Projects

What a project contains

A project is a single map build inside one workspace. It stores the project name, optional description, preview images and a selected cover, lifecycle status, setup metadata, target game, map selection, generated or uploaded assets, editor layers, task history, saved versions, and exports.

Projects always belong to one team and one workspace. The active team and active workspace determine which projects you see on the Projects page and where a new project is created. A project can retain several DTM, vector, and imagery assets over time, but it has one selected processed asset for each source family at a time.

• Metadata stores the creation mode, target game, area selection, data source choices, provider codes, upload file names, preprocessing choices, queued task IDs, selected source asset IDs, and selected worker ID.
• Assets store processed terrain, vector, raster, manual editor data, and export artifacts.
• Layers are the editor-facing organization of project data.
• Tasks are background jobs for DTM, OSM/vector, and imagery processing.
• Exports are queued game-ready outputs created from the current project state.

Use the Projects page

Open Dashboard -> Projects after selecting a team and workspace. If either context is missing, project creation is disabled and the page asks you to select a workspace. The page loads projects for the active team and active workspace only.

Projects use compact cards.

In the Web UI, each card shows the preview, name, a game badge with a generic icon, playable dimensions, status, update time, and next action. Hover or focus a game badge for the full game name. Select the preview or name to open project details. Ready projects offer Open editor; Processing offers View progress; Needs attention offers Review issue; Draft offers Continue setup; Archived offers View project.

Each new-layout project card has a preview carousel, also available in Map & area on the project detail page. The first slide is the OpenStreetMap view of the selected map area, followed by saved images and an Add project image slide. Use the left and right arrows or focus the carousel and press the arrow keys. A saved image can be selected as the cover; the selected cover also appears on the new dashboard. Removing a saved image asks for confirmation. If there is no selected image, the map is the cover. Existing project icons appear among saved images.

For an active Project V2 on Plus, Pro, or Ultra, team members who can manage projects can upload any number of PNG, JPEG, or WebP images, subject to the team storage and upload limits; each image must be at most 8 MB. Basic can browse images but cannot add them. For projects with a geographic map area, Generate with AI offers a wider map-and-surroundings view, the overall area, or the playable area when it differs, plus seven art presets or a custom style. The dialog shows the exact source area, current Assistant allowance, and privacy choice. After you select Generate image, the dialog closes and a Generating… indicator stays on the project preview while you use the rest of the page. When the image arrives, it becomes the selected cover; a failed request shows an error and lets you try again. A successful generation uses one shared daily Assistant message. Artistic images are previews, not navigational maps; check important geography against the OpenStreetMap slide.

Hover a project card or focus it with the keyboard to reveal a vertical information panel from the right. Overall area and Playable area each show dimensions and square kilometres. Geographic projects also show center coordinates as signed decimal latitude, longitude without degree symbols. After you move the Playable Area in the Editor, the card, the project page and their map preview show the moved square and its centre. DTM and Imagery show the saved provider names, Uploaded file for uploads, or Not recorded when source information is missing; imagery that was skipped is labeled Skipped. On touch and narrow screens the panel stays visible; scroll inside it when needed.

To share feedback or request a feature, open Support in the main navigation and follow the Support guide for the choices available on your plan.

The Web UI places the Projects title, Active and Archived tabs, Search projects, Sort, Filters, and New project in one desktop row. The tabs sit in the middle, with search and actions on the right. Active is the initial tab; Archived opens archived projects. Search projects searches the selected tab. Open Sort to choose Recently updated, Sort: Newest created, or Sort: Name A-Z. Open Filters for game, status, and map-area filters. Clear filters resets search, game, status, and area filters. Longer lists use pages of 12, with filtering and sorting applied to the whole list before paging.

The card footer places Open editor or the next action on the left and Export on the right when your team role permits exports. Export is disabled until the project meets the existing export requirements; hover or keyboard-focus the disabled action for its explanation. Open the three-dot menu for Edit, Archive or Unarchive, Backup for supported projects, and Remove. Archive, backup, and removal retain their confirmation steps. Permissions, archive cooldowns, export readiness, and limits still apply.

Older V1 projects are marked Legacy on their cards, with a notice that they are no longer supported and contact@maptoplay.com for help. Their card opens details for viewing; Open editor and Export are absent. The three-dot menu offers only Archive while the project is active. Backup, Edit, Remove, and preview-image changes are unavailable.

