGS topographic maps?
- A Sanborn fire insurance atlas shows up as one result per volume, with all its sheets on its page, so one city's atlas doesn't fill the results. A USGS topographic map shows up as one result per quadrangle and scale, with every edition the USGS kept, each with a GeoTIFF and GeoPDF download.
- Do I have to credit the maps?
- Public-domain maps don't legally require a credit, but archives ask for one and it helps anyone checking your work. Every map comes with a ready-made credit line, and the credits tool in Claude writes them for a whole set.
- What does it cost?
- Map pages, downloads and credit lines are free. Searching is free for 50 searches a month with a free account (5 a day without one); Pro is $8 a month or $60 a year for 2,000 searches a month.
- Which apps does it work in?
- The website, and Claude on the web, desktop and phone, Claude Code, Cursor and other apps that support remote MCP connectors with sign-in.