Map

A map is an item used to view explored terrain and mark landmarks.

## Obtaining

### Crafting

Putting 8 Paper and 1 Compass into a Crafting Table will create an Empty Map. When the player first creates a map, it is blank. Hold the empty map and press *use item* to transform the empty map into a *map item*, which gradually begins filling with information as that player travels within its borders.

### Natural generation

#### Chest loot

 **Stronghold** | Library chest
 **Village** | Cartographer's chest

1. ↑ Named unknown map, but changed to map 0, the scale level is 1:4, Maps from the same stack are stackable, but maps that are not stacked are unstackable despite looking identical.

### Trading

Novice-level cartographer villagers sell a single empty map for 7 emeralds as their trades.

Cartographer villagers may give players with the Hero of the Village effect an empty map.

## Usage

### Mapping

Crafting a map creates an empty map. The map is drawn for the first time when it is held and used (with *use item*). This map can then be adjusted to different zoom levels. After conversion to a drawn map item, it starts to draw a top-down view of the player's surroundings, with North pointing to the top of the map. A pointed oval pointer indicates the player's position on the map, and moves in real-time as the player moves across the terrain shown on the map. The map does *not* center on the player when created, rather, the world is broken up into large invisible grid squares, and the map displays the area of whichever grid square it is in when it is first used. For example, if a player uses a new map in a certain grid square, and then moves a distance away and uses another fresh map but is still within the same grid square, both maps appear identical. To make a map that is not identical to the first one, the player would have to move outside of the edges of the first map (because then they would be in a new grid square). This way, no two maps of the same size can ever partially overlap and every map can display only a fixed area.

To record the world on a map, that specific map must be held in the player's hands while the player moves around the world. The world is recorded as-is during exploration, meaning that if the world is modified, a player must revisit the area while holding the map to update the map's view. Maps can also be cloned. If a player holds a map whose clone is on display in an item frame, then that map updates while holding its clone.

Other players are displayed on the map only if they have a map in their inventory cloned from the one being looked at. When placing a map into an item frame, the map displays with a green pointer shown at the location of the item frame. This is to help the player see where they are in relation to the area that the map is showing. If the player leaves a map in an item frame and views a clone of it, the green pointer remains in the spot of the framed copy. This can be used to set up waypoints. Unexplored areas are transparent, making the item frame visible.

When the player leaves the area shown on a specific map, the player pointer transforms into a white dot on that map. The marker shrinks to a smaller white dot if the player is far from the map's center: the area is 320 by 320 blocks per scale factor. The dot moves along the edge of the map to show the relative location of the player. However in Bedrock Edition, the pointer remains as an arrow but shrinks until the player is near the area shown on the map.

While maps in the Nether work, they show only the red-and-gray pattern, regardless of the blocks placed. The only useful function is finding where the player is in relation to placed framed maps, which show as green pointers. Additionally, the player pointer rapidly spins and is not a good indicator of direction. Placing a banner in the Nether still shows it on the map as usual. Having a smaller map image while riding a strider in the Nether can help one to see one's footing while traveling over lava.

When using a map from another dimension, the map shows the player's position and direction when they were last in the dimension of the map. An Overworld map in the Nether shows the player's corresponding location and direction in the Overworld. Similarly, a Nether Map in the Overworld shows the player's corresponding location in the Overworld, but the place marker spins, just like a Nether map in the Nether. An overworld map in the End shows the world spawn. A Nether map cannot be used in the End — the map appears, but the place marker is not shown anywhere — and similarly, an End map cannot be used in the Overworld or the Nether.

A player can make a large piece of pixel art (128×128) facing upward, center a map on it, and place that map in an item frame to create a custom picture. Locking is recommended. See Map item format#Map Pixel Art for details on the techniques.

Maps display as a mini-map when held in the off-hand, or if the off-hand slot is occupied; the map is full-sized only when held in the dominant hand with both hands free.

### Map content

Maps consist of square pixels arranged like pixels in a 128×128 square pattern, with each pixel representing a square portion of land. Generally, the color of a map pixel matches the color of the most common opaque block in the corresponding area, as seen from the sky. 'Minority blocks' in the target area have no effect on the color of the pixel, thus small features tend to be undetectable on zoomed-out maps.

Maps also show ground up to about 15 blocks below the surface of the water in oceans as slightly lighter blue, to show where the ground rises. This is not true with land above water. Higher elevations in the world mean lighter colors on the map. The map records the surface even as the player moves below the surface.

