In March 2020, a YouTuber named PippenFTS launched an ambitious idea: rebuild the entire planet Earth, at 1:1 scale, inside Minecraft. What began as a bold experiment has since grown into BuildTheEarth (BTE), a worldwide collaboration that unites thousands of gamers under one digital mission—to replicate cities, landmarks, and landscapes block by block.
How It Works
The project is organized into regional teams—cities, countries, or continents—where builders apply, showcase their work, and then claim plots of land to recreate. Progress is carefully coordinated, ensuring landmarks and skylines are placed as accurately as possible.
To make Earth fit inside Minecraft, builders rely on map projections. After early experiments with the Mercator projection caused distortion, BTE shifted toward a Dymaxion projection, which reduces warping of landmasses (though oceans remain somewhat distorted).
Tools and mods also play a crucial role:
- Terra++ and similar mods help generate realistic terrain.
- OpenCubicChunks originally removed vertical height limits, though newer Minecraft updates (1.18+) have made this less necessary.
- Builders use Google Earth and GIS data to align structures with real-world coordinates.
Highlights and Achievements
Despite the daunting scope, progress is real and often spectacular.
- Independence Hall, Philadelphia: A global team completed the Hall, Visitor Center, and Liberty Bell Center in just two months, celebrating with a virtual July 4th fireworks show inside Minecraft.
- New York City: The NYC build is one of the largest undertakings, with an estimated 22% of the city completed, including financial districts and iconic landmarks.
- Spain’s Cities: From Madrid’s Plaza Castilla towers to Málaga, Almería, and Gibraltar, builders are steadily shaping the Iberian Peninsula.
- Educational Uses: Schools in Israel, Argentina, and Chile are using BTE builds to teach geography and mapping. In other cases, communities use the project to preserve lost villages or honor disaster-struck places.
- Recognition: The Guinness World Records organization has acknowledged BTE as one of the largest collaborative Minecraft projects ever.
Challenges Along the Way
Recreating Earth at full scale isn’t without obstacles:
- Sheer scale: Even with thousands of participants, the world is vast, and full completion could take decades.
- Coordination hurdles: Builders span time zones, languages, and skill levels, making collaboration complex.
- Game limitations: Terrain accuracy sometimes requires compromises, and while exteriors are prioritized, interiors are usually reserved for major public spaces.
Still, the momentum continues—fueled by the creativity and dedication of a passionate community.
Why BuildTheEarth Matters
What could easily be dismissed as “just a Minecraft project” has become something much larger:
- A tool for education and cultural preservation.
- A showcase of what online collaboration can achieve.
- A reminder of how gaming communities can channel passion into something monumental.
While the project may never truly be “finished,” its progress demonstrates the power of shared creativity on a global scale.
Conclusion
BuildTheEarth is more than an ambitious Minecraft challenge—it’s a digital monument to our planet. Whether it’s serving classrooms, preserving memories, or simply letting players wander through a familiar cityscape in blocky form, the project continues to inspire.
The question isn’t whether Earth will ever be fully built in Minecraft, but rather how far collaboration and imagination can take us along the way.









