Put your building on the map

You can build a complete map yourself in the Venue Studio — no coding, nothing to install. Plan on 30–60 minutes per floor the first time.

• A floor plan for each level: a CAD file (DXF), an SVG, GeoJSON, an Apple IMDF zip, or simply a PNG/JPG of the plan.
• Your store or department list (optional) — a spreadsheet with names, categories and opening hours.
• A desktop browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox). Your work is saved in that browser as you go.

Want to practise first? Download the practice plan and follow every step of this guide with it — it is exactly what the videos below use.

Open makemyatlas.com/studio. A new, empty venue appears. Choose Import files to start from your plan — or Open the sample mall to look around a finished venue first.

Click Import, then Choose files (or drop files on the window). The Studio recognises the file type and asks only what it needs:

Pick the floor (or + New floor…), leave the approximate width as it is and press Add image. The plan is placed under the editor so you can trace over it. You set the exact scale in the next step.

Play · 9s

Tell the Studio what each CAD layer contains — shops, walls, the outline, cores, text labels. Text inside a closed shape becomes the shop’s name. Check Metres per drawing unit (0.001 if the drawing is in millimetres).

Have a DWG? In AutoCAD use Save As → DXF. Have a PDF? Export the page as PNG and import the image.

A spreadsheet can add a whole store directory at once. Rows whose name matches a shop you drew update its category, hours, phone and website. Rows with x, y become points; rows with width/depth become shop areas.

GeoJSON (with level, kind and name properties) and Apple IMDF archives come in fully drawn: levels, units, openings and amenities. Review names and categories afterwards.

Routes, walking times and shop sizes are only right if the plan has the right scale. After an image import the Measure tool (M) is already selected:

1. Click both ends of something whose real length you know — a scale bar, a door (≈ 0.9 m), a shop front, a column grid.
2. Type the real length in metres.
3. Choose Scale everything on this floor and press Apply scale.

Play · 10s

Choose Floor outline (O) and click the corners of the building’s outer wall, then press Enter. Everything inside the outline that isn’t a shop, wall or obstacle is treated as walkable — you never draw corridors or a path network.

Play · 9s

Choose Rectangle (R) for box-shaped units or Polygon (P) for any shape. Set the Area type and Category in the bar above the plan, drag over a unit, then type its name in the Inspector on the right.

Play · 22s

• V select & move · drag a corner to reshape · double-click an edge to add a corner · Del removes
• Hold Space and drag to pan · scroll to zoom · Ctrl+Z undo
• Area types: shop/unit, amenity (WC, prayer room), kiosk, wall, structure (cores, columns), void (atrium), walkway, parking…

Routes end at a shop’s door. If you skip this, the router uses the middle of the shop front facing the widest corridor — usually right. For shops with a side or corner door, choose Shop entrance (E) and click the shop’s edge where the door is.

Play · 4s

Add a level with + Floor above the plan (the outline is copied). Then choose Connector (C), pick elevator, escalator, stairs or ramp, and:

1. click where it is on this floor,
2. switch floor with the tabs above the plan and click where it arrives,
3. repeat for every floor it serves, then press Finish connector.

Play · 15s

Visitors find their position by scanning a printed QR sign — no beacons needed. Choose QR anchor (Q) and click where each sign will hang: entrances, lift lobbies, car-park exits, key junctions. Give each a label.

Play · 4s

When you are done, QR sheet (top bar) opens a print-ready page with one code per anchor. Print, laminate, and mount each sign at its marked spot.

Open the Look tab and drop in a few photos of your interior — corridors, shopfronts, the atrium. The Studio matches the floor finish and colour, walls, metal frames, glass tint and lighting. You can also fine-tune every material by hand, and add a photo to each shop so visitors see it on the place card.

Open Check and press Test all routes. The Studio walks from your first QR anchor to every single place, like a visitor would, and lists anything it cannot reach — usually a missing connector, a shop with no gap to the corridor, or a wall drawn across a corridor. Click a problem to jump to it.

Play · 5s

Press Preview 3D. Your map opens in a new tab exactly as visitors will see it: search a place, tap Get Directions, and press Simulate to walk the route turn by turn.

Play · 17s

In Venue, set the name, a short venue id (it becomes the web address, e.g. practice-mall), the languages and the public viewer URL. Then press Export venue.json — one file that contains your whole map.

Send us your venue.json at [email protected] (or ask us to build the map for you). We publish it at:

https://makemyatlas.com/map/your-venue-id

From there you can share it however suits your visitors:

• A link — on your website, in booking confirmations, appointment letters and emails.
• Printed QR signs — from step 9, at entrances and lift lobbies.
• An embed — the map inside your own website (copy the snippet below, or see the developer track).

