In the screenshot below, from left to right and from top to bottom, we have:
The action bar at the top left, composed of:
The "menu" button, opening the main menu
The "jump" button, opening the browse view
The "organize" button, opening the organizer view
The "search" button, opening the search view
The "export" button, opening the export menu
The "my location" button at the top right
The "add" button at the bottom right, above the POI info window
The POI info window at the bottom, displaying the selected POI details, with 4 buttons:
Marker edit button (top left): opens the marker details for editing
Copy to clipboard button (top right): copies the marker details to the clipboard
Navigation button (bottom left): opens the marker's location into another navigation app
More button (bottom right): presents a list of possible actions on the marker (call phone, text phone, delete, etc.)
Main menu interface
Clicking the menu button will open the main menu. The main menu has the following elements (from top to bottom):
Map file header
Map type button
Folders
Add folder button
Settings button
About button
Premium-related elements
Editing Points Of Interest
Currently, you can create and edit different types of Points Of Interest (a.k.a. POIs):
Marker: a single location point on the map
Line: a line path on the map
Polygon: a line-delimited surface on the map
Circle: a circle-delimited surface on the map
Track: a line created from device GPS location over time
Creating a Marker
To create a new marker, click on the add button from the main map interface, then move the map around to place the target
where you want to place the marker. When the target is at the desired location, click “OK” to place the
marker.
Creating a Line
To create a new line, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the line button on the left.
Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click the
save button when you’re done.
Creating a Polygon
To create a new polygon, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the polygon button on the
left. Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Circle
To create a new circle, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the circle button on the
left. Click the cicle center button to start placing the circle center, click the circle edge point button to start placing
the outside boundary of the circle, long-click the circle edge point button to enter the circle radius manually, and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Track
To create a new track, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the steps icon button on the
left. The GPS track recording will start, and a the track recording details will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Once you want to finish the track recording, click the "stop" button in the bottom track recording panel.
Editing a POI
To edit a POI, start by selecting it (by clicking on it for example) and hit the edit button
of the info window showing up. This will open the marker edit page. From there you will be able to edit all its attributes.
Note: if you’re editing a line, polygon, circle or track, you will have the option to edit the coordinates
by clicking the “edit” button in the “Coordinates” section.
Deleting a POI
To delete a POI:
select the POI (by clicking it for example)
click the "more" button in the info window
select the "delete" option
confirm the deletion
To delete multiple markers at once, you can use the organizer (see the "organizer" section from this help page)
Using the organizer
You can open the organizer by clicking the organize button from the top bar of the main page.
The organizer will allow you to perform actions on multiple markers at once, or on multiple folders at once.
At the top of the screenshot below, the visible buttons are:
Select all button: select all the elements in the list
Organize POIs / Organize Folders switch button: switch between organising POIs or Folders
When organizing POIs, with at least one POI selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected POIs
When organizing Folders, with at least one Folder selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected Folders
Using map folders
You can use map folders to organize your markers into different sections. Things you can do with folders:
create a folder
edit a folder
marker templates: custom fields
mass assign color
mass assign custom fields
Create a folder
To create a folder:
open the sidebar
click "Add folder"
enter the desired folder information
click ok to save the new folder
Edit a folder
To edit a folder:
open the sidebar
long press on the folder you wish to edit
modify the folder to your liking
click ok to save the changes
Marker templates: custom fields
While creating or editing a folder, you can define custom fields into the folder. Those folder custom fields will act
as a template: when creating a new marker with only one folder selected, if that folder has custom fields then the folder's
custom fields will automatically be added to the newly created marker.
To create a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click "more options"
select "add custom field"
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
To edit a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click on the custom field from the custom fields list
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
Mass assign color and custom fields
When changing a folder’s color or custom fields, a prompt will offer you to mass-assign the color or custom fields
to the markers inside that folder.
Presets, templates and bulk icons with folders
If you want markers to be automatically created with a specific combination of icon, color and custom fields you can
achieve this through folders. Folders will act as templates for their children markers. To do this:
Create a folder
Choose the icon, color and custom fields that you would like to see by default for new markers
Save the folder
Double click on the folder from the main menu to select only that folder
And any new marker that you create will inherit its parent folder’s attributes
Cloud and collaborating
Cloud sync tutorial video
This tutorial video shows the basic steps to use the cloud sync:
How to sync a local map folder on the cloud
If your map file is local and has not been synced on the cloud yet, follow those steps:
Open the main menu
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "cloud sync" option
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to create a new map folder on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "create map file" option
Select "create cloud map"
In the "map's name" prompt, enter the new cloud map name and click OK
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to share your map cloud folder with collaborators on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select "share cloud map"
This should open the cloud map folder outside the app
Open the cloud folder details, and grant the access to your collaborators
Your collaborators should have access to the cloud map
How to open an existing map file from the cloud?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Select the "open cloud map" option
Select the cloud map you want to open
How to restore a previous version from history?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
click on the map file to open the file options menu
select the "advanced" option
select the "view history/restore" option
select the version to restore from the list
Importing and exporting markers
How to export/share your markers?
Click the "share" button of the main action bar (last button)
Select "All markers and folders"
Select the format of export
Wait for the export to complete
Choose whether you want to save the file or share it
How to import your markers from a KML, KMZ or CSV file?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file at the top to open the file options menu
Select "Import markers"
Select the file to import
If the format was not auto-detected, select the import format
Wait for the import to complete
Migrating your data to a new device
If you lost your device or did a factory reset or simply got a new device, you might need to migrate your previous markers data to this new device. Depending on your case, there are several ways to do this...
