Map Tab — Regular Mode

Regular Mode is the default map view. It displays a full interactive base map powered by vector tiles, with your location markers plotted on top. This is where you'll spend most of your time styling the map before exporting.

The Map tab in Regular Mode is organized into three sections: Base Map Theme (choose your overall visual style), Base Map Layers (toggle individual map features on and off), and Customize Theme (fine-tune colors, line widths, and label styling).

When you switch to Focus Mode using the toggle at the top of the Map panel, these sections are replaced with focus-specific controls (see Section 3).

Base Map Theme

This is typically the first decision you'll make when styling a new map. The base theme sets the overall color palette and visual feel for everything on the map: land, water, roads, labels, and boundaries. All other customizations (layer visibility, color tweaks) are applied on top of the base theme you select here.

Feature	Control	Property	Description
Theme selector	Dropdown	`settings.theme`	Selects the overall visual style for the underlying map. Controls all base map colors (earth, water, roads, labels, boundaries) from a predefined flavor palette. Changing the theme completely resets the map's visual appearance, though your layer visibility settings and marker data are preserved. The five built-in base flavors are: Light (warm, detailed with full-color terrain — the default, best for general-purpose maps), White (clean data-visualization style with minimal visual weight — ideal when markers should be the focus), Grayscale (neutral monochrome — good for print and when you want zero color distraction from your data), Dark (inverted palette for dark-themed presentations — light roads and labels on a dark background), and Black (high-contrast data-viz with very dark earth — maximum drama for executive presentations). In addition to these five base flavors, pitchmappr ships with 21 preset themes that build on these bases with curated color adjustments (see Section 10). Custom themes created in the Theme Editor (mapprstyle.html) also appear in this dropdown, prefixed with a star (★) to distinguish them from presets.

Base Map Layers

This section gives you granular control over which map features are visible. Think of it as a layer stack: each toggle controls whether a specific type of geographic feature (roads, labels, water, buildings, etc.) appears on the map.

The layers are organized into 11 collapsible categories containing 44 individual toggles. Each category header has a master checkbox that turns all layers in that group on or off at once. When some layers in a category are on and others are off, the master checkbox shows an indeterminate (dash) state.

Layer visibility persists across theme changes, so if you hide minor roads and then switch from Light to Dark theme, minor roads stay hidden. Layer visibility is also saved in your project JSON, so your choices are preserved when you reload a project. Themes can define default layer visibility (e.g. the "Finance" theme hides all roads by default), but you can always override those defaults here.

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For clean presentation maps, a good starting point is to hide Minor Roads, Railways, all Road Labels, all Water Labels, Neighborhoods, and Points of Interest. This reduces visual noise and keeps the audience focused on your data markers.

Terrain

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Background & Earth	Checkbox	ON	Controls the base land fill color that covers all non-water areas. This is the foundational layer — the "canvas" that every other land feature draws on top of. Turning it off removes the background earth color entirely, revealing the raw map container (which appears as the browser's default background color). You'd almost never turn this off intentionally, but it's exposed here for completeness. The earth color itself is determined by the active theme and can be customized in the Customize Theme section. Affects all PNG and SVG exports.
Landcover	Checkbox	ON	Shows natural terrain classification as colored overlays on the earth layer. This includes forests, grassland, farmland, glaciers, scrubland, and urban areas, each rendered in a distinct color defined by the active theme. Landcover adds geographic texture and visual richness to the map, making it easier to distinguish natural regions at a glance. Turning it off creates a flatter, more uniform land appearance where all land looks the same color. For minimal presentation maps, turning landcover off is a common choice since it removes visual complexity without losing essential geographic context.