On narrow screens, cards form one column and the toolbar wraps; Sort and Filters open panels that fit the screen. In the Web UI, open the header navigation menu and select the combined team/workspace control to change context. The tier name and Units remain visible in the header, with neutral styling for Basic, green for Plus, blue for Pro, and purple for Ultra. Loading placeholders and short transitions respect reduced-motion preferences.

• Search matches project name, description, ID, game label, and game short label.
• Setup filters include Ready, Processing, Needs attention, and Draft.
• Lifecycle filters separate Active and Archived projects.
• Game filters separate Farming Simulator 22, Farming Simulator 25, and the other supported games.
• Area filters separate projects with and without an area selection.
• Sort options include recently updated, recently created, and name ascending.

Organize neighboring projects in a Region

A Region keeps neighboring map projects in a fixed grid. Use it to organize a larger area while creating and editing each project separately. New Region appears beside New project on Projects only when a game available to your team supports Regions. Regions belong to the selected team and workspace and appear among active projects, with an Open region action.

Choose New Region and select a game. Region name is optional: leave it empty to use a name based on the starting tile coordinates, such as Region 46.70386, 12.39231. If you enter a name, use 2 to 80 characters. The wizard has three steps: Game, Location, and Review.

On Location, choose the location and grid together on one map. Search for a place, click the map background, or enter decimal latitude and longitude for the center of the starting tile. Choose a supported Tile size and 3 to 31 Columns and Rows beside the map; the outlines show the whole grid as you adjust it. Click a tile outline or choose Starting tile to select where the first project will go. Use Fit region to see the complete grid again after panning or zooming. Maximize area map enlarges the dialog; Restore wizard size returns it to its normal size. On narrow screens the map appears above the settings, and the step content scrolls while Back, Cancel and Next stay available.

Latitude must be between -80 and 84, and longitude must be greater than -180 and less than 180. Choose a location away from the poles, the date line, and the equator so the whole grid fits. Wait for the grid preview before continuing. If the preview fails, choose Try again; if the selected footprint is unsuitable, choose a smaller grid or a different location.

On Review, check the name and grid, then select Create Region. The Region is saved, then the normal project wizard opens for its starting tile. The game, location, size, and rotation are fixed by the tile. Choose the project name and sources as usual. Canceling that wizard leaves a saved Region with an empty starting tile, which you can set up later.

The Region card shows its outline on a map. Choose Open region to see all tile outlines over one continuous geographic map. Drag to pan, use Zoom in and Zoom out, or choose Fit region to show the whole Region again. Click a tile to open its details, or find it in Selected tile above the map. Project names, project states, and progress marks appear over the map when there is enough room; zoom in to read more tile labels.

Map layers uses OSM by default, so roads and place names help you find the tiles you want to work on. For a satellite background, choose Map layers → Satellite, select a saved MapTiler token in Credentials, and choose Use satellite. Add your own MapTiler token under team credentials, or ask a team owner or admin to add it. MapToPlay remembers the selected satellite preview for that team, including when you open the normal project wizard. Choose OSM to return to the street map. The same Map layers control is available on Location while creating a Region. This background helps you plan the Region; each project still has its own imagery source choice.

If the map cannot load, choose Try again. If saved credentials cannot load, use Try again in Map layers. If the satellite preview cannot be validated, the street map remains visible; check the selected credential and choose Use satellite again.

Select an empty tile and choose Create project to open the same project wizard. Empty tiles do not use project slots or the weekly creation allowance. Each tile project uses the normal project and processing limits. Changing a tile progress mark does not create, archive, delete, or finish a project.

Tile occupancy and progress are separate. A tile can be empty or contain an active or archived project, while its progress can be To do, Completed, or Skipped. Select Mark completed, Skip tile, or Mark as to do to change that progress. Creating a project in a completed or skipped tile preserves its mark. Archived projects stay attached to their tile; the normal archive cooldown and capacity checks apply when unarchiving. Removing a project empties its tile and preserves the progress mark. Restoring or copying that project creates an independent project rather than reclaiming the tile.