Case 1: You were using the premium cloud sync on your previous device
Case 3: You created no backup but you still have access to the previous device's data
⇒ You will need to export the markers data from your previous device, and then import your markers data into your new device. For more information on how to export and import data, see the following section: Importing and exporting markers
Case 4: You created no backup and you do not have access to your previous device's data
⇒ If your previous device had Android 6 or up installed, it might have backed up some app data automatically through Google Drive, depending on your settings at the time. Upon installing the app on your new device, the data might be restored automatically. If that's not the case, there is no other way to retrieve the data to my knowledge :'(
FAQ
What is the premium upgrade?
The Map Marker lifetime premium upgrade for the Android app grants you lifetime access to the Map Marker premium on an unlimited number of Android devices.
The premium grants you access to:
Cloud sync with Google Drive or Dropbox
Cloud map collaboration with other premium users
Map versions history with restore ability
How can I propagate my premium upgrade across platforms?
In-app purchases are specific to the platform (Android/iOS) you made the purchase on,
so purchasing the premium upgrade on one platform will not automatically make it available
on your devices in the other platform.
However, you can still manually activate the premium on your other device(s) with the following steps:
Open the app on your device where you made the purchase
Open the left drawer menu -> "About" -> "Troubleshooting" -> "Generate premium code"
When prompted, select your Google account
A six-digits premium activation code will be generated and displayed to you
Write down or memorize the code
Open the app on your other device where you want to activate the premium
Open the left drawer menu -> "Premium" -> "Use premium code"
When prompted, enter the premium activation code you got from your other device
When prompted, select your Google account
If you selected the correct Google account and entered the correct code,
the guest premium access should be unblocked and you should have access to
the premium features
I want to try early features, how can I use the beta?
If you're impatient to test new upcoming features and you are not afraid to encounter bugs in the app, you can join the beta.
Note that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you know how to save/restore your markers via the manual export/import or the cloud sync BEFORE joining the beta.
Also note that if I'm not working on any special feature, the beta might not have anything different from the production app.
With all that being noted, you can join the beta here:
You can add or configure third party search sources in Map Marker from the "Places search sources" section menu.
Once you have obtained a third party search source configuration, you can re-use this same configuration on any device running Map Marker.
To use a configuration, from the search source menu in Map Marker:
Click "Add or configure search source"
Click on the search source that you want to add/configure
Enter/paste the requested configuration values
Check the displayed result (success/failure)
Below are the different third party sources that can be configured with instructions on how to obtain the configuration values, by increasing order of difficulty.
"Here" Places Search API seems like the best option because it's easy to setup.
"Here" Places Search API (easy)
Notes:
You will need to use or create a free HERE account to retrieve the configuration values
There is no need for a credit card (you can skip the "billing details" step)
The free quota is plenty for a single user
The configuration value you will need to obtain is an API key
Important note:
This only works for starred locations, not other lists. Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems Google does not provide a way to export those.
How can I extract POI images from Map Marker?
If you want to extract POI images from Map Marker, there are several ways you can go about this.
Image extraction - Method 1: the KMZ export
Find out how to change a file extension on your system (Linux / Windows / MacOS / etc.): if you don't know how to do this, search for "How to change a file extention in Linux/Windows/MacOS/WhatEverYourSystemIs" in your favorite search engine
Export your map as a KMZ file
Change the KMZ file extension from .kmz to .zip
Extract the zip file with a zip files manager
Image files will be in the extracted "local_media" and "cloud_media" folders, without extensions
Depending on your system, for the system to detect and open these files as images, you might have to change the extension of image files as well to ".jpg" or ".jpg"
Image extraction - Method 2: the premium cloud sync (paid)
Sync your map file to the cloud with the premium cloud sync
Open the map file menu by clicking at the top of the left drawer menu
Click "Share cloud map" to open the Google Drive folder of the cloud map
Filter the view to only see image files, they should all be there
Image extraction - Method 3: the image share feature
When viewing an image from the app, you can share it externally by clicking the "share" button at the top right.
However you can only extract images one by one that way.
Open the image from within the app
Click the share button at the top right
Why is Map Marker not a navigation app?
Navigation apps are complex and hard to get right, and there are already a lot of good navigation apps out there. I believe
that as a single developer, the way I can provide most value with Map Marker is by focusing on the ability to organize
your places, and have an easy way to start navigation into navigation-focused apps. Map Marker’s focus is different
from navigation.
How do I add locations on Google Maps?
Map Marker does not provide such features. Instead, try using one of those links:
A place in Google Maps has wrong/inaccurate data, how do I fix it?
Map Marker does not interact with Google Maps data, instead, try using the Google platform:
go on Google Maps from a desktop computer:
click the location that needs fixing
click "suggest an edit"
How to install the old map marker app
If you need to switch back to the old Map Marker V2, you can install it from the APK file available here: https://github.com/androidseb/mapmarker/releases/tag/map_marker_v2.
Note: if you updated from Map Marker V2 to Map Marker V3 without uninstalling the app, re-installing the app like this over Map Marker V3 will switch you back to the old Map Marker V2 without losing your user data. However any data created from the V3 app will not be accessible from the newly installed V2 app.
Where can I find the help center for Map Marker V2?