<iframe src="https://makemyatlas.com/map/your-venue-id?wl=true"
        style="width:100%;height:640px;border:0;border-radius:16px"
        allow="camera; accelerometer; gyroscope; magnetometer"
        title="Indoor map"></iframe>

Visitors open the link or scan a sign — no app. They search, get short step-by-step directions (“Slight left at Swarovski”, “Take the lift to Level 2”), and can follow the route in street view or on the map, with real lifts and escalators between floors.

Play · 18s

Try it yourself: open the live demos — or scan a demo’s QR code with your phone.

MakeMyAtlas is a static web app. One JSON file describes a venue; the viewer renders it in 3D and does all routing in the browser — there is no backend and no per-visitor server call.

• Routing: each floor is rasterised at 0.5 m; A* runs across floors with connector costs; paths keep clear of walls and are straightened. Instructions are generated for every bend ≥ 10° and every ~15 m on long straights.
• Positioning: QR anchors (?at=), tap-to-place, and “Walk with me” pedestrian dead-reckoning (accelerometer + compass) snapped to the route. Sensors and the camera need HTTPS.

Coordinates are metres on a flat plan (x right, y down). Everything the map needs is here; the full reference is in VENUE-FORMAT.md.

{
  "format": "indoor-venue", "version": 1,
  "venue": { "id": "practice-mall", "name": "Practice Mall", "defaultFloor": "F0",
             "languages": ["en"], "walkingSpeed": 1.2, "brandColor": "#f26a21" },
  "categories": [ { "id": "fashion", "name": "Fashion", "icon": "shirt", "color": "#c7a7ad" } ],
  "floors": [ { "id": "F0", "name": "Ground Floor", "shortName": "G", "level": 0, "height": 5,
                "outline": [[0,0],[80,0],[80,50],[0,50]] } ],
  "spaces": [ { "id": "S1", "floor": "F0", "kind": "unit", "name": "Fashion 01", "category": "fashion",
                "polygon": [[0,0],[14,0],[14,20],[0,20]], "entrances": [[7,20]],
                "details": { "hours": "10:00 – 22:00", "phone": "…", "website": "…" } } ],
  "pois":       [ { "id": "P1", "floor": "F0", "x": 2, "y": 25, "name": "Main entrance", "category": "entrance" } ],
  "connectors": [ { "id": "C1", "type": "elevator", "accessible": true,
                    "stops": [ { "floor": "F0", "x": 45.5, "y": 36 }, { "floor": "F1", "x": 45.5, "y": 36 } ] } ],
  "anchors":    [ { "id": "Q-main", "floor": "F0", "x": 3, "y": 25, "heading": 90, "label": "Main entrance" } ],
  "decor":      [ { "type": "plant", "floor": "F0", "x": 30, "y": 25 } ]
}

The viewer is responsive and touch-friendly, so a single iframe works on desktop, tablet and phone.

<div style="position:relative;width:100%;height:min(80vh,720px)">
  <iframe src="https://makemyatlas.com/map/your-venue-id?wl=true"
          style="position:absolute;inset:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0"
          allow="camera; accelerometer; gyroscope; magnetometer"
          title="Indoor map of Your Venue" loading="lazy"></iframe>
</div>

• allow="camera; accelerometer; gyroscope; magnetometer" lets the in-map QR scanner and “Walk with me” work inside the frame.
• wl=true hides the “Indoor maps by MakeMyAtlas” credit (white-label).
• Control the embed with URL parameters (next step). Script messaging between your page and the frame is not offered across domains.

Every view of the map has a URL: open a place, a route, a floor, or put the visitor at a QR sign. Build one here and test it:

Each anchor in the venue file becomes a printed code that opens:

https://makemyatlas.com/map/your-venue-id?at=Q-main

The blue dot starts at the sign, facing heading (degrees clockwise from plan-up). “Walk with me” then follows the visitor with step detection and the compass, snaps to the route, re-routes after wrong turns and asks the visitor to confirm floor changes at lifts. Set venue.northOffset so the compass matches the plan.

Quick test without publishing: host your venue.json anywhere that sends CORS headers and pass it with src:

https://makemyatlas.com/map/preview?src=https://your-cdn.example/venue.json

Self-hosting: the whole viewer is static files. Put your file at venues/<venue id>/venue.json next to index.html and open index.html?venue=<venue id> — on any static host (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, S3, nginx). Use HTTPS for the camera and motion sensors.

python3 -m http.server 8080
# viewer:  http://localhost:8080/index.html?venue=practice-mall
# studio:  http://localhost:8080/studio.html

1. Open the Studio and Import your current venue.json.
2. Change names, categories, hours, shapes or connectors.
3. Run Check → Test all routes.
4. Export venue.json and publish it in place of the old file.

Keep each exported file under version control (or dated copies) so you can roll back.

Stuck? Email [email protected] with your venue.json attached.