How to Make an Animated Map Video

Step-by-step guide

1. 1

   Open the Studio

   Go to mapimator.com/studio and sign in. A new project opens on the globe with a start panel at the bottom of the map. Click Start with an empty map to begin from scratch. That creates your first slide, named Slide 1, in the Storyboard along the bottom of the screen. The rest of the panel starts you another way: a template from the row of thumbnails, a description typed into the AI Director bar, or a GPX track. You can also skip the button: searching for a place, as the next step does, starts the project too.

   

2. 2

   Search for your starting place

   Click the search bar at the top, labelled Search for a place or coordinates, and type a city, landmark or address, such as Tokyo. Under the results two options are ticked: New slide and Drop a pin. With an empty project the first one reads Starts your first slide. Click a result, or press Enter for the top one, and the map jumps there, slide 1 is created and named after the place, and a pin with the same name is dropped on it. Hold Ctrl or Cmd with Enter to fly there without adding anything. You can also drag the map to pan and scroll to zoom.

   

3. 3

   Save your opening view

   The search put the camera at city zoom. Pan, zoom, tilt or rotate until the map is framed the way you want the video to open, and a blue Update Slide button appears at the bottom of the map. Click it to store the current position, zoom, tilt and rotation in the selected slide. You can also open the three-dot menu on a slide card and choose Retake Slide (use current camera).

   

4. 4

   Add another pin

   The search already dropped a pin named Tokyo. To add more, click Pin in the toolbar at the top of the map. A pin labelled Here drops at the center of the map and a small bar opens beside it with a name box, the pin style, its size and a color. Type a name and pick a style there, or click More to open the pin's full settings on the right. The name is at the top of the panel and Pin Style is on the Style tab: Pin, Dot, Bubble, Marker, Text or Emoji. Bubble puts the name inside a colored badge. The pin shows from this slide onward. The rest of the toolbar adds routes, text, images, shapes and highlighted countries the same way.

   

5. 5

   Add a second slide

   Search for your next place, for example Kyoto, and click the result. The camera flies there and a second slide, named Kyoto, is added after the first, with a pin on it. To make a slide from wherever the map is instead, untick New slide under the results, or move the map and click the + button at the end of the Storyboard. Use these rather than Update Slide, because Update Slide would overwrite the slide you are on. The camera flies from slide 1 to slide 2 when you play the video.

   

6. 6

   Set the transition time

   Between two slide cards there is a Duration box showing the seconds the camera takes to travel to the next slide. Slides you add start at 5. Click the box and type a new number, or use its arrows. It accepts 0.1 to 20 seconds. 2 to 4 seconds feels snappy and 6 to 10 seconds feels cinematic. The clock at the right end of the bar shows the total length of the video.

   

7. 7

   Choose an easing style

   Under each Duration box is a small pill that names the easing, Smooth to begin with. Click it to open Transition to the next slide. It sets how the camera moves from the slide on its left to the next one: Smooth eases in and out, Linear keeps a constant speed, Late brake starts fast and slows for a long stop, and Elastic springs into place. The popover also repeats the duration, and Apply to all transitions changes every slide at once. The small wave icon at the top of a slide card is separate: it opens Swoop and a Camera Move list with Orbit, Sweep Left, Sweep Right, Overhead and Bounce.

   

8. 8

   Preview and export

   Click Play Preview in the bar at the top of the Storyboard, or press Space, to watch the animation. It needs at least two slides. When you are happy with it, click Export Video in the header. Choose a Format (Mobile, Web or Square), MP4 or GIF, a Resolution and a Frame Rate, then click Export MP4. The Studio renders the video and downloads it to your computer. Free accounts export at 480P and 30 FPS with a watermark.