If you are using the legacy Map Marker V2 app version, you can find the help center archive here.
Troubleshooting and known problems
Collecting a log file
When facing a particular problem with the app that requires an investigation, it can help to provide an error log file in some cases.
To collect an error log file, follow these steps:
First, activate the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Enable log file"
Exit the app completely (e.g. swipe it off your recent apps)
Start the app again
Then, run through the flow producing your problem so that app logs capture it
Then, export the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Export log file"
Send the exported log file, for example by email
Lastly, deactivate the log file, to avoid slowing down the app:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Disable log file"
Problems importing CSV files
Importing CSV files will only reliably work if all of these conditions are met:
the file content has columns labeled "Latitude" and "Longitude"
the file contains actual CSV: "Commas Separated Values" using the comma character ",".
the file is using UTF-8 encoding
Files exported from Map Marker will meet the above conditions; to see an example of how the file should look like,
you can export a CSV file from Map Marker and send it to yourself.
If you edit the CSV file from another software (e.g. Excel), keep in mind that the software might save the file
using other delimiter characters than "," or using another encoding than UTF-8 depending on your system
preferences and regional settings, so make sure you select the correct encoding (UTF-8) and the correct delimiter
character (",") when saving the CSV file from another software, or importing your CSV into Map Marker might not
work as expected.
Cloud sync error: 404 file not found
When performing cloud sync, this error can occur if some remote cloud files have been deleted.
This can happen if you (or one of your collaborators if you're sharing access) have deleted the cloud files from your cloud storage account.
When this error happens, you can no longer sync to the cloud map and it also probably means that the only copy of your data is on your device, since the cloud data is gone.
The recommended way to proceed in case you encounter this error is the following:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
To minimize the risks of losing the data, create a copy of that exported file somewhere like a secondary device, or a cloud storage account
By default, Map Marker creates a dedicated folder in your cloud storage account called "Map Marker Places Organizer": identify the source of the cloud data deletion so that it doesn't happen again, for example, if one of your collaborators deleted some file accidentally (e.g. "accidental cleanup"), explain them why not deleting these files is important
Create a new cloud map
Import the data from the KMZ file
Sync your cloud map
GPS location inaccurate
On some Android devices, it can happen that the GPS location becomes inaccurate over time. In some cases,
it's even possible to see a correct accurate location in one app and a completely inaccurate location in another app.
This is due to the way location tracking works at the system level and can sometimes be resolved by restarting your device.
Note that only restarting your device can be insufficient, as some components like the GPS chip might not have been fully powered off in the process.
The following steps can often work to resolve the issue:
Power off your device completely
Wait for 10 seconds
Power your device back on
Problems with Google My Maps
Google My Maps cannot import the KML/KMZ files produced by Map Marker if they contain the default folder, because it
cannot handle an empty folder name. To work around this, you will need to import only one folder at a time, that is
not the default folder.
Premium troubleshooting
When you purchase the premium, it becomes available for life for your Google account. The Google account granted with
the premium access is the one used to perform the purchase. Upon purchasing the premium, you will receive a confirmation
email with an order number. From then on, you can use the premium on as many devices as you want. However you will need
to use the exact same Google account to perform the installation of Map Marker on your other device.
If you cannot use the premium:
Backup your markers outside of the app
Un-install the app
Open the Google play app
Make sure you are signed in with your Google account owning the premium in the left drawer of the Google Play app
Download and install Map Marker again
If these steps don't work you can send me your order number for confirmation and I will help you.
You can find your order number from the email you received when making the purchase, or from https://payments.google.com/ under the "Activity" tab.
Problems with Google Play Services
Some problems with the Google Play Services app can cause various issues with Google-related services.
Sometimes, you can fix this by clearing the Google Play Services app data:
Open the system settings
Applications
Google Play Services
Storage
CLEAR STORAGE
CLEAR ALL DATA
Problems with map display: blank map
Some problems with the Google Maps component can prevent the map display from loading properly, resulting in an empty blank map.
Sometimes you can fix this by clearing the Google Play Services app data.
Unfortunaltey sometimes this will not be enough and you will need to clear the app data completely to resolve the issue.
Since clearing the app data will result in all your markers being deleted, you have to careful follow these steps to avoid losing your data:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
Copy the KMZ file to an other device
Confirm you can import back your markers from the KMZ file
Keep the KMZ file in a safe location
ONLY after your markers data is secured, proceed with next steps
Turn on the problematic device
Open the system settings
Applications
Map Marker
Storage
CLEAR STORAGE
CLEAR ALL DATA
Restart the app
Import your markers back from the KMZ file
Problems with blocked internet access
In some cases, even though your device has correct internet access, the system can block internet access to Map Marker,
preventing the app from accessing internet, and preventing sync and causing the map not to load.
This can be caused by battery savers and/or incorrect system parameters.
If that happens, you can try the following steps to troubleshoot:
Check for any power-saving / network blocking apps and ensure that Map Marker is allowed to use the network
If that doesn't work, reset your network settings:
Open the system settings
Navigate to network settings
Select "Reset network settings"
Restart your device
If that doesn't work, back-up your data and re-install the app:
Import your markers back to another device to confirm that the backup worked
Once you're confident your data is safely backed-up, uninstall the app
Restart your device
Install the app again
App launch error: "DatabaseException Row too big..."
In rare cases where you accidentally imported one or more POIs containing very large data, the app might fail to start with this initialization error:
"DatabaseException Row too big to fit into CursorWindow..."