Use the controls around the grid to add an outer row or column. The confirmation shows how many empty tiles will be added. Existing tiles and project locations stay fixed; each edge can grow until the grid reaches 51 rows or columns or the selected location can no longer contain the footprint. Rename Region is in Region actions. Team owners and admins can create, rename, and extend Regions; editors can also change tile progress. Viewers can inspect them.

Region management does not combine projects into a single export. Export availability follows the selected game integration. Continue using the ordinary project actions for supported exports. If loading or saving a Region fails, use Try again; if the selected team or workspace differs from the Region, switch to its team and workspace first.

Create a project

Click New project from the Projects page. Creation supports three modes: Project Wizard, Blank Project, and From backup. The wizard uses a seven-step flow: Setup, Game, Area, DTM/DSM, Vector, Imagery, and Review. Setup chooses the creation mode, project name and optional description. Game lists the integrations available to the selected team. The worker selector is in Review. Back, Cancel and Next stay in a fixed footer while the step content scrolls.

On Basic, new accounts can create projects without a weekly limit during the configured newcomer grace period, currently the first week after registration. The notification bell, Setup, and the account notice in Usage & Limits show when the weekly limit will begin. Active-project capacity still applies during this period. After grace ends, the rolling allowance starts fresh: Setup shows the Projects per week counter, explains that only Basic has this weekly limit, and links to View upgrades in Usage & Limits. When the allowance is exhausted, Setup shows the local date and time when the next project becomes available and disables Next. Creating a project through Project Wizard, Blank Project, or From backup uses one allowance. Archiving or deleting a project does not restore it; each allowance returns seven days after that project was created. Paid tiers do not see this counter and have unlimited new project creation, subject to their active-project limit.

On Area, the Web UI shows every 1:1 preset as a clickable choice. Custom dimensions are under Advanced; decimal center coordinates and a rotation slider from -90 to 90 remain visible. The slider starts at zero in the middle. Type at least three characters in the place search to receive suggestions after a short pause, then choose with the mouse or arrow keys and Enter. Place searches use Photon with OpenStreetMap data. The presets set the complete area for Minecraft and Project Zomboid. Farming Simulator 22, Farming Simulator 25, and SnowRunner presets set both the playable area and the overall source area with 2,048 m of background on every side. RoadCraft uses 500 m, 1,000 m, and 2,000 m playable presets within 2,500 m, 3,000 m, and 4,000 m overall regions. Custom dimensions use the next larger game-specific price tier.

In the Web UI, type a city or place and press Enter or Search, then select a result. Double-clicking the map also places the area. The blue dashed outline is the overall area and the green outline is the playable area. Drag inside an area to pan the map; drag its outline to move the selection. Maximize area map expands the dialog in both dimensions. On narrow screens it hides the settings beside the map until Restore wizard size is selected.

For new work rather than restoring a backup, choose Project Wizard or Blank Project. Project Wizard is the normal path: choose a real-world location and let MapToPlay queue DTM, OSM, and optionally imagery tasks. Blank Project skips provider downloads and starts from flat terrain at a height you choose, from prepared files, or with data left for later.

From backup creates a new Project V2 project from a MapToPlay backup archive. It skips the area/source wizard steps because the archive already contains the project metadata, assets, layers, and saved vector feature data. The dialog explicitly rejects V1 archives.

The target game changes area behavior. Farming Simulator 22, Farming Simulator 25, SnowRunner, and RoadCraft use a separate playable area inside the full project region. SnowRunner and RoadCraft use surrounding source data to generate visual background terrain around the playable map. Minecraft uses the full selected region, and the export flow later asks for Java or Bedrock Edition.

• Area center latitude must be between -85 and 85.
• Area center longitude must be between -180 and 180.
• Overall width and height can be up to 20,480 m.
• Farming Simulator 22 and 25 playable width and height can be up to 16,384 m.
• SnowRunner playable presets are 480, 960, 1,440, and 2,016 m; the 2,016 m preset is the native 84 × 84-block maximum.
• RoadCraft playable presets are 500, 1,000, and 2,000 m inside 2,500, 3,000, and 4,000 m overall source regions.
• Minecraft playable size can match the full 20,480 m area limit.

Choose data sources

The DTM step chooses terrain elevation. Provider download queues a DTM task using a supported provider; the dialog ranks providers by coverage and resolution and includes SRTM 30 m as the global fallback. Upload accepts GeoTIFF for automatic processing or PNG/JPG as pre-processed terrain. Providers that require credentials can use saved team credentials or manually entered credentials, with an option to save them to the team.

