Ride Map Designer · Guide

How to make a ride map

Pick a ride, shape it, colour it, download the file and print it. Five steps, top to bottom.

Getting started

The steps are on the left, the 3D preview on the right (below on a phone). Every change rebuilds the preview in a few seconds; trees and water follow a little later.
Each step folds away: tap its heading. A folded step still shows what's chosen. The sliders most people leave alone sit under small Adjust and Widths toggles.
Your design saves in this browser as you go.

Pick a ride from the list (the rides on the adventure map), or upload a GPX. An upload stays in your browser; Hide start and end trims each end so a ride from home doesn't show the house.
Add another ride for a trip over several days: each ride's trail goes on the same map, in one colour or a colour each (step 3).

Layout: One map puts the whole ride on one print. Honeycomb spreads it over small hex tiles (below).
Shape and size (one map): hexagon, circle or square, 2.5 to 6 in across. Hexagons and squares can join on a wall; circles can't.
Height: Auto raises the hills so a gentle ride still reads. Untick it to set the height yourself.
Turn and move: turn the map in 15° steps; Move on the preview lets you drag the map under the outline. Reset puts it back.
Units: inches or metric, for every size on the page.

Tile size (2 to 6 in) and Route length (how many tiles long the ride is) set the scale. The tiles go where the trail runs.
Add a tile: click (or tap) a dashed hex; it lights up under the mouse. Take one off: right-click it, or long-press it on a phone.
Fit the trail to the tiles opens a light, flat view where the tiles stay put and the map moves under them:
- drag to slide the map; pinch, scroll or use Zoom to scale it (the arrow keys and + − work too);
- Best fit slides it to keep the trail off the tiles' corners and edges, where it would be cut into slivers;
- add and take off tiles here too;
- drag the compass rose onto a tile, or onto an empty hex beside one for a tile of its own, and set its size;
- Done keeps it all and rebuilds; Cancel puts everything back.
Print as: a print per tile, or bed-size pieces (neighbouring tiles printed together, as big as your bed allows). Pick your printer bed: 180 mm (A1 mini), 256 mm (X1, P1, A1), 350 mm (H2D).
Every tile has bowtie pockets on the edges it shares, its position (A1, B2…) engraved on the back, and keyholes on the top tiles at the far left and right.

Print separately: tick the trail, rivers and lakes or the compass rose to print it on its own, in its own colour, to press into a recess. It then doesn't use one of the map's 4 colours. On a honeycomb the trail runs across the tiles in as few pieces as your bed allows.
Border: a frame with the ride's name, date, miles and climb raised on it, or a shell the map nests into. On a honeycomb, a band round all the tiles, cut to fit your bed. Each is its own print.
1 colour or 4 colours on the map, one per AMS slot.
The colours: pick a filament for the terrain and the trail, and turn on trees, water, high ground or snow. Jobs can share a colour. Creeks sets how many small streams show.
Surface: Contours (a flat step every 100 ft by default, like a contour model) or Smooth. Detail goes from smooth to craggy.

Wall joints: a bowtie pocket 2 mm deep on each edge of the back, and keys in the files, so maps of the same size hang as one.
Keyhole: on the back near the top, for a nail or screw with a head up to 9 mm.
Compass rose: a star pointing north, set in like the trail. On one map it stays clear of the trail (or move it round with the slider); on a honeycomb, Place it opens Fit the trail.
Ride info: the name, date, distance and climb, filled in from the ride; edit any line or clear it. Tick Engrave it on the back to cut it in. See the back turns the preview over.

The print estimate shows the filament, colour changes, purge and time first.
Bambu 3MF: opens in Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer with a plate per print, named: the map or each tile, the trail piece, the frame, the keys. The filaments are numbered for the AMS slots.
STL: the map alone in one colour, the trail raised and the water lower, for any printer.

Drag to turn it, scroll or pinch to zoom, double-click (or double-tap) to reset.
Front / Back turns the map over. Exploded pulls the prints apart. Satellite drapes the aerial view over the map to compare.

PLA at 0.2 mm layers, flat side down, one plate at a time.
Trail or water piece: press it into its recess (0.15 mm clearance a side). A drop of glue if it's loose.
Frame, shell or honeycomb border: the map drops in from the front onto a ledge at the back; glue it. A honeycomb's border pieces lock together with a dovetail at each cut; slide each tab down into its socket, a drop of glue if it's loose.
Bowtie keys: tap one into each pair of pockets where two maps or tiles meet.

The trail runs off the map: press Move and drag it back, or make the map bigger. On a honeycomb, add a tile or use Fit the trail.
Too many colour changes: share colours between jobs, turn off trees or snow, or print the trail on its own.
A long ride: try the honeycomb, or add the days of a trip to one map.
Questions or a ride that won't load: matt@quiverdesignworks.net.