How can I create map templates?

Tired of repeating the same steps every time? You can save valuable time and speed up your mapping process if you create map templates.

Let’s have a look at a few examples together.

• Political map
• City map
• Hiking map

The main feature used here is the “map duplicate” function in your map dashboard, or the “save as” function when you’re saving a map. Once you’re done creating your map, save it under a name you find easy to remember. Whenever you need to create a new map based off of your previously created one, find your map template using the search function and copy it.

Political map

We’re going to create a map with the European countries and their capitals:

Let’s start with adding the European countries as editable shapes to our map. We use the Areas Menu, look for Europe, and add the desired shape. We should also keep the country labels and capitals, but all other layers can be hidden to keep a neat overview. We can use the hide-all-labels function from the Data Layers Menu to hide all label layers, and then navigate to the Elements List Menu to bring back the capital and country labels layers. Let’s also hide all roads and rails, maybe even small rivers. Using the search function to filter on related layers or multi-select with CTRL/CMD helps to get this done fast.

Pro tip: If you’d only like to keep the country shapes without any other map layers, choose the “Choropleth” map style from the map style dropdown in the export menu.

City map

We’re going to create a map of a few POIs and transportation network in a city:

There are several additional map layers that can help us enrich our base map. For a touristically focused map, giving priority to a metro or tram line layer and their stations might be important, or adding buildings of interest like museums. We find all these layers in the Data Layers Menu. Afterwards, we can use the Elements List Menu to rearrange the map layers which are more relevant.

Hiking map

We’re going to create a map with hiking trails in a mountainous area:

No matter whether it’s for mountain biking, hiking or just walking in nature, maps to accompany this trip are always helpful. Adding the hill shading layer to this kind of map already gives a great look and feel. Then let’s make sure the paths are visible, and layers such as the national park and its labels are active too, as well as the elevation contours layer, which adds ISO lines and the meters in height.