In Blank Project, the DTM/DSM step offers Flat terrain and Upload file instead. Flat terrain is selected by default: set Height to a whole number of meters from 0 to 255 (100 m to start with), and the whole map starts flat at that height, ready to shape in the Editor. Use it for an invented map that has no real place behind it. It runs as one terrain import and uses the same import units as an uploaded heightmap. Upload file takes a prepared PNG or JPG heightmap instead, or you can leave terrain for later.

The Vector step chooses OSM vector data. OSM download queues an OSM task for the selected area. Optional preprocessing merges connected road and waterway segments and splits polygons such as fields and forests around roads and rivers. Upload accepts .osm, .xml, or .pbf files.

The Imagery step chooses optional imagery. Provider download queues an imagery task, with Sentinel-2 L2A available as a global fallback. Upload accepts GeoTIFF for automatic extraction or PNG/JPG as pre-processed imagery. Blank projects can skip imagery or use pre-processed imagery.

In the Web UI, source steps use Provider download and Upload file tabs. Provider resolution and region are shown beside the selection; credentials appear when required. Options contains DSM inclusion and global fallback controls. Upload new file starts saving immediately with progress; Select an existing file reuses a saved DTM, OSM, or Imagery upload. You can also leave a source for later. Review shows the selected area, sources and estimated import units before Create project.

• Upload size is limited by the active team tier.
• Each selected provider download or uploaded source becomes a background task after the project is created.
• If project creation succeeds but a follow-up task cannot be queued, the project still exists and the completion message tells you which step needs attention. An already saved upload remains in Resources → Uploads for a later attempt.
• A selected worker can be passed to DTM, OSM, and imagery tasks when worker selection is available.

Understand status

Projects have two status concepts. Lifecycle status is Active or Archived. Setup status is calculated from tasks and processed assets, and it is what tells you whether the project is ready to open, still processing, or needs attention.

Active Project V2 projects count toward your team project limit and can be opened, edited, processed, versioned, and exported. Archived Project V2 projects remain visible and downloadable, but they are read-only: you cannot open them in the Editor, queue processing, create exports, edit metadata, change icons, or change versions until you unarchive them.

For Project V2, archiving is reversible, but it has two safeguards. First, a project cannot be unarchived for 24 hours after it is archived. Second, unarchiving uses one active project slot, so a team that is already at its active-project limit must archive another active project or upgrade before unarchiving.

The project status summarizes its current work. Processing means a task is queued, running, or retrying. Ready means at least one processed asset exists and no task is active. Needs attention means processing did not produce usable output or a task failed. Draft means there are no tasks or processed assets yet.

• Draft: no tasks and no processed assets yet.
• Processing: at least one task is queued, running, or retrying.
• Ready: processed assets exist and no active task is pending.
• Needs attention: work was attempted but no usable processed asset is available, often because a task failed.
• Archived: a read-only lifecycle state that does not count toward the active-project limit; archived projects still appear when the lifecycle filter includes them.

Legacy V1 projects

A V1 project shows a Legacy label and the notice “V1 projects are no longer supported. If you need help, email contact@maptoplay.com.” on its Projects card and detail page. You can view its existing information and archive an active V1 project. Open editor, Export, Backup, project versions, restore, reprocessing, preview changes, editing, and removal are unavailable. Once archived, a V1 project cannot be unarchived.

On the Projects page, select the V1 card’s three-dot menu and choose Archive, then confirm. The detail page has a single Archive button in its title row. Email contact@maptoplay.com if you need help with an older project.

Use the project detail page

Click a project card to open the project detail page. This page brings together source data controls, versions, files, tasks, exports, and editor launch for the selected team.

In the Web UI, three source cards keep DTM, OSM and Imagery controls visible. Change data selects an existing source; Reprocess opens provider or file-upload settings and Queue replacement starts new processing. The replacement becomes active when processing completes. Progress and a failed source task remain beside that source. Changing data and reprocessing require a role that can manage the project, and archived projects are read-only.

