How to show visitors where they are on your illustrated campground map
There are four ways to show visitors where they are on your own illustrated map: keep a PDF or printed map with no location marker, build an app, redraw the map in a general map tool, or align your existing map to real coordinates so the marker sits on top of your drawing. The last one keeps your artwork and needs no app, but it only works if the map was drawn close to real positions. The rest of this guide helps you pick, and lists what to prepare whichever way you go.
If you are looking for a tool to draw a new map from scratch, this is not that guide. It is for park, campground, zoo, garden and theme-park operators who already have a guide map they like and keep getting asked the same question at the gate: "Where are we on this?"
What are your options for adding a location marker to your guide map?
| Option | What visitors get | What you keep | Fits when | Does not fit when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep the PDF or printed map | A static picture, no marker | Your artwork, almost no extra work | The venue is small or easy to read by landmarks | Visitors keep asking where they are |
| Build your own app or web page | Whatever you build | Full control | You need features beyond a map | You have one map and no developer to maintain it |
| Redraw on a general map tool | An accurate marker on a standard base map | Nothing of your illustration | You have no good illustrated map yet | The illustration is part of your brand |
| Align your existing map to real coordinates | Your own drawing with a marker on it | The artwork, untouched | The map is drawn close to real positions | The map is a schematic, or safety depends on location |
Is a PDF or printed map enough?
Often it is. A small campground with clear loops and signs does not need a phone map, and a printed map handed out at the gate works without batteries or signal. The cost shows up when visitors stand at a fork, pinch and zoom a PDF on a small screen, and still cannot tell which fork they are on.
A cheap middle step is a QR code next to the printed map that opens the same file in a phone browser. It helps with reading, but it still has no marker.
What does a custom app or web page really involve?
The location marker is the easy part. A web page can ask the visitor's phone for its position, the browser asks the visitor for permission, and the page must be served over HTTPS (MDN, Geolocation API, checked October 29, 2026). Any competent developer can show a dot on a standard map.
The hard part is turning a point on the earth into a point on your drawing. Illustrated maps squeeze distances, enlarge attractions and skip empty ground, so there is no formula. Someone has to match known places on the drawing to real places, check the result by walking the site, and redo it whenever the map changes. An app adds installation on top: visitors have to find it, download it and keep it for a single visit.
Build your own when the map is only one feature of something bigger, such as ticketing, an event schedule or an in-venue game, and you have people to maintain it.
When does redrawing on a general map tool make sense?
When you do not have an illustrated map that works, or the one you have is a loose sketch. A general map tool gives you a correct marker and a base map with streets and terrain, and you place your spots on top.
What you give up is the thing visitors recognize from your brochure and signs. The base map will not show your mascot trail, your painted rides or your hand-drawn trees. If your illustration is part of how the venue looks, redrawing means maintaining two maps that no longer match.
How does aligning your existing map work?
You keep the image exactly as it is. Known places on the drawing, such as a gate, a bridge or a building corner, are matched to their real positions, and the marker is drawn on top of your image. The map is never redrawn, turned into 3D or distorted.
Kokodot is a service that does this. You send your guide map, we handle the calibration and build a demo page, and you try it before you decide. Visitors scan a QR code and the phone map opens in their regular browser. There is no app to download. A few details that matter when you compare:
- The position is computed on the visitor's own phone. We learn only whether someone is inside the venue, never where they are. Beyond that, we count anonymous opens, spot taps, map interactions, language and how the map was opened.
- Tapping a numbered spot scrolls the list to it, and facilities such as restrooms can be sorted by how close they are.
- You edit spot names and descriptions yourself, in up to ten languages, with automatic translation you can correct.
- If the marker is off in one corner, staff can fix it on site with a staff calibration link, without logging in, and any mark can be undone.
- When your map is updated, you send the new file and we realign it.
It also has limits. Outdoors in the open the marker is usually within a few meters, and a circle on the map shows the current accuracy. GPS is a reference, not a safety tool. A site currently shows one map, the page lives at its own address that you link to from your website instead of being embedded in it, a small "Powered by Kokodot" label stays on the page, and support is by email only, with no phone line. (Service details checked October 29, 2026.)
Which maps cannot be aligned, and who should choose something else?
Alignment needs a map that was drawn to real positions. These usually do not work, or come out too far off:
- Facilities arranged as a list, cards or a mind map, with no real layout.
- Illustrations where distances are heavily compressed, or where one corner is drawn at a very different scale from another.
- Large areas with few landmarks, such as forest or lawn with no junction, building or bridge to match against.
- Images too small or too blurry to see paths and landmarks.
- Places where people would rely on the marker for safety, such as hiking trails.
The FAQ lists the same cases.
Indoor venues are also a poor fit, because GPS does not work well inside buildings. If your venue is one of these, a general map tool or a printed map is the better answer today. If you only need a map for one weekend event, a PDF is probably enough.
What should you prepare before you ask anyone?
These apply to every option, including the ones that do not involve us.
- The best file you have. The original from your designer, at the highest resolution, beats a photo of the printed map. If you also have a more accurate site plan, keep it handy. A map with accurate scale can sometimes be used in place of a loose illustration.
- A list of landmarks you can find both on the drawing and on the ground. Gates, junctions, bridges and building corners work. A list with only meadows and trees will not.
- Your spots and facilities. Names, a line of description, and a category such as restrooms, food or first aid.
- The languages you need. Pick them from the visitors you actually see.
- One staff member who can walk the site. Someone who knows where the restrooms and the main gate are can check several spots in one walk.
- Where the QR code will go. The entrance, next to the printed map, your website or the ticket email.
How do you test it before you commit?
Open the demo on a phone in the regular browser and allow location. Stand outdoors with a clear view of the sky for the first few seconds, then walk to a few places your staff know well and compare the marker with the drawing. If one area is off, that is a case for the staff calibration link, and it is a useful sign of how much work the map needs.
The example site linked below this guide is the quickest way to see what visitors get on a phone.