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Geolens

An open classroom for Earth science

Understand the Earth in 3D.

Turn a model, change a variable and see how the Earth works. Explore geography through interactive labs and the landscapes they help explain.

Explore the labs Plan a lesson

Completely free for students, teachers and school geography clubs, with no account, adverts or paywall.

Explore by subject

Where would you like to begin?

Meteosat view of Earth's day–night boundary on the December solstice, with more of the Southern Hemisphere in daylight.

10 labs

Planet

Explore how Earth’s motion and its relationship with the Sun and Moon produce days, seasons, phases and eclipses.

Green crystalline mantle peridotite enclosed by darker volcanic host rock at Peridot Mesa, Arizona.

8 labs

Interior & Plates

Look inside Earth and follow the movement of tectonic plates to understand how oceans open and mountain belts form.

Orange and blue atmospheric layers above Earth's curved horizon, with a crescent Moon in the black sky.

9 labs

Atmosphere

Investigate how sunlight, air pressure and circulation shape weather and the world’s broad climate patterns.

The muddy Ucayali River winds through forest in Peru, with abandoned bends beside the active channel.

9 labs

Water & Carbon

Trace water and carbon through connected stores, then compare the behaviour of rivers, oceans and catchments.

Layered cliffs, mesas and deeply incised valleys of the Grand Canyon in evening light.

11 labs

Landforms

Examine how rivers, waves, glaciers and rock deformation create the landforms we observe in the landscape.

An exposed soil profile beneath woodland at Wuhlheide in Berlin, with a measuring tape against the face.

6 labs

Soils & Rocks

Inspect rock textures and soil profiles, and compare the processes that break down, transport and transform their material.

Satellite view of Typhoon Mangkhut with a compact eye and spiralling cloud bands in September 2018.

5 labs

Hazards

Explore the mechanisms behind earthquakes, eruptions and severe storms, and distinguish a physical process from its local impacts.

Ordnance Survey 1:250,000 map sheet NO of northeast Scotland with the British National Grid.

4 labs

Skills

Build confidence with contours, coordinates and projections by comparing each map with the terrain or globe it represents.

Inside the models

A closer look at familiar questions.

Meteosat view of Earth's day–night boundary on the December solstice, with more of the Southern Hemisphere in daylight.

Planet

Why seasons happen

Steep dark rock walls border the Almannagjá rift at Þingvellir, Iceland.

Interior & Plates

Plate boundaries

The muddy Ucayali River winds through forest in Peru, with abandoned bends beside the active channel.

Landforms

River long profile

Wisps of low fog rise above a calm lake on a frosty morning, with trees reflected in the water.

Water & Carbon

Water cycle stores and flows

Orange and blue atmospheric layers above Earth's curved horizon, with a crescent Moon in the black sky.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere as a thin film

Aerial photograph of Spurn Point curving across the Humber estuary entrance.

Landforms

Coasts

The Aletsch Glacier curves through a steep Alpine valley, with dark medial moraines running along its surface.

Landforms

Glacial landforms

NASA ARIA map showing measured ground displacement along the Kamchatka Peninsula after the 2025 earthquake.

Hazards

Earthquakes

From the model to the landscape

Earth science in real places.

Aerial photograph of Spurn Point curving across the Humber estuary entrance.

UK

Holderness coast

See how waves erode soft cliffs and move sediment along the Holderness coast.

Read the case study
The Mississippi River and Natchez–Vidalia Bridge seen from Natchez, Mississippi.

US

Mississippi and delta

Follow a large river across its floodplain and investigate how people manage flood risk.

Read the case study
Slope failures above the coast at Hong Kong's Redhill Peninsula after extreme rainfall.

East Asia

Hong Kong slopes

Explore how intense rain and weathered rock contribute to landslides on steep slopes.

Read the case study
The Huangpu River curves around Lujiazui's towers in Shanghai.

East Asia

Shanghai, Meiyu and the Huangpu

Investigate how a low-lying city manages river water and coastal flood risk.

Read the case study
Meteosat view of Earth's day–night boundary on the December solstice, with more of the Southern Hemisphere in daylight.

For the classroom and geography club

Build a lesson around a question.

Start with a landscape, test an explanation in 3D, then ask students to describe what changed. Teaching notes pair each model with discussion prompts, common misconceptions and questions to check understanding.

Browse teaching resources