DotMap: Create Your Maps

Create your map: pins, lines, areas, photos, YouTube, timeline.
Share a link — people open it without installing the app.
Several of your maps. Ready-made examples inside.

An interactive map editor, not “another war tracker” and not a Google Maps screenshot. Point, date, photo, line or area — on one map. Any topic: a city, a trip, an investigation, a lesson, a business, a family chronicle.

Next: a maps platform (search, profiles, ratings). Not in this release.

Create your map
Start from a blank map or open a ready-made example to see the format. Give it a title and a description. Drop pins where events, places and facts belong. Each pin on the interactive map can hold coordinates, a date, text, a category, a photo or a YouTube clip. That is an event map — not a pile of pins with no story.

Pins, photos, sources
A pin holds a fact: a short write-up, a date, a type, evidence. A photo shows the place. YouTube is testimony or a story. For journalism, OSINT, school and blogs that matters more than a pretty basemap. An interactive map should explain, not just glow.

Lines, arrows, areas
Besides points there is a drawing layer. Lines and arrows are routes, directions, links between places. Areas, circles and rectangles are districts, ranges, fronts, the edge of an event. Color, width and fill are yours. Draw it on the map, save, and others see the same layer — not your screenshot.

Timeline on the map
If pins and shapes have dates, the map becomes a chronology. Scrub the day strip and see what was on the map that day. Useful for war, city history, a field trip, a travel track, an archive of events.

Share a link
Publish the map and send the URL. The reader opens an interactive map in the browser: zoom, read pins, see zones. Installing DotMap to view is optional.

Ready-made maps are examples, not the whole product
The app already has published maps so you can see the format: Ukraine war chronology, Chornobyl, a food map. That is a showcase. Your own map can be a courtyard, a route, a business, a lesson, an investigation, a festival, a family history — any topic that belongs on an interactive map.

Who map creation is for
Journalists and researchers — facts on a map with sources, not scattered across chats.
Teachers and students — a chronology instead of “see slide 40”.
Travelers and creators — a route, places, photos, one map instead of a camera-roll mess.
Teams, local media, volunteers — a city’s or a project’s events on one map.
Anyone who needs their own maps, not someone else’s dashboard they cannot edit.

Why not a screenshot, a spreadsheet or slides
A map screenshot is stale the next day. A table does not show space. Slides will not let you zoom to a street. An interactive map keeps the point, the time, the evidence and the line layer together. Create the map once — then update it and share the link again.

How to start
1. Create a map — blank or from an example.
2. Drop the first pins: place, date, a short note.
3. Draw a line, an arrow or an area if the story needs a shape.
4. Add a photo or YouTube when there is something to show.
5. Make the map public and send the link.

You can start on DotMap for free: creating your own maps is here now. The platform — map search, profiles, ratings — comes next. Build your interactive map and show it.

FAQ
Is this only a war map? No. The Ukraine war chronology is a ready-made example, not the whole product.
Do I need the app to open someone else’s map? No. A public link is enough.
Are search, profiles and ratings live? Not yet. What ships now is map creation, pins, lines, areas, timeline and sharing.