How to Make a Map in Minecraft

May 9, 2021

How to Make a Map in Minecraft.

A map is an important item in Minecraft, allowing you to see the terrain you have explored in the game. Additionally, a map will show your own position, making navigation much easier. This can be especially useful in the game’s ‘Survival Mode’, but a map is also useful item in other game modes too.

For this reason, it is recommended that you always have a map in your inventory. For this to be possible, however, you will first need to craft one. In this article, we explain precisely how to make a map in Minecraft.

Crafting a Map in Minecraft.

In order to create a map, you will need eight paper items and one compass. Paper can be found within the game world and can also be crafted using sugar cane. You can acquire a compass through trading, finding one within the game world, or by combining four iron ingot items with one redstone dust item in the crafting menu.

Minecraft Map Recipe.

How to Make a Map in Minecraft:

1. Once you have your eight papers and one compass, open the crafting menu and add all nine items to the crafting grid.
2. The compass should be placed in the box in the middle of the grid and all of the paper items should be placed around this.
3. The result of your crafting will be an empty locator map. If you are playing Minecraft: Java Edition, rather than Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, this item will instead simply be called an empty map instead.
4. As an alternative, you can also create a map using nine paper items, as long as you are playing Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. However, maps created in this way will not display location markers. With that being said, this problem can be rectified at a later stage by combining the map item with a compass, using an anvil or crafting table.
5. Once you have crafted your map, you will need to hold it and press ‘use item’ to activate the mapping functionality.

How to Make a Map Bigger in Minecraft.

1. The first map you craft will be a level 0 map, meaning it will be the smallest possible size. However, you do have the option to make your map bigger, and this can be achieved through the crafting menu too.
2. As a first step, you should look to take your map from level 0 to level 1. To do this, you will need to add your map to the middle of the crafting grid and surround it with eight more paper items. This will then increase the size of your map and you will have extra space to fill in, which you can do by travelling around the game world.
3. This same basic process will then allow you to continually make your map bigger. For instance, to take your map from level 1 to level 2, you will need to add the level 1 map to your crafting grid, along with eight more paper items. Then, if you combine a level 2 map with eight more papers, you will receive the level 3 map.
4. The largest map size you can reach on Minecraft is level 4. This map is able to cover a dramatically larger area than a level 0 map, so it is recommended if you want to have the best possible map for navigation purposes.

It should be noted that mapping the environment requires you to hold your chosen map in your hand while you move around the game world. The map will be based on what each part of the game world looked like at the time that you visited it, so it is possible for your map to become outdated if the game world changes significantly. However, fortunately, the map can be added to, so if you re-visit an area while holding the map item, your map will be updated.

How to Make a Compass in Minecraft?

To craft a Locator Map in Minecraft, you beed a Compass.

This is how you make a Compass in Minecraft:

1. You will need to place 4 iron ingots and 1 redstone places in the 3×3 crafting grid.
2. The redstone should be placed in the center.
3. The 4 iron ingots should be placed so they cover all four sides of the redstone (in a “diamond formation”).
4. Craft the compass, and move it to your inventory.

How to Make an Empty Map In Minecraft Bedrock Edition.

The recipes above work for the Java Edition. But if you want to make a Map in the Minecraft Bedrock Edition, without the Locator Icon on the map, you can do so simply by crafting with 9 sheets of Paper.

How to Make a Map in Minecraft – Quick Video.

Please watch this video on how to make a Map in Minecraft Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, as well as how to use the Cartography Table.