Map

A map is an item used to view explored terrain.

Cartography Table
A map can also be created using a single paper on a cartography table to create an empty map, or a paper with a compass for an empty locator map.

Inventory
In the Legacy Console Edition, the player spawns with a map in their inventory upon creating a new world. Maps also contain the player's current coordinates at the top. In Bedrock Edition, the player can enable the option to spawn with a map in their hotbar when creating a new world.

Villagers
Novice-level cartographer villagers sell a single empty map for an emerald as their trades.

$$, cartographer villagers may give players with the Hero of the Village effect an empty map.

$$, journeyman-level cartographer villagers have $1/3$ chance to sell a single empty locator map for 5 emeralds.

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 can ever partially overlap and every map can display only a fixed area.

To record the world on a map, that specific map item 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. A map's parameters are fixed when the map is first used, meaning the map does not remain centered on the player—the drawing snaps to a pre-set grid.

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 very far from the map's center: the radius is 320 blocks per level of zoom. 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 in the map.

While maps in the Nether work, all that they show is a red and gray pattern. The only useful function is finding where the player is in relation to where the map was made (the center), or have placed framed maps (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.

In Java Edition, 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. In Bedrock Edition, however, the player can use maps from one dimension while in another dimension. For locator maps, the place marker changes color depending on the dimension that the player is currently in (white for the Overworld, red for the Nether, and magenta for the End). 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, and End map cannot be used in the Overworld or the Nether.

A player can make a large piece of pixel art facing upwards, center a map on it, and place that map in an item frame to create a custom picture.

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. In the New Nintendo 3DS Edition, the map is not an item, and is instead always displayed on the Touch Screen.

Map content
Each pixel of a map corresponds to a variably-sized area of the world, and is always aligned to X and Z coordinates that are multiples of 8. 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.

Grass, foliage and water colors that are biome-dependent are represented accurately on a map.

Maps also show ground up to about 15 blocks below the surface of the water in oceans as slightly lighter blue, so you can see 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.

Maps are 128×128 pixels in size, giving coverage varying from 128×128 to 2048×2048 blocks (8×8 to 128×128 chunks) depending on their zoom factor.

Some relevant distances: 128 blocks (8 chunks) is the update radius from a player in the overworld. However, it is half this (64 blocks) in the End and 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
In the Java and Legacy Console Editions, every map contains a marker that marks the position of the player, and points in the same direction as the player.

In Bedrock Edition, a map can be crafted with or without this marker, and a map without a position marker can add one later by adding a compass to the map. When a map is crafted without a compass, it's simply called an "empty map", but when crafted with a compass, it's called an "empty locator map". The marker also turns red if the player enters the nether with an overworld map and show the player's overworld location relative to your nether location. A map created in the End has a purple marker showing the player's location. If an Overworld map is used in the End, a purple dot appears on the player's spawn point.

A cartography table can also be used to adding pointer to create locator map or empty locator map, by adding compass with paper, empty map or map.

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

Zoom details
The zoom functions from the time you center the map (zoom level 0) to the largest size (zoom level 4).

Maps are always aligned to a grid at all zoom levels. That means zooming out any map in a specific area covered by that map always has the same center, regardless of where the map was originally centered. 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 960. All maps generated in this area zoom out to the same coordinates, guaranteeing that they are always 'aligned' on a map wall.

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.

For the Legacy Console Edition, Maps cannot be zoomed in or out but may be expanded with the use of a Cartography table. A level 3 map covers X and Z coordinates from -512 to 512. This is done so that a classic and small sized world uses only one map, a medium sized world uses exactly 9 maps (X and/or Z coordinates from ±512 to ±1536), and a large world uses exactly 25 maps (X and/or Z coordinates from ±1536 to ±2560).

In the Java Edition, 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.

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

Marking points
The player has the ability to mark spots on a map. To do this, 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. 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.

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.

Data values
In Bedrock Edition, an empty map uses the following data values:

Item data

 * : The item's tag tag.

Map icons


It should be noted that even if the player used a NBT editor to add an additional icon on the map, Minecraft shows only the first one listed when the player loads up their world.

Trivia

 * Use of the key can allow the player to hold a map without blocking their view at all.
 * The highest possible Map-ID is 32767.
 * If this number is reached, negative Map-IDs are used and can be updated only by reloading the game. When the counter returns to 0, maps start to be overwritten.
 * A map created using can be any map by using the Map parameter to specify the map number desired. E.g.  gives the specified player map_5. If no data value is supplied it defaults to map_0. If map_0 has not ever been crafted, it is centered on x=0, z=0.
 * The maps are stored separately as their own data file as   with (x) being the map number, see map item format for more info. By manipulating this number, players can organize their maps to suit them, or if they accidentally create a map in the same location, they can delete their extra map so as to save the number they make.
 * Certain programs can be used to make customized maps with images or text on them instead of actual maps, many people use these in adventure maps to show pictures or to tell a story.
 * Since all copies of a map are links to the same file, copying an unfinished map keeps it synchronized with the copy as you fill it in. Thus, a copy stored in a chest can act as a remote backup.