Landuse

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Parks & Forests	Checkbox	ON	Renders green-shaded areas for public parks, nature reserves, and forested regions. These appear as colored polygons on top of the earth base, adding visual distinction between developed and natural areas. In exports, park areas are clearly visible as colored shapes. Useful for real estate or site-selection maps where green space matters. For minimal finance presentations, you may want to turn this off to reduce visual noise.
Hospital	Checkbox	ON	Shows hospital and medical facility grounds as shaded zones on the map. The shaded area represents the hospital campus or property boundary, not a point marker. This is useful for healthcare-related maps or when hospital proximity is relevant. For most finance presentations, hospital grounds add visual noise without adding useful context, so turning this off is common.
Industrial	Checkbox	ON	Renders industrial zones (factories, warehouses, manufacturing areas) as shaded regions. These areas are typically visible at medium-to-high zoom levels. Like hospitals, industrial zones are useful for context in real estate or site-analysis maps but often add unnecessary visual complexity in general presentation maps.
School	Checkbox	ON	Shows school, university, and educational institution grounds as shaded areas. Includes both K-12 schools and university campuses. The shading represents the property footprint, not individual buildings. Like hospitals and industrial zones, school grounds provide context for certain use cases but are commonly hidden in streamlined presentation maps.
Zoo	Checkbox	ON	Renders zoo and wildlife park grounds. This is a minor detail layer that's typically only visible at high zoom levels (z12 and above). Unless you're making a map specifically about zoos or leisure destinations, you'll rarely notice this layer. Turning it off removes the zoo ground shading.
Airport	Checkbox	ON	Shows airport grounds including runways and taxiways as distinct features. This includes both the aerodrome fill area (the general airport footprint) and the runway/taxiway line features drawn on top. Airports become visible from medium zoom levels and are often one of the more recognizable features at regional scale. Useful for transportation-focused maps; can be hidden for cleaner general-purpose maps.
Pedestrian	Checkbox	ON	Renders pedestrian zones and plazas as shaded areas. These are primarily visible in urban areas at high zoom levels and represent car-free zones, town squares, and pedestrian shopping areas. Adds detail for city-level maps but has minimal impact at national or continental scale.
Beach & Sand	Checkbox	ON	Shows beach and sandy areas with distinct coloring that differs from the standard earth tone. Provides coastal detail that helps orient viewers near shorelines. Turning it off merges beaches into the general earth color, which may or may not be noticeable depending on your zoom level and theme.

Water

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Water Bodies	Checkbox	ON	Controls all standing water features: oceans, seas, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. Water is typically the second most prominent color on the map after land, and it provides essential geographic context that helps viewers orient themselves. Turning this off removes all water fill entirely, making the map appear as if it's all land. This would make the map very difficult to read for most purposes, so this layer is almost always left on. The water color itself is controlled by the active theme and can be customized in the Customize Theme section. Significantly affects both PNG and SVG exports.
Rivers	Checkbox	ON	Shows river lines as strokes on the map, colored to match the active theme's water color. Rivers provide important geographic reference points, especially for continental and national-scale maps where major rivers (Mississippi, Thames, Rhine) serve as recognizable landmarks. Turning this off removes the river line strokes but keeps the underlying water body fill for large rivers that are wide enough to appear as filled polygons rather than lines.
Streams	Checkbox	ON	Shows smaller stream and creek lines. These only become visible at higher zoom levels (z10 and above) and add hydrological detail for regional or local maps. At national or continental scale, you won't see streams regardless of this setting. For clean presentation maps, hiding streams reduces minor visual clutter at high zoom without losing important geographic context.

Roads

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Highways	Checkbox	ON	Renders major highway and motorway lines, including both the fill line (the road itself) and the casing (a darker outline stroke that gives highways visual depth and distinction from surrounding roads). Highways are the most prominent road type and are visible even at very low zoom levels. In exports, highway lines appear in the theme's configured road color. Highways provide the primary transportation network context in most maps and are among the last road types you'd want to hide.
Major Roads	Checkbox	ON	Shows primary and secondary road lines such as state routes, US routes, arterial roads, and other significant thoroughfares. Includes both fill and casing layers. These roads become visible from medium zoom levels and provide the secondary transportation network that connects cities and towns. Together with highways, major roads form the core transportation visual on most maps.
Minor Roads	Checkbox	ON	Renders residential streets, minor roads, and service roads (parking lots, driveways). These only become visible at higher zoom levels (z12 and above). At city-level zoom, minor roads can be very dense and visually heavy. Hiding them creates a much cleaner look at urban zoom levels while preserving the highway and arterial network. This is one of the most commonly toggled layers for presentation maps.
Links & Ramps	Checkbox	ON	Shows highway on-ramp and off-ramp connector roads. These add detail at interchange areas and are typically only visible at z10 and above. Hiding them creates cleaner highway views by removing the small connecting road segments at interchanges. For most presentation purposes, you won't notice these unless you're zoomed in to a specific highway interchange.
Other / Paths	Checkbox	ON	Renders unclassified roads, paths, tracks, and footways. This is the lowest-priority road type and only becomes visible at high zoom. Includes hiking trails, farm tracks, and other non-vehicle paths. Useful for detailed local or recreational maps, but adds noise for business presentation use. Commonly hidden along with minor roads for cleaner maps.
Railways	Checkbox	OFF	Shows rail and train lines as dashed or dotted lines on the map. Off by default because rail lines can visually conflict with road networks, creating confusing visual overlap at medium zoom levels. Turn this on for transportation-focused maps or when rail infrastructure is relevant to your presentation (e.g. freight logistics, transit accessibility analysis).