In this case, you will need to find and fix the offending POI with the following steps:
From the device with the problematic app installed, click this
This should open Map Marker successfully and display a special message reading "sCursorWindowSize => 100MB"
The import should fail with an error message giving you the name of the POI with the offending data
Edit the POI to fix it
Exit the app completely, and launch it again: the initialization error should be gone
Issues with migrating / migrated V2 map
The V2 map migration has some limitations and can cause various issues. If you're encountering one
of these issues, the most straightforward way to resolve this is to export your maps as a KMZ file
and start with a fresh new map. You can do so by following these steps:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
Import your markers back to another device to confirm that the backup worked
Once you're confident your data is safely backed-up, uninstall the app, this will result in all app date being deleted
Install the app again, this should start you with a fresh new map
Import your markers back
If you're using the cloud sync feature, sync your map to the cloud
In the screenshot below, from left to right and from top to bottom, we have:
The action bar at the top left, composed of:
The "menu" button, opening the main menu
The "jump" button, opening the browse view
The "organize" button, opening the organizer view
The "search" button, opening the search view
The "export" button, opening the export menu
The "my location" button at the top right
The "add" button at the bottom right, above the POI info window
The POI info window at the bottom, displaying the selected POI details, with 4 buttons:
Marker edit button (top left): opens the marker details for editing
Copy to clipboard button (top right): copies the marker details to the clipboard
Navigation button (bottom left): opens the marker's location into another navigation app
More button (bottom right): presents a list of possible actions on the marker (call phone, text phone, delete, etc.)
Main menu interface
Clicking the menu button will open the main menu. The main menu has the following elements (from top to bottom):
Map file header
Map type button
Folders
Add folder button
Settings button
About button
Premium-related elements
Editing Points Of Interest
Currently, you can create and edit different types of Points Of Interest (a.k.a. POIs):
Marker: a single location point on the map
Line: a line path on the map
Polygon: a line-delimited surface on the map
Circle: a circle-delimited surface on the map
Track: a line created from device GPS location over time
Creating a Marker
To create a new marker, click on the add button from the main map interface, then move the map around to place the target
where you want to place the marker. When the target is at the desired location, click “OK” to place the
marker.
Creating a Line
To create a new line, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the line button on the left.
Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click the
save button when you’re done.
Creating a Polygon
To create a new polygon, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the polygon button on the
left. Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Circle
To create a new circle, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the circle button on the
left. Click the cicle center button to start placing the circle center, click the circle edge point button to start placing
the outside boundary of the circle, long-click the circle edge point button to enter the circle radius manually, and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Track
To create a new track, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the steps icon button on the
left. The GPS track recording will start, and a the track recording details will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Once you want to finish the track recording, click the "stop" button in the bottom track recording panel.
Editing a POI
To edit a POI, start by selecting it (by clicking on it for example) and hit the edit button
of the info window showing up. This will open the marker edit page. From there you will be able to edit all its attributes.
Note: if you’re editing a line, polygon, circle or track, you will have the option to edit the coordinates
by clicking the “edit” button in the “Coordinates” section.
Deleting a POI
To delete a POI:
select the POI (by clicking it for example)
click the "more" button in the info window
select the "delete" option
confirm the deletion
To delete multiple markers at once, you can use the organizer (see the "organizer" section from this help page)
Using the organizer
You can open the organizer by clicking the organize button from the top bar of the main page.
The organizer will allow you to perform actions on multiple markers at once, or on multiple folders at once.
At the top of the screenshot below, the visible buttons are:
Select all button: select all the elements in the list
Organize POIs / Organize Folders switch button: switch between organising POIs or Folders
When organizing POIs, with at least one POI selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected POIs
When organizing Folders, with at least one Folder selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected Folders
Using map folders
You can use map folders to organize your markers into different sections. Things you can do with folders:
create a folder
edit a folder
marker templates: custom fields
mass assign color
mass assign custom fields
Create a folder
To create a folder:
open the sidebar
click "Add folder"
enter the desired folder information
click ok to save the new folder
Edit a folder
To edit a folder:
open the sidebar
long press on the folder you wish to edit
modify the folder to your liking
click ok to save the changes
Marker templates: custom fields
While creating or editing a folder, you can define custom fields into the folder. Those folder custom fields will act
as a template: when creating a new marker with only one folder selected, if that folder has custom fields then the folder's
custom fields will automatically be added to the newly created marker.
To create a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click "more options"
select "add custom field"
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
To edit a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click on the custom field from the custom fields list
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
Mass assign color and custom fields
When changing a folder’s color or custom fields, a prompt will offer you to mass-assign the color or custom fields
to the markers inside that folder.
Presets, templates and bulk icons with folders
If you want markers to be automatically created with a specific combination of icon, color and custom fields you can
achieve this through folders. Folders will act as templates for their children markers. To do this:
Create a folder
Choose the icon, color and custom fields that you would like to see by default for new markers
Save the folder
Double click on the folder from the main menu to select only that folder
And any new marker that you create will inherit its parent folder’s attributes
Cloud and collaborating
Cloud sync tutorial video
This tutorial video shows the basic steps to use the cloud sync:
How to sync a local map folder on the cloud
If your map file is local and has not been synced on the cloud yet, follow those steps:
Open the main menu
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "cloud sync" option
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to create a new map folder on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "create map file" option
Select "create cloud map"
In the "map's name" prompt, enter the new cloud map name and click OK
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to share your map cloud folder with collaborators on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select "share cloud map"
This should open the cloud map folder outside the app
Open the cloud folder details, and grant the access to your collaborators
Your collaborators should have access to the cloud map
How to open an existing map file from the cloud?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Select the "open cloud map" option
Select the cloud map you want to open
How to restore a previous version from history?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
click on the map file to open the file options menu
select the "advanced" option
select the "view history/restore" option
select the version to restore from the list
Importing and exporting markers
How to export/share your markers?
