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I want to create a custom map of my fictional world

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Use this when your universe needs its own map — a hand-drawn fantasy continent, a sci-fi system chart, a fictional city street grid, anything that doesn’t belong on OpenStreetMap. By the end, your image is registered as a custom map, places have markers on it, and you know how to extend with drilldown regional maps if your world needs multi-scale geography.

What you’ll need
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  • A map image file (PNG, JPG, or WebP) somewhere in your vault.
  • A universe note to scope the map to. See I want to create a fictional universe. Optional, but recommended — it lets places filter automatically by universe rather than coordinate match.
  • An idea of which coordinate system fits: Geographic (lat/lng — best for historical real-world maps) or Pixel (image pixel coordinates — best for hand-drawn fantasy maps).

Steps
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1. Open the Map Creation Wizard
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Control Center → Maps tab → Create Custom Map. Four steps follow.

2. Step 1 — Select the image
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Browse your vault for the map image. A preview appears so you can confirm the right file.

3. Step 2 — Configure the map
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Fill in:

  • Map name — display name (e.g., “Middle-earth”, “The Dying Earth”, “Coruscant”)
  • Universe — link to your universe note (optional but recommended)
  • Coordinate system — Geographic (lat/lng) or Pixel
  • Bounds / dimensions — for Geographic: north / south / east / west bounds. For Pixel: image width and height in pixels.

4. Step 3 — Place markers (optional)
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Click anywhere on the map image to drop a place marker. Each click opens the Create Place modal so you can name and configure the place. Markers appear with the place name; drag to reposition; right-click to edit or remove.

You can skip this step entirely and add places later — useful when you want to set up the map first and seed it with places as your worldbuilding progresses.

5. Step 4 — Review and create
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Confirm the configuration. Click Create Map. The map note and any place notes you added are written to your configured folders.

6. Verify
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The map appears in Control Center → Maps with a thumbnail. Click the thumbnail to open it in Map View — your image renders as the basemap, and any places you placed appear as markers.

Custom image map for the Dying Earth fantasy fixture, with place markers on a hand-drawn basemap

Variations
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  • Align a hand-drawn map. Hand-drawn maps rarely match a coordinate grid out of the box. In Map View → toolbar → Edit → drag the four corner handles to reposition / scale / skew the image until landmarks align. Save when satisfied. Alignment is stored as corner_* properties in the map note’s frontmatter, so the alignment persists across sessions.
  • Pixel coordinates for hand-drawn maps. When using Pixel as the coordinate system, places need pixel_x and pixel_y properties (instead of geographic coordinates). The Create Place modal doesn’t have pixel fields yet — add them manually to the place note’s frontmatter. To find pixel positions, hover over the location in any image viewer and read the X/Y values (origin is top-left).
  • Drilldown maps for regions. If your continent map needs a detail-level regional map, a dedicated drilldown-maps guide is queued. Quick version: create both maps, set parent_map: <continent-map-id> on the regional map’s frontmatter, and the parent map gains a clickable marker leading to the regional map.
  • Simple creation (no wizard). Maps tab → Custom Maps card → overflow menu (⋮) → Create map (simple). Faster path if you don’t need the marker-placement step. Skips wizard navigation; directly opens the configuration form.
  • JSON import. If you have a map configuration exported from another vault (overflow menu → Export to JSON), use Import JSON in the Custom Maps card. Useful for sharing custom maps between vaults or backing up complex map configurations.

Related guides#

Reference
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