Tunnels & Bridges

Layer	Control	Default	Description
All Tunnels	Checkbox	ON	Controls visibility of road segments that pass through tunnels. Tunnel roads are rendered with dashed casings (outlines) to visually indicate they're passing underground. Turning this off makes the road simply disappear where it enters a tunnel, which can create gaps in the road network at high zoom. In most cases, leaving tunnels on creates a more complete and less confusing road network visualization.
All Bridges	Checkbox	ON	Controls visibility of road segments that cross bridges. Bridge roads are rendered with slightly heavier casings to indicate elevated crossings over water or terrain. Turning this off removes the bridge rendering so the road appears to continue flat across water or other features. Like tunnels, this is generally best left on for visual continuity.

Structures

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Buildings	Checkbox	OFF	Renders individual building footprints as filled polygons on the map. Off by default because buildings add significant visual weight and density, and they're only useful at very high zoom levels (z14 and above). When enabled, building fill transparency is controlled by the active theme's `buildingOpacity` setting (a value from 0 to 1, where 0.5 means semi-transparent). Buildings can be useful for detailed urban maps where building density or layout matters, but they're too dense for most presentation contexts. Buildings appear in PNG and SVG exports when visible.
Piers	Checkbox	ON	Shows piers, docks, and wharves as line features extending into water from the coastline. Provides coastal detail for port areas and waterfronts. At regional or national scale, piers are rarely visible, so this toggle mainly affects high-zoom coastal maps.

Boundaries

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Country & State	Checkbox	ON	Renders country borders and major state or province boundaries as line features. These are the primary political boundary lines on the map and provide essential geographic context for nearly all finance and business maps. The line style (color, width, dash pattern) is controlled by the active theme's boundary settings and can be customized in the Customize Theme section. For most use cases, this layer should stay on, as political boundaries are among the most important reference features on a map.
Regional	Checkbox	ON	Shows lower-level administrative boundaries such as counties, districts, departments, and other sub-state divisions. These provide finer political detail that can be useful for region-specific analysis. For international maps where only country borders matter, hiding regional boundaries reduces visual clutter. For US maps at state level, regional boundaries show county lines, which may or may not be desirable depending on your use case.

Place Labels

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Countries	Checkbox	ON	Shows country name labels (e.g. "UNITED STATES", "FRANCE") at low-to-medium zoom levels. Label size and position are calculated automatically by the map renderer based on each country's geographic area. Text color, halo (outline glow), and case (uppercase vs. mixed) are controlled by the active theme's label settings. Country labels are important orientation aids at continental and global zoom levels.
Cities & Towns	Checkbox	ON	Shows city and town name labels (e.g. "London", "Tokyo") with text size automatically scaled based on population and importance. This is the most commonly used label layer — it provides the essential geographic reference points that help viewers locate your markers relative to known cities. Label styling (font, color, halo) is shared with other label types and controlled by the theme. Note that these are base map labels from the vector tile data, separate from your marker labels (which are controlled in the Markers tab).
States	Checkbox	OFF	Shows state, province, and region name labels. Off by default to reduce label clutter at world and continental zoom levels, where state labels can overlap with country labels and city names. Turn this on for maps where state-level context is important, such as US state-level deal analysis or when viewers need to quickly identify which state a marker is in.
Neighborhoods	Checkbox	OFF	Shows neighborhood and suburb name labels within cities. Only visible at high zoom (z12 and above). Off by default since neighborhood labels are very dense in urban areas. Turn this on for detailed city-level maps where neighborhood context matters, such as real estate site selection.

