Lighthouses of the World
16,721 lighthouses, each keeping its charted light. Select one to read it.
Lighting the lamps…
Chart layers
By region
The coasts are divided the way the Lists of Lights divide them. Each region has its own chart and a full list of its lighthouses.
- North America: Atlantic CoastFrom Labrador and the Maritimes down to the Florida Keys, with Bermuda.Canada, United States, Saint Pierre and Miquelon1,157832
- Great Lakes & St. LawrenceThe five lakes and the St. Lawrence River down to Quebec.Canada, United States714367
- Gulf of Mexico & the CaribbeanThe Gulf Coast, Mexico's Gulf shore, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean.Mexico, Cuba, United States425351
- North America: Pacific CoastFrom the Aleutians and Alaska down past California to Pacific Mexico.Canada, United States, Mexico529412
- South AmericaBoth coasts of the continent, from the Caribbean shore to Cape Horn, with the Falklands.Brazil, Chile, Colombia1,048901
- British IslesGreat Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man626530
- Western Europe & the Atlantic IslandsThe Channel and Biscay coasts of France, the Low Countries, Germany's North Sea, Iberia's Atlantic shore, and the Azores, Madeira and Canaries.France, Spain, Germany1,233948
- Scandinavia & the BalticNorway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, the Baltic shore from Germany to Russia, Iceland and the Faroes.Sweden, Finland, Norway2,0271,778
- Mediterranean & Black SeaEvery Mediterranean shore from Gibraltar to the Levant, the Aegean, and the Black Sea.Greece, Italy, Spain2,2831,890
- AfricaAfrica's Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts, with Madagascar and the island nations offshore.South Africa, Morocco, Cabo Verde364298
- Red Sea, the Gulf & South AsiaThe Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, the Caspian, and the coasts of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.India, Egypt, Iran542402
- East AsiaChina, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Russia's Pacific coast.Japan, China, South Korea2,9492,270
- Southeast AsiaFrom Myanmar and Thailand through Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia1,6571,361
- Australia & New ZealandAustralia's coasts and Tasmania, New Zealand, and Norfolk Island.Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island417380
- Pacific IslandsHawaii, Guam and Micronesia, Melanesia from New Guinea to Fiji, and Polynesia.Papua New Guinea, United States, Fiji138118
- The Arctic & AntarcticGreenland, Svalbard, the Russian and Canadian Arctic, and the far southern islands and Antarctica.Russia, Canada, Greenland612313
Reading a light
Every light at sea has its own rhythm, so a sailor can tell one from another in the dark. Charts write it in a short code: the kind of light, its color, and how many seconds it takes to repeat. These are the common kinds, playing in real time.
F
Fixed
A steady, unbroken light.
Fl W 5s
Flashing
Single flashes, each shorter than the dark between them.
Fl(3) W 10s
Group flashing
Flashes in a fixed group, here three, then a longer dark.
LFl W 10s
Long flash
A flash lasting at least two seconds.
Oc W 6s
Occulting
Light longer than dark: a steady light that blinks off.
Iso W 4s
Isophase
Light and dark of exactly equal length.
Q W
Quick
About sixty flashes a minute, without pause.
Mo(A) W 8s
Morse
Flashes that spell a letter in Morse code, here A.
Al.Fl WR 10s
Alternating
Flashes that change color, here white then red.
Where the lights come from
Each lighthouse on OpenStreetMap is matched to its entry in the official List of Lights for that coast. Where a list gives the exact length of every flash and eclipse, the map plays it as published; where it gives only the kind and period, the timing follows the international (IALA) conventions. Major lights in the lists that no one has mapped yet are added on their own.
Lists read on 21 October 2026. The merged data is free to reuse under the Open Database License: every light and how to use it.
- OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap
© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License
Where each lighthouse stands, its name, and the seamark light tags OpenSeaMap mappers record.
15,524 lighthouses
- NGA List of Lights, Pubs. 110 to 116
US government work, public domain
The lights of every coast outside the United States, one volume per coast, with the length of each flash and eclipse.
10,719 lighthouses
- USCG Light List, Volumes I to VII
US government work, public domain
The lights of the United States coasts and Great Lakes, corrected weekly.
758 lighthouses
- NOAA electronic navigational charts
US government work, public domain
Charted lights with their sectors, and the NOAA chart layer you can turn on in US waters.
498 lighthouses
- Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata CC0; each photo under its own license
Names in English, the year each light was first lit, and photographs, credited where they appear.
5,780 lighthouses
- Terrarium elevation tiles
Mapzen and AWS Open Data; attribution in the map
The relief of the land and the depth of the seafloor, from SRTM, GMTED2010, ETOPO1 and other surveys.
- OpenFreeMap and Natural Earth
© OpenMapTiles, OpenStreetMap; Natural Earth public domain
Coastlines, borders and place names on the map; the country each lighthouse is filed under.