A standard map represents 128x128 blocks (1 block per pixel, 8x8 chunks) but maps can be zoomed-out to represent up to 2048x2048 blocks (16 square blocks per pixel, 128x128 chunks).

Some relevant distances: 64 blocks (4 chunks) is the update radius from a player in the overworld and the End. However, it is half this (32 blocks) in the Nether. Also, 1024 blocks is the minimum Overworld distance from a nether portal, at which players can build another portal and expect to reach a new location in the Nether. This is the distance across a 1:8 map, and also from a 1:16 map's center to its edge.

### Player marker and pointer

Every map contains a marker that marks the position of the player, and points in the same direction as the player. When a player moves out of a map, a big white dot appears and moves relative to the player's position. The pointer either disappears when the player moves away a certain distance from the border of the map or, in case of explorer maps, the big white dot changes to a smaller white dot. The distance required for the small white dot to appear(explorer maps) or for the big dot to vanish (normal maps) changes with the scaling of the map.

* **Level 0/4 :** 128×128 blocks (each map pixel represents 1 block)
* **Level 1/4 :** 256×256 blocks (2×2 blocks per map pixel)
* **Level 2/4 :** 512×512 blocks (4×4 blocks per map pixel)
* **Level 3/4 :** 1024×1024 blocks (8×8 blocks per map pixel)
* **Level 4/4 :** 2048×2048 blocks (16×16 blocks per map pixel)

### Zooming out

A cartography table can also be used to zoom out, taking only one piece of paper per zoom level.

A blank map can not be zoomed out. A map has to have something already marked on it for the zooming to be possible.

#### Zoom details

The zooming function starts from when the map is created (zoom level 0) up to its fourth zoom step (zoom level 4).

Maps are always aligned to a grid at all zoom levels. That means zooming out any different map in a specific area covered by that map always has the same center. As such, maps are aligned by map width (1024 blocks for a level 3 maps) minus 64. A level 3 map generated at spawn covers X and Z coordinates from -64 to 959. All maps generated in this area zoom out to the same coordinates, guaranteeing that they are always 'aligned' on a map wall. For a zoomed out map to cover a new area, it must start with a base (level 0) map that is in that area.

At zoom level 0, a map created on the point (0,0) has (0,0) at the center of the map. At higher zoom levels of the same map, the coordinate (0,0) is in the top left square of the map.

Zoom level can be seen on a map by turning on Advanced Tooltips (a Debug screen option that can be toggled by holding F3 and pressing H). The tooltip of the map then shows the zoom level and scaling factor.

### Cloning

A mix of empty maps and empty locator maps may be used. Whether the cloned maps show position markers is dependent only on the input map.

A cartography table can also be used to clone a map.

The parts of the world that have already been explored and mapped are copied, and newly explored areas appear on both instances. If one of the maps is later zoomed out, then the maps lose their connection to each other and function as completely separate maps that have to be individually filled by exploring.

In Creative mode, a map in an item frame may be cloned by using pick block on it, as long as that map is not also in the player's inventory.

It doesn't matter if the map to be cloned is at a higher zoom level (made of more paper) than the blank map. Upon copying the map, both resulting maps have the same magnification as the starting map.

### Crafting ingredient

(cloned)
Ocean Explorer Map or
Woodland Explorer Map or
Buried Treasure Map

### Marking points

The player has the ability to mark spots on a map. To do this, use a map on a placed-down banner, and the spot of the banner gets marked on the map. The mark takes the color of whatever the base color is for the banner, and if the banner has a name, the mark shows that name. Banner marks on a map are always oriented with their top facing north, regardless of the banner's actual orientation. If the banner is destroyed, the mark of the banner remains at first, but if the player gets closer to where the banner previously was, it disappears as the area is updated on the map.

If a map is mounted on an item frame and is within the area it depicts, the mounted map displays its current location with a green indicator rotated to match its orientation.

If a player has a cloned map in their inventory, their pointer appears white when viewed on the same map held by another player. Hence, if all players have the same cloned map in their inventory, all markers would appear white when the clone map is viewed.

### Locking

Maps can be locked when using a glass pane in a cartography table. This creates a new map containing the same data and locks it. All copies of this new map are also locked. A locked map never changes, even when the depicted terrain changes.

## See Also

* Items
* Compass