Road Labels

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Major Roads	Checkbox	OFF	Shows road name labels on major roads and highways (e.g. "Broadway", "Interstate 95"). Labels follow the road's curve so they read naturally along the path. Off by default because road name labels add significant visual complexity and are rarely needed in presentation maps. Turn this on for navigation-oriented maps or when specific road names provide important context for your audience.
Minor Roads	Checkbox	OFF	Shows road name labels on minor streets and residential roads. Only visible at high zoom levels. Creates very detailed street-level labeling when enabled, which is useful for property-level or neighborhood maps but far too dense for regional or national views.
Highway Shields	Checkbox	ON	Renders highway route number shields — the small badge icons with route numbers inside them (e.g. the red-and-blue Interstate shield with "95", or a generic shield with "278"). These use sprite graphics for US Interstate highways, Dutch S-roads, and generic shields for other highway networks. Shields appear at z7 and above and provide compact route identification without needing full road name labels. On by default because they're a familiar, space-efficient way to show highway routes.
One-way Arrows	Checkbox	OFF	Shows directional arrows on one-way streets indicating traffic flow direction. Only visible at high zoom levels. Useful for navigation-oriented maps but adds visual clutter for presentations. Off by default.
Addresses	Checkbox	OFF	Shows house number labels on buildings and address points. Only visible at very high zoom (z16 and above). Off by default. This is the most detailed label type available and is only useful for property-level maps where specific addresses need to be identified.

Water Labels

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Oceans & Seas	Checkbox	OFF	Shows ocean and sea name labels (e.g. "ATLANTIC OCEAN", "MEDITERRANEAN SEA") as large italic text placed on water bodies. Off by default because ocean labels can visually dominate the map at continental zoom levels, competing with your data markers for attention. Turn this on when maritime context is important or when you specifically want viewers to identify oceans and seas.
Lakes	Checkbox	OFF	Shows lake name labels (e.g. "Lake Michigan", "Loch Ness"). Only appears for larger named water bodies. Off by default to keep the map clean. Useful when lake geography provides meaningful context for your presentation.
Waterways	Checkbox	OFF	Shows river and stream name labels. Labels follow the waterway's curve for natural readability. Off by default. Turn on for maps where specific river names provide important geographic context (e.g. maps involving waterfront properties or river-based logistics).
Islands	Checkbox	OFF	Shows island name labels. Only visible for named islands at appropriate zoom levels. Off by default. Useful for coastal or maritime-focused maps.

POIs

Layer	Control	Default	Description
Points of Interest	Checkbox	OFF	Renders point-of-interest icons and labels for restaurants, shops, attractions, transit stops, and other venues. Uses Protomaps sprite icons organized into categories: shopping, nature, transport, attractions, civic, and food & drink. Off by default because POIs add significant visual noise — at city zoom, POI icons can be as dense as building footprints. When enabled, individual icon visibility is further controlled by the theme's `poiIcons` boolean setting. This layer is most useful for local-area maps where surrounding amenities or landmarks matter.

Customize Theme

This section lets you fine-tune the active base theme's colors and styling in real-time without creating a full custom theme. Think of it as a quick-edit overlay on top of whatever theme you've selected above.

Behind the scenes, your changes create a temporary internal theme called __live__ that inherits from the active base theme and applies only the properties you modify. These customizations are saved with your project JSON, so they persist when you reload. However, switching to a completely different base theme discards the live customizations (since the new theme may have a different color palette where your overrides wouldn't make sense).

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If you find yourself making the same customizations repeatedly, consider creating a proper custom theme in the Theme Editor (mapprstyle.html) instead. Custom themes are reusable across projects.

