Minecraft Map Recipe: How to Make, Use & Upgrade Maps

Maps are one of the most important items in Minecraft, helping players navigate the vast, randomly generated worlds without getting lost. Crafting a map is a simple process, but one that requires gathering the right materials first. This guide covers everything you need to know about making maps in Minecraft, from the basic recipe to using and upgrading them.

Crafting a Map in Minecraft

To craft a map, you'll need the following ingredients:

• 8 Paper
• 1 Compass (not required for Bedrock Edition)

Paper is made by placing 3 sugar cane in a row on a crafting table. Sugar cane is commonly found near water in swamp and desert biomes.

For the compass, you'll need 4 iron ingots and 1 Redstone dust. Mine iron ore with a stone pickaxe or better, then smelt it in a furnace to get ingots. Redstone is found deep underground, often near lava. Craft a compass by placing the Redstone dust in the center square, surrounded by 4 iron ingots.

Once you have your materials, follow these steps to make a map:

1. Open a crafting table to access the 3x3 crafting grid.
2. Place the compass in the center square.
3. Fill the remaining squares with paper.
4. Drag the completed map to your inventory.

How to Use a Map in Minecraft

To use your map, hold it in your hand and right-click (or use the secondary action button). This will 'initialize' the map, filling it with nearby terrain data.

If crafted with a compass, the map will show a white marker indicating your current location. As you explore the world, the map will fill in with more details like biomes, structures, and bodies of water.

Maps only show a limited area though. To map more of your Minecraft world, you'll need to upgrade your map.

Surrounding your map with 8 more paper in a crafting table will increase its zoom level, letting you see more of the world. Maps can be upgraded this way up to 4 times, increasing the visible area each time.

For a quicker upgrade method, use a cartography table. Combining a map with a single paper on this special workbench will zoom it out in one step.