Click the "share" button of the main action bar (last button)
Select "All markers and folders"
Select the format of export
Wait for the export to complete
Select the app to share to
How to import your markers from a KML, KMZ or CSV file?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file at the top to open the file options menu
Select "Import markers"
Select the file to import
If the format was not auto-detected, select the import format
Wait for the import to complete
Migrating your data to a new device
If you lost your device or did a factory reset or simply got a new device, you might need to migrate your previous markers data to this new device. Depending on your case, there are several ways to do this...
Case 1: You were using the premium cloud sync on your previous device
Case 3: You created no backup but you still have access to the previous device's data
⇒ You will need to export the markers data from your previous device, and then import your markers data into your new device. For more information on how to export and import data, see the following section: Importing and exporting markers
Case 4: You created no backup and you do not have access to your previous device's data
⇒ Depending on your iCloud settings, the app data might have been backed up. If that wasn't the case, then there is no other way to retrieve the data to my knowledge :'(
FAQ
What is the premium upgrade?
The Map Marker lifetime premium upgrade for the iOS app grants you lifetime access to the Map Marker premium on an unlimited number of iOS devices.
The premium grants you access to:
Cloud sync with Google Drive or Dropbox
Cloud map collaboration with other premium users
Map versions history with restore ability
How can I propagate my premium upgrade across platforms?
In-app purchases are specific to the platform (Android/iOS) you made the purchase on,
so purchasing the premium upgrade on one platform will not automatically make it available
on your devices in the other platform.
However, you can still manually activate the premium on your other device(s) with the following steps:
Open the app on your device where you made the purchase
Open the left drawer menu -> "About" -> "Troubleshooting" -> "Generate premium code"
When prompted, select your Google account
A six-digits premium activation code will be generated and displayed to you
Write down or memorize the code
Open the app on your other device where you want to activate the premium
Open the left drawer menu -> "Premium" -> "Use premium code"
When prompted, enter the premium activation code you got from your other device
When prompted, select your Google account
If you selected the correct Google account and entered the correct code,
the guest premium access should be unblocked and you should have access to
the premium features
I want to try early features, how can I use the beta?
If you're impatient to test new upcoming features and you are not afraid to encounter bugs in the app, you can join the beta.
Note that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you know how to save/restore your markers via the manual export/import or the cloud sync BEFORE joining the beta.
Also note that if I'm not working on any special feature, the beta might not have anything different from the production app.
With all that being noted, you can join the beta here:
You can add or configure third party search sources in Map Marker from the "Places search sources" section menu.
Once you have obtained a third party search source configuration, you can re-use this same configuration on any device running Map Marker.
To use a configuration, from the search source menu in Map Marker:
Click "Add or configure search source"
Click on the search source that you want to add/configure
Enter/paste the requested configuration values
Check the displayed result (success/failure)
Below are the different third party sources that can be configured with instructions on how to obtain the configuration values, by increasing order of difficulty.
"Here" Places Search API seems like the best option because it's easy to setup.
"Here" Places Search API (easy)
Notes:
You will need to use or create a free HERE account to retrieve the configuration values
There is no need for a credit card (you can skip the "billing details" step)
The free quota is plenty for a single user
The configuration value you will need to obtain is an API key
Important note:
This only works for starred locations, not other lists. Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems Google does not provide a way to export those.
How can I extract POI images from Map Marker?
If you want to extract POI images from Map Marker, there are several ways you can go about this.
Image extraction - Method 1: the KMZ export
Find out how to change a file extension on your system (Linux / Windows / MacOS / etc.): if you don't know how to do this, search for "How to change a file extention in Linux/Windows/MacOS/WhatEverYourSystemIs" in your favorite search engine
Export your map as a KMZ file
Change the KMZ file extension from .kmz to .zip
Extract the zip file with a zip files manager
Image files will be in the extracted "local_media" and "cloud_media" folders, without extensions
Depending on your system, for the system to detect and open these files as images, you might have to change the extension of image files as well to ".jpg" or ".jpg"
Image extraction - Method 2: the premium cloud sync (paid)
Sync your map file to the cloud with the premium cloud sync
Open the map file menu by clicking at the top of the left drawer menu
Click "Share cloud map" to open the Google Drive folder of the cloud map
Filter the view to only see image files, they should all be there
Image extraction - Method 3: the image share feature
When viewing an image from the app, you can share it externally by clicking the "share" button at the top right.
However you can only extract images one by one that way.
Open the image from within the app
Click the share button at the top right
Why is Map Marker not a navigation app?
Navigation apps are complex and hard to get right, and there are already a lot of good navigation apps out there. I believe
that as a single developer, the way I can provide most value with Map Marker is by focusing on the ability to organize
your places, and have an easy way to start navigation into navigation-focused apps. Map Marker’s focus is different
from navigation.
How do I add locations on Google Maps?
