In the expansive realms of “Minecraft,” navigation can become a daunting task. With worlds sprawling endlessly, players often find themselves disoriented after venturing too far from their established bases. To combat this, crafting a map is an essential skill that can significantly enhance your exploration experience.

Here’s how to craft a map in Minecraft from scratch

To embark on your mapping journey, start by creating a Crafting Table. This requires four Wood Planks, which can be sourced from various trees, including Oak or Crimson. Once your table is ready, gather nine Sugar Cane, typically found near water in swamp or desert biomes. Any tool will suffice for harvesting these plants.

Next, place the Crafting Table on the ground and interact with it to access the 3×3 crafting grid. Here, you will create nine sheets of Paper by placing three Sugar Cane in the middle row. With your paper in hand, it’s time to craft a Compass. For this, position one Redstone Dust in the center of the grid, surrounded by four Iron Ingots, which you can obtain by smelting Iron Ores in a Furnace. Redstone Dust can be mined from Redstone Ore using an Iron Pickaxe or stronger tools.

Now, to craft your map, place the Compass in the center of the grid and surround it with the eight sheets of Paper. If you’re playing the Bedrock Edition of “Minecraft,” you can also create an Empty Map using just the nine sheets of Paper. To enhance your map with a location marker, combine it with a Compass on a Cartography Table. This gives you an Empty Locator Map, ready to be filled as you explore.

Finding a Minecraft map

While crafting is a fundamental aspect of “Minecraft,” players might also stumble upon maps through exploration. Treasure chests scattered throughout the game world can yield empty maps, with varying probabilities based on their location. For instance, sunken shipwrecks have about an eight percent chance of containing a map, while stronghold libraries offer an eleven percent chance. The cartographer’s chest in a village boasts nearly a fifty percent chance of holding a map. Additionally, players can trade with cartographers to purchase maps for seven or eight emeralds.

Crafting a Cartography Table

Creating a Cartography Table is a straightforward process that can be accomplished early in your gameplay. Simply place your Crafting Table and interact with it. Arrange four planks in a 2×2 configuration in the bottom-right corner, leaving the top row empty. Then, add two sheets of Paper above the planks. Your Cartography Table will appear on the right, ready to be added to your inventory.

For those looking to streamline their crafting, automation is possible in “Minecraft” 1.21 using a crafter powered by a Redstone source, such as a button or lever.

Finding a Cartography Table

If crafting isn’t your preference, you can easily locate a Cartography Table in villages, where it serves as the workstation for cartographer villagers. These tables are commonly found in their homes, often accompanied by chests containing paper and other map-related items. Once you have a Cartography Table, you can utilize it to enhance your mapping capabilities. You can even transform an unemployed villager into a cartographer by placing the block nearby, allowing for trade in maps, paper, and glass panes.

Making a big map in Minecraft

Each map covers only a limited area, so expanding its reach is crucial. To enlarge your map, place it in the center of a Crafting Table and surround it with eight sheets of Paper. Alternatively, you can use a Cartography Table to combine your map with one sheet of Paper to create a zoomed-out version. This process can be repeated up to four times, effectively doubling the map’s range with each zoom level.

For those looking to duplicate their maps, simply combine your existing map with an Empty Map on the Cartography Table. If you wish to lock your map to prevent any alterations, combine it with a Glass Pane to create a Locked Map.

How to use a map in Minecraft

Upon acquiring an “empty map,” it may seem unremarkable at first. However, equipping and using the map will instantly reveal your surroundings, transforming it into a functional tool. As you explore, your environment will gradually fill in, with a small white marker indicating your position. Keep in mind that your “Minecraft” world extends far beyond the confines of your map. If you venture outside its limits, you can either create a new map or zoom out the original by combining it with additional paper.

Marking a location on your Minecraft map

Enhancing your map with custom location markers adds a layer of functionality. These markers appear as colored dots, making it easy to identify specific spots. To place a marker, first craft a banner by arranging six pieces of wool (all the same color) in the top two rows of your crafting table, with one stick in the bottom-middle slot. Naming the banner using an anvil, which costs one experience point, will personalize it further.

Once your banner is ready, travel to the desired location and place it down. While holding the map, use it on the banner to create a corresponding dot on your map, matching the banner’s color. Alongside your custom markers, you’ll also see a pointed white dot representing your character and similar dots for other players.