Colors

Feature	Control	Description
Earth / BG	Color picker + hex	Sets the base land/earth fill color that covers all non-water, non-feature areas. This is the most prominent color on the map — it defines the overall visual tone of your entire map. Changing this dramatically shifts the map's character (warm tan vs. cool grey vs. bright white, for example). It also creates the contrast against which all other features are perceived, so road and label readability depends partly on your earth color choice.
Lakes / Rivers	Color picker + hex	Sets the color for all water features — oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. Water is typically the second most prominent color after earth. A subtle blue works well for most presentations, while matching it closely to the earth color creates an "all-land" effect where water bodies fade into the background. Dramatic water colors (deep navy, bright teal) can make a map visually striking but may distract from your data.
Parks	Color picker + hex	Sets the fill color for parks, forests, and green spaces. Also applies to secondary park variant colors. Changing this affects all vegetated areas on the map. To minimize park visibility (useful for clean finance maps), set this color close to your earth color so parks blend in rather than standing out.
Roads	Color picker + hex	Sets the color for ALL road types simultaneously — highways, major roads, minor roads, links, and paths. This is a convenience shorthand that affects 5 individual road color values at once. For per-road-type color control, use the full Theme Editor (mapprstyle.html). In exports, road color directly affects the visual weight of the transportation network. Lighter road colors create a subtler network; darker colors make roads more prominent.
Buildings	Color picker + hex	Sets the fill color for building footprints. This only has a visible effect when the Buildings layer is turned on in the Base Map Layers section. Buildings are typically rendered semi-transparent via the theme's `buildingOpacity` setting, so the color you choose here will appear muted on the map.
Boundaries	Color picker + hex	Sets the stroke color for all political boundary lines (country borders, state/province borders, regional borders). Boundary lines are critical for geographic context. A subtle grey blends boundaries into the map background, while a darker color (black, dark grey) makes political divisions much more prominent. The color you set here works in combination with the Boundary line width slider below.
Label text	Color picker + hex	Sets the text color for ALL label types simultaneously — city names, country names, state names, road labels, ocean labels, neighborhood labels, and address labels. This is a convenience shorthand that affects 7 individual label color values. Darker text provides better contrast and readability; lighter text creates a more subtle, less dominant label presence.
Label halo	Color picker + hex	Sets the halo (outline/glow) color around label text for ALL label types simultaneously. The halo is a colored outline around each letter that improves readability by creating contrast between the text and whatever map feature sits behind it. White or near-white is the most common halo color. This shorthand expands to 5 individual halo color values.

Line Widths

Feature	Control	Description
Roads	Slider (0.2–3.0x)	Multiplies the width of all road lines relative to their theme default. At 1.0x, roads render at their normal width. Lower values (0.2–0.8x) make roads thinner and less visually prominent, which is useful for clean presentation maps where the transportation network should be present but not dominant. Higher values (1.5–3.0x) make roads bolder and more noticeable. Setting this to 0.2 makes roads nearly invisible. This affects all road types equally; for per-type control (e.g. thick highways but thin minor roads), use the full Theme Editor.
Boundaries	Slider (0.2–3.0x)	Multiplies the width of all political boundary lines relative to their theme default. Higher values create more prominent, bolder borders that emphasize political geography. Lower values create subtle, understated borders. Works independently from the road width slider, so you can have thin roads with thick boundaries or vice versa.

Labels

Feature	Control	Description
Label size	Slider (0.5–2.0x)	Scales all base map label text sizes by a multiplier. At 1.0x, labels render at their theme default size (which varies by label type and zoom level — country labels are larger than city labels, for example). Increasing to 1.5–2.0x makes labels more readable in presentations projected on large screens. Decreasing to 0.5–0.7x creates a more subtle map where labels are present but don't compete with your data markers. Applies uniformly to all label categories.
Label halo	Slider (0–4.0)	Controls the width of the text outline around all base map labels. At 0, labels have no halo and may be hard to read when they overlap complex map backgrounds (roads, park boundaries, etc.). At 1–2, a subtle halo provides good readability. Higher values (3–4) create very thick, prominent halos that make labels pop but may look heavy. The halo color is set separately in the Colors section above.

Highway Shields

Feature	Control	Description
Text color	Color picker + hex	Sets the text color for highway shield route numbers (the "95" inside an Interstate shield, for example). Default is a muted rose-grey (#938a8d). Changing this affects how readable shield text is against the shield icon background. Does not affect the shield badge graphic itself, only the text rendered on top of it.
Text size	Slider (0.5–2.0x)	Scales the route number text inside highway shields. The base text size is 8px, so at 1.0x shields show standard-sized text. Increasing to 1.5–2.0x makes route numbers more readable at lower zoom levels, which is useful for presentation maps where the audience is viewing from a distance. Applies to all shield types (Interstate, generic, NL S-road).
Icon size	Slider (0.5–2.0x)	Scales the shield icon/badge graphic (the colored background shape behind the route number). The base icon scale is 0.8. Increasing this makes shield icons more visually prominent on the map. Should typically be adjusted in proportion with text size to maintain visual balance — increasing text size without increasing icon size can cause text to overflow the badge.

Actions

Feature	Control	Description
Reset to defaults	Button	Removes all live customizations and reverts to the base theme's original colors, line widths, label styles, and shield settings. The `__live__` temporary theme is deleted and the map re-renders with the unmodified base theme. Also resets the "Show base map" toggle in focus mode. Use this when your customizations have gone in a direction you don't like and you want to start fresh from the base theme. Does not affect your location data, views, or project settings.

Project Map — Focus Mode