Map Marker does not provide such features. Instead, try using one of those links:
A place in Google Maps has wrong/inaccurate data, how do I fix it?
Map Marker does not interact with Google Maps data, instead, try using the Google platform:
go on Google Maps from a desktop computer:
click the location that needs fixing
click "suggest an edit"
Where can I find the help center for Map Marker V2?
If you are using the legacy Map Marker V2 app version, you can find the help center archive here.
Troubleshooting and known problems
Collecting a log file
When facing a particular problem with the app that requires an investigation, it can help to provide an error log file in some cases.
To collect an error log file, follow these steps:
First, activate the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Enable log file"
Exit the app completely (e.g. swipe it off your recent apps)
Start the app again
Then, run through the flow producing your problem so that app logs capture it
Then, export the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Export log file"
Send the exported log file, for example by email
Lastly, deactivate the log file, to avoid slowing down the app:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Disable log file"
Problems importing CSV files
Importing CSV files will only reliably work if all of these conditions are met:
the file content has columns labeled "Latitude" and "Longitude"
the file contains actual CSV: "Commas Separated Values" using the comma character ",".
the file is using UTF-8 encoding
Files exported from Map Marker will meet the above conditions; to see an example of how the file should look like,
you can export a CSV file from Map Marker and send it to yourself.
If you edit the CSV file from another software (e.g. Excel), keep in mind that the software might save the file
using other delimiter characters than "," or using another encoding than UTF-8 depending on your system
preferences and regional settings, so make sure you select the correct encoding (UTF-8) and the correct delimiter
character (",") when saving the CSV file from another software, or importing your CSV into Map Marker might not
work as expected.
Cloud sync error: 404 file not found
When performing cloud sync, this error can occur if some remote cloud files have been deleted.
This can happen if you (or one of your collaborators if you're sharing access) have deleted the cloud files from your cloud storage account.
When this error happens, you can no longer sync to the cloud map and it also probably means that the only copy of your data is on your device, since the cloud data is gone.
The recommended way to proceed in case you encounter this error is the following:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
To minimize the risks of losing the data, create a copy of that exported file somewhere like a secondary device, or a cloud storage account
By default, Map Marker creates a dedicated folder in your cloud storage account called "Map Marker Places Organizer": identify the source of the cloud data deletion so that it doesn't happen again, for example, if one of your collaborators deleted some file accidentally (e.g. "accidental cleanup"), explain them why not deleting these files is important
Create a new cloud map
Import the data from the KMZ file
Sync your cloud map
Issues with migrating / migrated V2 map
The V2 map migration has some limitations and can cause various issues. If you're encountering one
of these issues, the most straightforward way to resolve this is to export your maps as a KMZ file
and start with a fresh new map. You can do so by following these steps:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
Import your markers back to another device to confirm that the backup worked
Once you're confident your data is safely backed-up, uninstall the app, this will result in all app date being deleted
Install the app again, this should start you with a fresh new map
Import your markers back
If you're using the cloud sync feature, sync your map to the cloud
The web app is meant to be opened from your computer's web browser. You can reach the web app from the home page by clicking "Launch the Web App" or by clicking here
Main interface
In the screenshot below, from left to right and from top to bottom, we have:
The action bar at the top left, composed of:
The "menu" button, opening the main menu
The "jump" button, opening the browse view
The "organize" button, opening the organizer view
The "search" button, opening the search view
The "export" button, opening the export menu
The "my location" button at the top right
The "add" button at the bottom right, above the POI info window
The POI info window at the bottom, displaying the selected POI details, with 4 buttons:
Marker edit button (top left): opens the marker details for editing
Copy to clipboard button (top right): copies the marker details to the clipboard
Navigation button (bottom left): opens the marker's location into another navigation app
More button (bottom right): presents a list of possible actions on the marker (call phone, text phone, delete, etc.)
Main menu interface
Clicking the menu button will open the main menu. The main menu has the following elements (from top to bottom):
Map file header
Map type button
Folders
Add folder button
Settings button
About button
Premium-related elements
Editing Points Of Interest
Currently, you can create and edit different types of Points Of Interest (a.k.a. POIs):
Marker: a single location point on the map
Line: a line path on the map
Polygon: a line-delimited surface on the map
Circle: a circle-delimited surface on the map
Track: a line created from device GPS location over time
Creating a Marker
To create a new marker, click on the add button from the main map interface, then move the map around to place the target
where you want to place the marker. When the target is at the desired location, click “OK” to place the
marker.
Creating a Line
To create a new line, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the line button on the left.
Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click the
save button when you’re done.
Creating a Polygon
To create a new polygon, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the polygon button on the
left. Place new points with the “+” button, move from one point to another with the arrow buttons and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Circle
To create a new circle, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the circle button on the
left. Click the cicle center button to start placing the circle center, click the circle edge point button to start placing
the outside boundary of the circle, long-click the circle edge point button to enter the circle radius manually, and click
the save button when you’re done.
Creating a Track
To create a new track, click on the add button from the main map interface and then click the steps icon button on the
left. The GPS track recording will start, and a the track recording details will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Once you want to finish the track recording, click the "stop" button in the bottom track recording panel.
Editing a POI
To edit a POI, start by selecting it (by clicking on it for example) and hit the edit button
of the info window showing up. This will open the marker edit page. From there you will be able to edit all its attributes.
