It is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map, four kilometers off the coast of Dubai, UAE. The islands project was actually the idea of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, and was developed by Nakheel Properties. The overall cost of the project was estimated at 14 billion USD. Each island in the archipelago ranges from about 14,000 mŽ² (150,000 square feet) to 42,000 mŽ².