Provider names stay on one line. Hover, focus, or tap a provider name to read it in full. Each source keeps its status and actions in the same positions. While processing, the card shows a progress bar and percentage when available; progress may advance in steps as processing stages finish. A moving bar without a percentage means processing is running but its progress is not yet available. Queued and Retrying show an unfilled bar without a percentage. Ready and Failed keep the same spacing without an active bar; a failed replacement keeps its error beside the source, and previously selected data remains available.

Change data shows each available source as a selectable card with its provider and processing date. Terrain cards distinguish recorded source resolution from grid spacing; imagery cards show source resolution and image dimensions; vector cards show feature counts. Unknown measurements remain marked Unknown. Provider resolution, when shown, is the provider catalog range rather than a measurement of that processed source.

In Reprocess, choose Provider download or the upload tab. Provider download shows available providers and their resolution. DTM credentials appear when required. Options contains DSM inclusion and backup-provider switches when available. OpenStreetMap offers preprocessing and Polygon split buffer (m), from 0 to 50 meters; decimal values accept either a point or a comma. Upload requires a supported file before Queue replacement becomes available. In a Blank Project, the DTM and imagery upload tabs take only prepared PNG or JPG files: a blank project has no real-world location, so it cannot place a GeoTIFF. To use a georeferenced GeoTIFF, create a Project Wizard project at the location the file covers. Cancel or Escape closes the dialog unless processing is being queued.

Map & area shows the same preview carousel and image actions as the new Projects cards, followed by overall and playable dimensions and areas, plus signed decimal coordinates for geographic projects. The map stays visible while source processing updates. On narrow screens the data controls come first and the map starts collapsed. On wide screens, Open in Editor, Export and More actions share the title row, with the larger carousel beside the source cards and history panel. Actions stack on narrow screens. Select Exports, Activity, Files, or Project versions in the shared history panel. Each view shows five entries per page. Click a task or export row to open its details, including any failure message. Download ready exports with the download icon; use More actions for task retries and archiving or version checkout and removal. Click a downloadable file row to get its file.

From an active Project V2 detail page you can edit the project name and description. Use the Map & area carousel to add, generate, select, and remove preview images.

The project card menu and detail page menu include Archive or Unarchive depending on the lifecycle state. Archive uses a confirmation dialog and immediately makes the project read-only. Unarchive also uses a confirmation dialog and checks both the 24-hour archive lock and the team active-project slot limit.

• Source data panels show how terrain, vector data, and imagery were configured.
• When multiple processed assets exist for DTM, vector data, or imagery, the setup panel shows an asset selector for that source family.
• Failed tasks can be retried from the task history.
• DTM, OSM, and imagery can be reprocessed from provider or upload sources when replacement controls are available.
• The project card menu includes Backup for downloading a MapToPlay project archive. It opens a confirmation explaining backups and game exports before any backup is started.
• Assets list downloadable processed outputs with size, checksum, source task, metadata essentials, and badges for project-selected or editor-used assets.
• Task history lists provider, actual provider, attempt number, timestamps, output asset, and error message.
• Recent exports list target, status, map size, attempt number, detail link, and download link when an artifact exists.

Back up and restore projects

On Projects, open the project card’s More actions menu and choose Backup. The Create a project backup? dialog explains that this saves a copy you can restore in MapToPlay later, costs 1 Task unit, and counts toward team storage. Choose Proceed with backup to start, or Cancel to return without creating a backup. Escape, the close button, and clicking outside the dialog also close it without starting a backup.

To use your map in a game, choose Export from the project menu. A backup cannot be loaded into a game.

After you proceed, MapToPlay prepares and downloads a .m2pbackup.zip archive. The copy includes the project name, description, settings, source assets, Editor layers, and saved vector edits. The project button shows Backing up… while the job runs. Completed backups remain downloadable from Exports; their stored files count toward team storage. A fresh backup replaces that project’s previous saved backup, which goes to Trash and keeps its storage charge until permanent cleanup. Other projects’ backups remain available. A fresh project backup can still finish at the storage limit and adds its stored size to usage. If preparation or download fails, the Projects page shows an error; check Exports for a completed backup before starting another.

Restore is available from New project -> From backup for Project V2 archives. Upload the backup archive, and MapToPlay creates a new active project in the selected team and workspace. Restore does not overwrite the original project. A V1 archive cannot be restored by this flow.

