Given that the worlds ofMinecraftare practically endless, at least in theory, it’s no wonder maps were introduced into the game to help players navigatethe sea of biomesthat surrounds them on their journey. While not extremely cheap to make, they’re a nice utility to have for players who want to map out their surroundings and their various bases and outposts.
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Maps are also important when it comes to marking waypoints with banners, tracking other players and finding various structures like Woodland Mansions and Ocean Monuments. Withthe 1.13 Aquatic update, maps also help players find the location of buried treasure. However, maps remain largely unused outside of discovering these structures, and they’re generally misunderstood or confusing for newer players.
10They Can Show Other Players
It might not be obvious, but maps can actually show more than one player. It’s a great way to actually track where each player is at a given moment, especially on LAN worlds that have more than one player on them, or even on large servers with nomods or plugins.
In order to do this, a copy of the original map has to be given to every player that wants to be tracked. That way, the maps will all be synced together and will update the information for everyone, also allowing other players to know where everyone else with the same map is.
9Maps Are Always Shown The Same Way
When first opening a Minecraft map, it might feel a bit overwhelming and confusing. Chances are, the player won’t even see their player marker fully on the map itself, but more on that in the next point. As such, finding anything with the help of a map can feel extremely daunting.
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Thankfully, all maps in Minecraft always operate the same way. They’re also laid out with north pointing up, south bottom, west on the left and east on the right. All the player needs to do then is orient themselves in a way that they’re standing with north ahead of them while observing the map, which is the easiest to do by simply pressing F3. If that’s not an option, keep in mind that the sun always rises from the east and sets in the west in Minecraft.
8They Won’t Center On The Player
Another annoying and slightly inconvenient fact about maps is that they will never center on the player, unless the player happens to be at the center of a square-shaped zone the map is meant to replicate. This can mean that a player needs to make several maps to fully show theirplayer baseor spawn area.
The reason for this confusing fact is that the maps in Minecraft are generated according to large square-shaped areas laid all around the world randomly, and have nothing to do with the player’s location itself.
7Cartography Tables Are Incredibly Useful
Introduced in the 1.14 update, cartography tables are highly convenient tools for players who wish to create more useful or bigger maps, or even make copies of their existing maps. Cartography tables can be found invillages with a cartographer villager, or they can be crafted with four wooden planks and two pieces of paper.
The table also allows players to expand or zoom out maps, which will make the picture smaller but cover a larger area. Make sure to have a ton of paper around, since this is done by placing more paper into the available slot. Players can also combine two maps of the same area to make one single, more complete map. Locking maps is one more option available, which will prevent the map from ever updating again, even if the terrain changes.
6Some Have No Location Markers
Maps will typically have a location marker, since they’ve been created with a compass. This is very useful, since it will help the player orient themselves on the map while uncovering more of the environment. In Java, this is the only way to make a map, by surrounding a compass with eight pieces of paper.
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Bedrock players are more in luck, since it’s possible to make maps with no locational marker by simply placing nine pieces of paper in the crafting square. The drawback is that it’s more difficult to figure out locations on such a map, but it’s still an option when iron andredstone orearen’t available for players.
5The Maximum Radius Is Massive
The first map a player creates is likely to be quite small. It only covers a set area, and a single map can only showcase about 2048 by 2048 block area. That might seem like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively small area, achieved by upgrading the map to its most zoomed out version.
To make an absolutely gigantic map, combining a bunch of these fully upgraded maps on item frames and placing them side by side can create some of the most impressive wall art in Minecraft. It can help players cover immense distances in theirsurvival worlds, even if it might take some time.
4Banners Can Be Used As Waypoints
Maps will obviously show most structures that are visible from the sky, but it might be useful to mark certain locations of interest with specific markers to create waypoints. In especially large worlds like LAN worlds and survival servers, this can make life for a group of players easier as they try to orient themselves.
After crafting a banner, place it down and interact with it with a map that has a view of the area the banner is in. The banner will then appear on the map as a marker. Even in solo survival worlds, this isn’t a bad idea, if a player has multiple houses or locations or interest they’d like to go back to.
3Maps Don’t Work In The Nether
So, what about the Nether?The Netheris a bit of a special case, an area where it’s quite difficult to get oriented. This is because compasses and clocks are completely confused in the Nether and will keep spinning around wildly. As such, maps won’t have much of an effect in this area either.
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The main issue is that maps rely on a sky view of the area they need to cover, and since the Nether is a cave dimension with a ceiling of bedrock, it’s impossible for the game to create a readable map for the player.
2The Size Of The Dot Is Important
After some time trading with villagers, it’s likely the player will get their hands on a Woodland Explorer map or Ocean Monument map. Even with buried treasure maps, the principle is very much the same, as they usually show and area that’s greyed out and hasn’t been explored by the player yet.
Pay attention to the small, white dot at the corner of a map that’s completely greyed out. The smaller it is, the further away the actual location pictured on the map is. As the player approaches the area, the dot will begin to grow in size.
1Changes Don’t Appear Automatically
Unfortunately, maps in don’t update automatically in the game. Once a specific area has been mapped by the player and they leave that area, and place the map down, the map won’t be updated until it’s brought back to that area.
If the player builds a house in a specific location which has previously been mapped while it was empty, it’s a good idea to bring the map back to this spot to make sure it updates accordingly and showcases the changes made on the surface.
