Map

The Map is an item used to view explored terrain. It brings cartography to Minecraft.

While a map is being held in the player's hand, it will gradually be drawn as the player explores the world. When the item is later selected, the player can see the area explored so far.

Each map is 128&times;128 total pixels. Depending on the scale of the map, a single pixel can represent many scales of areas, starting with an initial ratio of 1 pixel:1 block. Increasing the scale of the map can be achieved by crafting a wider map by surrounding an existing map with Paper on a Crafting Table.

Since Infdev (and including Alpha, Beta, and Official versions), Minecraft worlds have essentially unlimited area to explore. One map could not possibly cover an entire world. As of the 1.4 update, different maps are now aligned to a grid, making arrays of maps much easier to accomplish. For further details see Multiple maps below.



Crafting
To craft a map from scratch, the player needs nine sugar cane (every three pieces of sugar cane makes three sheets of paper), four iron ore, fuel to smelt that ore, a piece of Redstone Dust (requires an iron pickaxe or better) and access to a crafting table.

Crafting
This is as of the 1.4.2 release.

Zoom out
The zoom function from the time when you centered the map (zoom level 1) to the largest size (zoom level 5).

Cloning
Even already zoomed out maps can be cloned and keep their zoom level and original center, the already explored and mapped parts of the world are not copied. (As of the release 1.4.2 this is not valid. The clone map is an identical copy of the prototype.)

You will get as many cloned maps as many empty maps you have used in crafting (up to 9 identical maps).

There might be a way to allow maps to support more colours and texpack customizations.

Behavior
Each map is created with two parameters:
 * A map type, which can either be Overworld, Nether, or End, according to which realm it was created (first activated) in. If a map of any type is viewed in another realm, it shows whatever information had already been collected but it does not show the position/direction pointer, and moving about does not update it.
 * A center, which is where the empty map was transformed into a map [by right clicking it]. The map center is fixed at the central point of the 8&times;8 block you are standing in when you right-click it.

A map's parameters are fixed when the map is created. This means the map does not remain centered on the player, as happens in some games. When a player moves off the edge of a Minecraft map, the position/direction pointer disappears, and will not reappear until the player re-enters the area covered by that map. To cover a new region, a new map must be crafted.

To record the world on a map, that specific map item must be held in the player's hands while the player moves about the world. The world will be recorded as it is at exploration time, meaning that if the world is modified a player must revisit the area while holding the map in order to update the map's view. Maps are positioned low down in the player's field of view so as not to obstruct the player's view in front of them. The player must look down to view a map.

Multiple maps
In order to map a new area, an empty map must be crafted in that area. The point where a map is crafted determines its permanent center, and can never be changed.

Only the map being held will be drawn, even if another map covers the same area. A map that is never held will remain blank, even if another map in the player's inventory has already drawn its area.

Between version 1.0.0 survival mode and weekly release 12w34a, to obtain a new map the user should not hold down shift when picking up the created map from the crafting table: holding shift while picking up the map will always create a clone of map_0, the first map created in that world. Every map cloned this way is named exactly the same (map_0) and is automatically updated with all the rest. In Creative mode, map_0 is automatically created, centered at the initial spawn point, and all maps taken from the creative mode inventory will be map_0. Maps of other regions can still be obtained by crafting them.

Map display
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. However, some blocks are seemingly colored incorrectly. For instance, sandstone, gold blocks, Huge Red Mushroom, Wool and netherrack are drawn in gray. 'Minority blocks' in the target area have no effect the color of the pixel, thus small features tend to be undetectable on zoomed-out maps.

Maps will 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.

Maps are 128&times;128 pixels in size, giving coverage varying from 128&times;128 to 2048&times;2048 blocks (8&times;8 to 128&times;128 chunks) depending on their zoom factor. Zoom step 4 matches the maps produced through version 1.3.2.

Some relevant distances: 10 chunks is the usual update radius from a player; servers can be configured to raise this up to 15, but regardless, step 3 zoom covers the entire range from its map origin. Also, 1024 blocks is the minimum Overworld distance from a Nether Portal, at which you can build another portal and expect to reach a new location in the Nether. This is the distance across a level 4 (or old) map, and also from a level 5 map's center to its edge.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the maps have a strong social aspect, since it is possible to give one map to another player so they can observe what has been explored. Maps are able to be "cloned" so that players with the same map can combine the results of their exploration. The position of other players holding the same map is visible.

Usage
Maps are mostly used to give the player a sense of direction when lost. In SSP it can also be used to re-locate mineral deposits. In SMP, players are able to view others' maps and explorations by giving one another different maps. Maps are also an essential tool in PvP Servers, as to know where you and your enemies are located.

While maps in the Nether work, it has a ceiling, and all that will be shown is red and gray. The only useful function is finding where you are in relation to where you made the map. Additionally, the direction indicator rapidly spins and is not a good indicator of direction. Remembering that maps are north at the top and that the L corner of nether blocks points west is more reliable. And as long as the map was created near a portal, that map's center will always be that portal. Maps are only somewhat useful for knowing which parts of The Nether you have explored, especially since you may be re-visiting the same map area at a different height. (This also applies in the Overworld, but is more important in the Nether due to the latter's form.)

Maps made in the End show a similar red and gray pattern, despite the lack of a (visible) ceiling. The direction indicator does work properly, however.

