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Make maps

Draw on a map

Sketch a route, outline an area or add labels on a real map, with your mouse or your finger. Then download it as an image, or as GeoJSON and KML to open in other apps.

Example A walk down the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Start drawing and it goes away.

Loading the map…

Keep building your map

Other ways to make your own map.

Map with pinsDrop pins with a color, an icon and a note for a list of places. Area calculatorMeasure the exact area of a lot or a field. Radius mapA circle of any radius around a point.

Save and share · 5 shapes

Open a saved drawing (GeoJSON or KML) to keep working on it. The file never leaves your device. Saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent to a server.

How to use it

  1. Pick what to draw

    A line by taps or freehand, a polygon, a rectangle, a circle or a text label. Below the map you choose the color, the line width and whether shapes are filled.

  2. Tap the map

    Each tool tells you what to do in the line above the map. With Move you select a shape, drag its points or move the whole thing. Undo takes back any change.

  3. Save it or share it

    Download the map as a PNG to show it, or the drawing as GeoJSON or KML to keep working on it, open it in Google Earth or use it in another app. Copy link shares the whole drawing.

What people use it for

  • Directions

    Draw the way from the parking lot to the wedding venue, the cabin or the trailhead, and text the picture to your guests.

  • Outline an area

    Circle the neighborhoods where you’re house hunting, your delivery area or a property you want to show, with a fill so it stands out.

  • Plan an event

    The course of a fun run, the booths at a street fair or the areas of a summer camp, with a label at each spot.

  • School projects

    A river, a border or an explorer’s route on a real map, for homework or a presentation.

How drawing works and what gets saved

Lines follow the points you tap, and circles have a true radius measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid: a one-mile circle is one mile across the ground anywhere in the world, even though it looks bigger on the map the farther it is from the equator. When you select a shape you see its length, area or radius.

Freehand strokes are simplified when you lift your finger: points that change the shape by less than a pixel and a half are dropped, so the file stays small and the line looks the same.

The GeoJSON keeps colors and widths with the most common style names (stroke, fill), so other viewers draw it the same way; the KML uses Google Earth styles. Both remember what each shape was, so rectangles and circles come back as rectangles and circles when you open them here.

Where your drawing is kept

Not on any server. Your drawing is saved in this browser while you work, so you don’t lose it if you close the tab, and it only leaves your device if you download it or copy the link. The link carries the drawing compressed inside the web address itself: anyone who opens it sees exactly what you see.

A very large drawing (thousands of points, like a long GPS track) won’t fit in a link: save it as GeoJSON or KML and open it later with the Open button.

Frequently asked questions

Can I draw on my phone?

Yes. Tap to place points and use Freehand to draw by dragging your finger; to move the map, switch to Move. You can drag the points of a selected shape with your finger, and Undo takes back the last change.

How do I move or delete a shape?

Pick Move and tap the shape to show its points. Drag a point to reshape it, or drag the whole shape to move it. With a shape selected, Delete removes it; if you tapped one point of a line or polygon, it removes just that point.

How do I change the color of something I already drew?

Select it with Move and tap another color or width: the change applies to the selected shape and to whatever you draw next.

Can I open it in Google Earth or Google My Maps?

Yes. Download the KML and open it in Google Earth, or import it as a layer in Google My Maps. The GeoJSON works in QGIS, geojson.io and most mapping apps.

Can I keep working on a drawing another day?

Yes. It’s saved in this browser, and you can also download it as GeoJSON or KML and open it here with Open whenever you like, on any device.

Is my drawing sent anywhere?

No. Everything happens in your browser. It only talks to the base map service and, if you search for a place, to the address search.

Why doesn’t my circle look perfectly round?

Because the map uses the Mercator projection, which stretches areas far from the equator from north to south. The circle is round on the Earth: every point on it is the same distance from the center.

Related tools

All tools
US county map Explore every US county on an interactive map colored by Census data such as population or income. County map with cities Pick a US county and see it on the map with all its cities and towns, ready to print or download. Printable map worksheets Print blank-map worksheets with questions and an answer key, ready as a PDF for class or home. Map quiz Learn states, countries and capitals by finding them on a blank map. No sign-up, with a class challenge link.

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