If you want to keep track of where you have been or the surrounding area near your base in Minecraft, then you must make a map. Using a map will allow you to travel across large distances while keeping track of where your base is. However, before making a map in Minecraft, you must gather a few materials and make a few items. That said, here is how to make a map so that you can know where you are going and where you have been while adventuring:
How to Craft a Map in Minecraft (all steps)
Creating maps in Minecraft is a bit more resource intensive than you might think. While getting the paper for them is relatively easy, you also need a Compass, which is a little tricky to make when first starting in Minecraft. Luckily it’s not complicated to make a compass, so here’s how to make a compass and gather all of the materials for it below.
How to make a compass in Minecraft (step one)
The first item you will need for a map is a Compass. You will need one Redstone and four Iron Ingots to craft a Compass in Minecraft. You can get Redstone by heading into your nearest Mine and mining Redstone and Iron ore blocks. Iron ore will spawn relatively high, so you won’t need to go far inside a cave to find it. However, for the Redstone ore, you must head towards the bottom of a cave (you can also find Diamonds near Redstone).
Where to find Sugar Cane in Minecraft (step two)
After making a Compass, you need to move to the next step: find Sugar Cane. You can find Sugar cane naturally growing near water sources. Another way to get Sugar Canes is to buy some from Wandering Traders for one Emerald each. Either method will work and we recommend starting a small cane farm with any extra you find. But If you decide to make a cane farm, place it next to water as it will only grow when near water. We recommend finding a nearby lake/river to plant it or digging up some terrain, filling it with water, and planting next to it.
How to craft paper in Minecraft (step three)
The next step after finding Sugar Cane is to make the Sugar Cane into paper. This step is the easiest, as you can make paper using Sugar Cane with the following crafting pattern shown below. Place at least three Sugar Cane in a row similar to below, and you will make Paper in Minecraft. We recommend making a total of nine Paper using nine Sugar Canes.
How to craft a Blank Map in Minecraft (step four)
After making paper, you will need to place one Compass and at least nine Paper in the crafting pattern shown below. Placing all materials in the order below will craft a Blank Map in Minecraft.
How to set map location in Minecraft (step five)
Once you craft the Blank map, you need to hit your Use Item/Place block key to set the map to your current location. After pressing the use key, you should see an image depicting your surrounding area similar to the image below:
How to use a Cartography Table in Minecraft
Depending on your version of Minecraft, you may need to craft a Cartography Table before making a map. Luckily it’s not hard to make a Cartography Table, and you can do it using four Wood Planks and Two Papers. Place all materials in the order shown below, and you will make a Cartography Table.
Once you get the Cartography Table setup, just put a single piece of paper into the bottom slot. Placing the paper into the bottom slot will craft a blank map you can use the same as in other Minecraft versions. Other Maps and items that you can craft via this table include the following:
- Map + Paper = Expanded Cleared Map Map + Empty Map = Cloned Map Map + Glass Pane = Locked Map Map + Compass = Locator Map (Bedrock) Empty Map + Compass = Empty Locator Map (Bedrock) Paper + Compass = Empty Locator Map (Bedrock)
How to craft a Map Wall in Minecraft
One awesome item you can make using a map is a Map wall in Minecraft. To make a Map wall in Minecraft, you will need at least eight sticks and one piece of leather to make an item frame Place the sticks and leather in the order shown below, and you will make one Item Frame:
These Item Frames will be used to hold the map on a wall to make a Map wall in Minecraft. Once you make a few, place them in the order shown below to make a Map wall in Minecraft: After placing your item frames, you can place maps inside them to turn them into a Map wall. We recommend using your newly created Map wall to keep track of areas you previously explored in the game.
But to make a huge map wall, you must explore and create maps that cover a small area of a larger biome. The best way to do this is to start in one spot and slowly work your way up north, west, east, and south until you can get enough maps to make a wall like the image above.
How to fully map out a biome in Minecraft
To fully map out a biome, we recommend using the small white arrow that indicates a player’s location. Use the white arrow to tell when your character leaves an area in Minecraft. You can tell when you just left one area when the white arrow turns into a solid dot. When the white arrow turns into a solid dot, you are in a new area and must explore and create a new map using a blank. Repeat these steps until you fill out a large biome like the image below.
For more on Minecraft, we at Pro Game Guides have you covered with guides like Minecraft 1.19 Pillager Outpost Seeds – Best Outpost Seeds for Bedrock and Java! (November 2022) and Best Minecraft 1.19 Jungle Seeds for Java and Bedrock (November 2022).