Note: if you’re editing a line, polygon, circle or track, you will have the option to edit the coordinates
by clicking the “edit” button in the “Coordinates” section.
Deleting a POI
To delete a POI:
select the POI (by clicking it for example)
click the "more" button in the info window
select the "delete" option
confirm the deletion
To delete multiple markers at once, you can use the organizer (see the "organizer" section from this help page)
Using the organizer
You can open the organizer by clicking the organize button from the top bar of the main page.
The organizer will allow you to perform actions on multiple markers at once, or on multiple folders at once.
At the top of the screenshot below, the visible buttons are:
Select all button: select all the elements in the list
Organize POIs / Organize Folders switch button: switch between organising POIs or Folders
When organizing POIs, with at least one POI selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected POIs to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected POIs
When organizing Folders, with at least one Folder selected, the following buttons will become visible:
Move to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Copy to folder button: move the selected Folders to another folder
Delete button: delete the selected Folders
Using map folders
You can use map folders to organize your markers into different sections. Things you can do with folders:
create a folder
edit a folder
marker templates: custom fields
mass assign color
mass assign custom fields
Create a folder
To create a folder:
open the sidebar
click "Add folder"
enter the desired folder information
click ok to save the new folder
Edit a folder
To edit a folder:
open the sidebar
long press on the folder you wish to edit
modify the folder to your liking
click ok to save the changes
Marker templates: custom fields
While creating or editing a folder, you can define custom fields into the folder. Those folder custom fields will act
as a template: when creating a new marker with only one folder selected, if that folder has custom fields then the folder's
custom fields will automatically be added to the newly created marker.
To create a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click "more options"
select "add custom field"
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
To edit a folder's custom fields from the folder create/edit page:
click on the custom field from the custom fields list
edit the custom field to your liking and save it
Mass assign color and custom fields
When changing a folder’s color or custom fields, a prompt will offer you to mass-assign the color or custom fields
to the markers inside that folder.
Presets, templates and bulk icons with folders
If you want markers to be automatically created with a specific combination of icon, color and custom fields you can
achieve this through folders. Folders will act as templates for their children markers. To do this:
Create a folder
Choose the icon, color and custom fields that you would like to see by default for new markers
Save the folder
Double click on the folder from the main menu to select only that folder
And any new marker that you create will inherit its parent folder’s attributes
Cloud and collaborating
Cloud sync tutorial video
This tutorial video shows the basic steps to use the cloud sync:
How to sync a local map folder on the cloud
If your map file is local and has not been synced on the cloud yet, follow those steps:
Open the main menu
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "cloud sync" option
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to create a new map folder on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select the "create map file" option
Select "create cloud map"
In the "map's name" prompt, enter the new cloud map name and click OK
Select the cloud provider to sync to
Authenticate to your account if prompted to
How to share your map cloud folder with collaborators on the cloud
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file to open the file options menu
Select "share cloud map"
This should open the cloud map folder outside the app
Open the cloud folder details, and grant the access to your collaborators
Your collaborators should have access to the cloud map
How to open an existing map file from the cloud?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Select the "open cloud map" option
Select the cloud map you want to open
How to restore a previous version from history?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
click on the map file to open the file options menu
select the "advanced" option
select the "view history/restore" option
select the version to restore from the list
Importing and exporting markers
How to export/share your markers?
Click the "share" button of the main action bar (last button)
Select "All markers and folders"
Select the format of export
Wait for the export to complete
The exported file should download from your browser
How to import your markers from a KML, KMZ or CSV file?
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click on the map file at the top to open the file options menu
Select "Import markers"
Select the file to import
If the format was not auto-detected, select the import format
Wait for the import to complete
Migrating your data to a new device
If you lost your device or did a factory reset or simply got a new device, you might need to migrate your previous markers data to this new device. Depending on your case, there are several ways to do this...
Case 1: You were using the premium cloud sync on your previous device
Case 3: You created no backup but you still have access to the previous device's data
⇒ You will need to export the markers data from your previous device, and then import your markers data into your new device. For more information on how to export and import data, see the following section: Importing and exporting markers
Case 4: You created no backup and you do not have access to your previous device's data
⇒ Since the web app is on your browser only, there is no other way to retrieve the data to my knowledge :'(
FAQ
Compatible web browsers
For the Map Marker web app, only browsers using the Chromium engine are fully tested for compatibility (e.g. Google Chrome).
Note that iOS browsers (even Google Chrome on iOS) are not compatible.
For performance reasons, the Map Marker web app makes specific use of some origin file system browser feature which is not fully supported by all browsers.
Using other browsers will likely not work fully and you might bump into error messages (e.g. "Null check operator used on a null value").
I want to try early features, how can I use the beta?
If you're impatient to test new upcoming features and you are not afraid to encounter bugs in the app, you can join the beta.
Note that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you know how to save/restore your markers via the manual export/import or the cloud sync BEFORE joining the beta.
Also note that if I'm not working on any special feature, the beta might not have anything different from the production app.
With all that being noted, you can join the beta here:
You can add or configure third party search sources in Map Marker from the "Places search sources" section menu.
Once you have obtained a third party search source configuration, you can re-use this same configuration on any device running Map Marker.
To use a configuration, from the search source menu in Map Marker:
Click "Add or configure search source"
Click on the search source that you want to add/configure
Enter/paste the requested configuration values
Check the displayed result (success/failure)
Below are the different third party sources that can be configured with instructions on how to obtain the configuration values, by increasing order of difficulty.
