Bring the Real World into Minecraft

Yes! Arnis is completely free and open source, licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. There is a paid online generation service if you want to generate worlds on mobile devices. Since I work on this in my free time, donations are greatly appreciated to support ongoing development.

There is no hard limit, but practically the size depends on your computer's available memory and the density of map data in the area. Small towns and neighborhoods work great and typically take a few seconds. Larger areas like city centers are possible but require more RAM and may take several minutes. Factors like building density, terrain detail, and options like interior generation also affect the time. If an area is too large, try selecting a smaller region.

Arnis supports both Java Edition (1.17+) and Bedrock Edition (any up to date version). The desktop application runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For mobile devices, generate a Bedrock Edition world (.mcworld file) and transfer it to your phone or tablet to open in Minecraft on iOS or Android. You can also use the online generation service from any device.

For Java Edition, worlds are saved directly to your Minecraft saves folder (e.g. %APPDATA%\.minecraft\saves on Windows). For Bedrock Edition, a .mcworld file is saved to your Desktop. In both cases, you can choose a custom output location in the settings. Generated worlds appear as "Arnis World" in your Minecraft world list.

Arnis uses OpenStreetMap (OSM) for building footprints, roads, land use, and other map features, fetched via the Overpass API. Elevation and terrain data comes from open topographic datasets from AWS Terrain Tiles. Since it relies on community-contributed OSM data, coverage and detail vary by region — well-mapped cities will produce the most detailed worlds.

Arnis is 100% safe. The entire source code is publicly available on GitHub for anyone to inspect. It does not modify your Minecraft installation, it only creates new world files. Some antivirus software may flag unsigned executables as suspicious, but this is a false positive common with open-source tools. Various media outlets have reviewed Arnis, see the Recognition & Media section below.

No. Arnis does not use AI or machine learning. It reads real geographic data from OpenStreetMap and elevation datasets, then deterministically converts that data into Minecraft blocks using rule-based algorithms. What you see in the generated world is a direct reflection of the actual map data, not an AI interpretation.

Arnis generates worlds based on OpenStreetMap data, which is community-contributed. Some areas, especially rural or less developed regions, may have incomplete or missing map data. You can help improve coverage by contributing to OpenStreetMap yourself, any edits you make there will be reflected in future Arnis generations.

Yes! Generate a world in Bedrock format (.mcworld file) and import it directly into Minecraft Education Edition. This makes Arnis a great tool for classroom use. Teachers can generate real-world locations for geography, urban planning, or environmental science lessons. For an example of Minecraft in education, see the Floodcraft research paper on using Minecraft for K-12 flood mitigation education. Feel free to use Arnis in your classes!

No, Arnis is not affiliated with BuildTheEarth. They are separate projects with different approaches — BuildTheEarth is a collaborative community effort to manually recreate the entire planet in Minecraft, while Arnis generates worlds automatically from map data. That said, we have a lot of ❤️ for the BuildTheEarth project. They're doing amazing work and we highly recommend checking them out!