• Creating a backup costs 1 Task unit from the shared task/export balance.
• Backups include project assets except export artifacts.
• Backups include layer metadata and vector feature edits/modifiers.
• Restore remaps old asset IDs and layer IDs to the new project records.
• Restore is checked against active project limits, selection size limits, upload size limits, and storage limits.
• Restored projects start active even if the backup was made from an archived project.

Archive and unarchive projects

Use Archive when you want to keep a project, its source data, versions, tasks, and exports available for reference without spending an active project slot. Archive is different from Delete: it does not remove the project or its stored files.

Archived Project V2 projects are frozen until unarchived. You can inspect the project, download available assets or backups, and delete the project, but editing, Editor launch, reprocessing, version changes, and new exports are blocked. Legacy V1 projects remain available for viewing after archiving but cannot be unarchived or deleted.

After archiving a Project V2 project, it has a 24-hour safeguard lock before it can be unarchived. When the lock has passed, unarchiving succeeds only if the team has an available active project slot.

• Archive an active project from the project card menu or the project detail page three-dot menu.
• Unarchive a Project V2 from the same menu after the 24-hour lock expires. Legacy V1 projects cannot be unarchived.
• If unarchive fails because the team is at the active-project limit, archive another active project first or move to a tier with a higher limit.
• Archived projects remain subject to the normal retention policy for the team tier.

Asset selection and reprocessing

Reprocessing does not replace the old file in place. It creates another project asset. This is intentional: you can compare outputs, keep traceability to older tasks, and avoid silently changing editor layers that may already contain edits.

After reprocessing DTM, OSM/vector data, or imagery, the project can select the newest matching processed asset as the current source for that family. If more than one matching asset exists, the project detail setup card lets you switch the selected asset manually.

For vector data, the selector shows processed source assets created from OSM or upload processing. Raw OSM/XML/PBF files and vector data managed inside the Editor are not selectable project sources.

The Editor has its own usage state because layers reference the asset they were created from. That is why the dashboard can show both Project selected and Used in editor badges for the same asset list.

• Project selected means the project setup currently points at that processed source asset.
• Used in editor means at least one saved editor layer or vector feature still references that asset.
• Editor-managed vector files are protected as Used in editor because they store manual vector edits, even when they are not selectable as the project source.
• An asset can be both selected and editor-used, selected but not yet imported, editor-used but no longer selected, or unused.

Versions, editor, and exports

Project versions are named snapshots saved inside the project. They use the same backup archive format as project backups, stored in MapToPlay storage rather than downloaded immediately. A version captures project metadata, non-export project assets, layer metadata, and saved vector features.

The versions panel shows the number of saved versions and the tier limit. If versioning is unavailable or the limit is reached, the create-version action is disabled with a reason. Creating a version also checks storage limits because the version archive counts toward team storage.

Checking out a version restores that snapshot into the current project. Before checkout changes anything, MapToPlay automatically saves a safety version named before the restore, so you have a path back if the checkout was not what you wanted.

Open in Editor launches the Editor in a new window and loads the selected project, team, workspace, setup status, area, layers, and assets. The Editor and project page work on the same saved project.

Export is available only when the project is ready and the selected target is valid for the project game. Farming Simulator 22 projects use FS22 targets and Farming Simulator 25 projects use FS25 targets. Minecraft exports use Minecraft targets and require choosing Java or Bedrock Edition in the export dialog.

• Version checkout replaces the current project metadata, layers, vector features, and project assets with the version snapshot.
• Version backup archives are listed on the Assets page because they count toward storage.
• Deleting a version moves it and its stored backup archive to Trash. Restore it after the three-day cooldown and before permanent deletion at sixty days if you still need it.
• Exports are queued as background work and appear in Recent exports and the Exports page.
• The export dialog applies per-hour throttling from the active team tier.
• Export size options are filtered by project game and project compatibility. Options that would not fit the selected project area or would create an unsafe export workload remain visible but unavailable, with the reason shown in the export dialog.
• Completed exports expose their artifact asset as a download link.

Delete a project

Open the project card menu or project detail page and choose Remove/Delete. The confirmation dialog explains the three-day restore cooldown in Trash and permanent removal after sixty days.

A project cannot be deleted while one of its tasks or exports is queued or running. When deletion is allowed, the project and its assets, uploaded task sources, version backups and saved preview images move to Trash together. Restoration unlocks after three days and remains available until permanent deletion at sixty days.