"Here" Places Search API seems like the best option because it's easy to setup.
"Here" Places Search API (easy)
Notes:
You will need to use or create a free HERE account to retrieve the configuration values
There is no need for a credit card (you can skip the "billing details" step)
The free quota is plenty for a single user
The configuration value you will need to obtain is an API key
Important note:
This only works for starred locations, not other lists. Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems Google does not provide a way to export those.
How can I extract POI images from Map Marker?
If you want to extract POI images from Map Marker, there are several ways you can go about this.
Image extraction - Method 1: the KMZ export
Find out how to change a file extension on your system (Linux / Windows / MacOS / etc.): if you don't know how to do this, search for "How to change a file extention in Linux/Windows/MacOS/WhatEverYourSystemIs" in your favorite search engine
Export your map as a KMZ file
Change the KMZ file extension from .kmz to .zip
Extract the zip file with a zip files manager
Image files will be in the extracted "local_media" and "cloud_media" folders, without extensions
Depending on your system, for the system to detect and open these files as images, you might have to change the extension of image files as well to ".jpg" or ".jpg"
Image extraction - Method 2: the premium cloud sync (paid)
Sync your map file to the cloud with the premium cloud sync
Open the map file menu by clicking at the top of the left drawer menu
Click "Share cloud map" to open the Google Drive folder of the cloud map
Filter the view to only see image files, they should all be there
Image extraction - Method 3: the image share feature
When viewing an image from the app, you can share it externally by clicking the "share" button at the top right.
However you can only extract images one by one that way.
Open the image from within the app
Click the share button at the top right
Why is Map Marker not a navigation app?
Navigation apps are complex and hard to get right, and there are already a lot of good navigation apps out there. I believe
that as a single developer, the way I can provide most value with Map Marker is by focusing on the ability to organize
your places, and have an easy way to start navigation into navigation-focused apps. Map Marker’s focus is different
from navigation.
How do I add locations on Google Maps?
Map Marker does not provide such features. Instead, try using one of those links:
A place in Google Maps has wrong/inaccurate data, how do I fix it?
Map Marker does not interact with Google Maps data, instead, try using the Google platform:
go on Google Maps from a desktop computer:
click the location that needs fixing
click "suggest an edit"
Where can I find the help center for Map Marker V2?
If you are using the legacy Map Marker V2 app version, you can find the help center archive here.
Troubleshooting and known problems
Collecting a log file
When facing a particular problem with the app that requires an investigation, it can help to provide an error log file in some cases.
To collect an error log file, follow these steps:
First, activate the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Enable log file"
Exit the app completely (e.g. swipe it off your recent apps)
Start the app again
Then, run through the flow producing your problem so that app logs capture it
Then, export the log file:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Export log file"
Send the exported log file, for example by email
Lastly, deactivate the log file, to avoid slowing down the app:
Open the left drawer by clicking the left button of the main action bar
Click "About"
Click "Troubleshooting"
Click "Disable log file"
Problems importing CSV files
Importing CSV files will only reliably work if all of these conditions are met:
the file content has columns labeled "Latitude" and "Longitude"
the file contains actual CSV: "Commas Separated Values" using the comma character ",".
the file is using UTF-8 encoding
Files exported from Map Marker will meet the above conditions; to see an example of how the file should look like,
you can export a CSV file from Map Marker and send it to yourself.
If you edit the CSV file from another software (e.g. Excel), keep in mind that the software might save the file
using other delimiter characters than "," or using another encoding than UTF-8 depending on your system
preferences and regional settings, so make sure you select the correct encoding (UTF-8) and the correct delimiter
character (",") when saving the CSV file from another software, or importing your CSV into Map Marker might not
work as expected.
Cloud sync error: 404 file not found
When performing cloud sync, this error can occur if some remote cloud files have been deleted.
This can happen if you (or one of your collaborators if you're sharing access) have deleted the cloud files from your cloud storage account.
When this error happens, you can no longer sync to the cloud map and it also probably means that the only copy of your data is on your device, since the cloud data is gone.
The recommended way to proceed in case you encounter this error is the following:
Export your markers as a KMZ file
To minimize the risks of losing the data, create a copy of that exported file somewhere like a secondary device, or a cloud storage account
By default, Map Marker creates a dedicated folder in your cloud storage account called "Map Marker Places Organizer": identify the source of the cloud data deletion so that it doesn't happen again, for example, if one of your collaborators deleted some file accidentally (e.g. "accidental cleanup"), explain them why not deleting these files is important
Create a new cloud map
Import the data from the KMZ file
Sync your cloud map
Images not displaying (white squares instead)
This can happen if your browser has a setting of blocking third-party content.
Since images are coming from Google Drive (drive.google.com) instead of mapmarker.app, the browser with third party content blocked might block this, resulting in images displayed as white squares.
To fix this on Google Chrome, go to the browser settings and change the settings under "Cookies and other site data" to allow third party cookies on mapmarker.app.
KMZ archive size limitations
The Map Marker PC web app can handle KMZ archives with a size of up to 2GB without issues. Above 2GB, the web app will fail to import or export archives.
You can work around these limitations in different ways:
If you're trying to export an archive exceeding the limit, try to export a smaller subset of POIs (e.g. export only a few folders at a time instead of exporting everything)
If you're trying to import an archive exceeding the limit, try to re-create that archive by splitting it into smaller chunks