Maps can also show elevation. Higher elevations in the world mean lighter colors on the map.

Video

 * Warning: This video shows maps prior to update 1.4.2. The new maps operate slightly different.

Future

 * Move section higher up when full version is released, then move old features into History

Beginning in Snapshot 12w34a, crafting a map creates an empty map. The map will be drawn for the first time when it is held and right clicked, and will be centered near the location of the player when clicked (not as before where it was centered on the location it was crafted.) The center of the map will be set to the nearest central point of 8 by 8 chunks. For instance, if the first map is generated between coordinates x:63 to -63 and z:63 to -63, the center will be 0,0 and the map will cover that entire area. Furthermore, maps can be zoomed out to different scales and they can be cloned, allowing players to share identical maps. There are new crafting recipes for each of these functions. Cloned maps are stackable. The center point of a new map will be the same as the initial map. The x and z coordinates of the center will be the closest coordinates divisible by 128 to the coordinates where you right clicked to "create" the map.

Two maps at zoom level 1 will never overlap, it will either be the same map or a different map. But if you craft 2 maps for example 500 blocks from each other and craft them to zoom level 5 they will now overlap because they now span 2048 blocks but the centers are only 512 blocks from each other.

The pointer no longer disappears when leaving the map, but will transform into a white dot. This dot indicates on what side of the map you are. When placing a map into a item frame, the map will be shown and a green pointer will be placed at the location of the item frame.

Bugs



 * If you try to look at a map while in 3rd person view, it will just appear that the player is holding the inventory picture of a map, instead of displaying the land around the player.
 * If you hold a map and enter a boat or minecart in 1st person view, switch to 3rd person view, then return to 1st person, the left hand is out of position. This can also happen if you open your inventory while sitting in a boat or minecart.
 * Back in snapshot 12w36, attempting to put a fully-zoomed out map in a crafting table with paper as to zoom it out again crashed the game.
 * Maps do not work correctly on some servers with low viewing distances, and walking around only produces a few mapped pixels.
 * Some maps in SMP will display normally while exploring, but once the user relogs vertical lines appear in the map that will go away. Giving the map to another player to look at for a moment most often seems to fix the issue.
 * All colors of wool show up as light gray on a map.
 * In 1.3.1, when viewing a map inside of a Boat, the directional arrow may point in the wrong direction (pointed in a direction that is not synced to the direction the player is facing even when in motion).
 * Sometimes when you craft a map in multiplayer, it may display another player's map.
 * Sometimes if you go on the border of the map. Then when you walk back the arrow will stay the same. Usually reloading the world fixes this.
 * Duplicating a map and zooming one out will make the other map unload and appear empty. this can be fixed by reloading the world.
 * The green arrow marking the position of a map in an itemframe sometimes randomly disappears. fix this by reloading the chunk the itemframe is in.
 * When crafting a zoomed out map with eight pieces of paper, shift-clicking on the output map in the crafting table does not make a newly scaled map.

Trivia

 * In PVP Multiplayer servers, be cautious making/using maps as it will reveal your position and if another player makes a map at another time or is currently using a map you will show up on their map, revealing your base location if it was hidden. Note: This can be used to find other players bases but it is highly advised to craft your map at spawn or away from your base so they cannot use their map to find your base as stated above.
 * The map will record the surface even as you move through a cave, making it useful for determining if there are hazards (water, sand, lava) above you when you're digging a tunnel to the surface.
 * Maps and the drawn bow are the only two items in Minecraft that require two hands to hold.
 * When the player walks off the edge of a map, their location will momentarily jump to the other side of the map.
 * When edited into the player's inventory, the map's name (unless damage value was correctly specified) is always "map_x", where x is the number of the map. The first one will be map_0.
 * Maps, despite being made of paper, can be used in the rain and underwater.
 * Maps are currently the most heavily detailed object in Minecraft, having several times more pixels than a large painting.
 * Notch has said that maps' ability to save custom data could lead to the creation of real books written by players, or even paintings/signs that use custom textures. While such books were implemented in the 1.3.1 release, they do not store data in the same way as maps.
 * There can be no more than 65536 (216) unique maps per world.
 * If there are too many maps, when trying to craft one it will relay the message "Can't craft map: too many maps".
 * A map created using the "give" command can be any map by using the data parameter to specify the map number desired. If no data value is supplied it will default to Map_0. If Map_0 has not ever been crafted, it will be centered on the original spawn point (not moved with beds).
 * The map item currently only maps the surface, but Notch said that having "cave maps is an interesting idea".
 * The maps are stored separately as their own data (.dat) file as map_x.dat 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.
 * Maps can map the void in SMP.
 * The center of the map is the block you were standing on when it was created, not at the point where it was first used, and not (necessarily) exactly the same location as the workbench it was crafted on.
 * Arm textures are rotated and show the back of the arm, because the player is holding the map in the palms of their hands.
 * Unlike compasses brought into The Nether or The End, the direction indicator of the map crafted in the Nether randomly spins in slow motion.
 * Maps are rectangular in item form, yet when viewed, they are clearly in a perfect square shape of the world.
 * In the Xbox 360 Version, you have a map in your inventory when you spawn in a world for the first time.
 * In creative mode getting a map from the inventory will always be map_0, you have to use a crafting table to create new maps.
 * When viewing a map underwater, it appears larger.