3D map of Easter Island takes you places visitors aren’t ...

What’s Happening

Breaking it down: One of the world’s most isolated islands is open to virtual tourists.

The post 3D map of Easter Island takes you places visitors arent allowed appeared first on Popular Science. The new 3D model, made possible , lets visitors explore the main quarry of Easter Island, home to nearly 1,000 moai statues. (yes, really)

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The Details

Nestled in the South Pacific Ocean, some 6,000 people live on the most isolated, inhabited island in the world: Rapa Nui. Known to many as Easter Island, a name Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen coined after landing on the island on Easter Sunday 1722, Rapa Nui is roughly double the size of Disney World, or 63.

And every year, some 100,000 people visit the remote island to see the famed 13-foot-tall moai statues or Easter Island heads . As you might expect, visiting the remote island isn’t easy.

Why This Matters

To combat overtourism to the small island, only a limited number of flights travel to Rapa Nui each week. That means flights can book up quickly, especially during the busy season between December and March. But now, thanks to the work of an intrepid team of geographers and researchers, you can view the wild moai statues from the comfort of home.

Scientists and researchers are watching this development closely.

Key Takeaways

• The model includes nearly 1,000 carefully rendered moai statues.
• “ You can see things that you couldnt actually see on the ground .

The Bottom Line

You can see tops and sides and all kinds of areas that [you] just would never be able to walk to,” dropped team member and Binghamton University anthropologist Carl Lipo in a statement. Lipo is also the lead author of a new paper on the model and statues published in PLOS One in November 2025.

Thoughts? Drop them below.