Publishing your Public Map and Featured Maps

Why publish a public map

A public map lets visitors explore selected parts of your BotanicalMapper workspace without signing in.

It is view-only. Visitors cannot edit records, upload photos, open your spreadsheet, or see private workspace information. They only see what you choose to publish.

In short

Your public map is a visitor-friendly version of one workspace
Records appear only when the map is published and the record is marked Public (Maximum of 2,000 allowed)
Photos follow Exclude from Public Map settings
Preview lets you check the visitor view before going live
Featured Maps is optional discovery, not required for sharing your map

Public map, visitor map, and Featured Maps

Your Public Map - Owner setup page for title, description, settings, publishing, QR code, and embed

Workspace admins = Public visitor map = View-only map at /p/{slug} - Visitors

Featured Maps - Public directory of opted-in published maps - Anyone

What a public map is

A public map is a view-only copy of selected content from your workspace.

It has a public URL like:

https://www.botanicalmapper.com/p/your-map-slug

There is one public map profile per workspace, not one per user.

After publishing, saved changes to public records and public map settings appear for visitors. You do not need to republish every plant or landmark after each edit.

However, visitors only see the map when it is actually published. Draft and preview views are for owners.

Who can publish

Public map publishing is available on plans that include it, such as Pro, Teams, and Enterprise.

Free and Basic workspaces cannot publish public maps.

You also need:

To be signed in
An active workspace selected
Admin access to the workspace

If no workspace is selected, you will see:

Select a workspace to manage your public map

Getting to Your Public Map

Sign in
Select the correct workspace
Open the header menu
Choose Your Public Map

The page guides you through:

Shaping the visitor experience
Adding description, photos, and settings
Previewing the map
Setting the area visitors can explore
Publishing when ready

Making records visible

This is the most important part.

A plant, landmark, area, or shape appears on the public map only when all relevant conditions are met:

The public map is Published
The record has Public enabled
The record is eligible to appear

New entities and imports default to private. You deliberately choose what becomes public.

You can mark records Public from the Map details panel or the Spreadsheet details workflow. (The Public map only allows for 2,000 Plants/Landmarks to be published).

If you turn Public off later, any visitor link to that item stops working until it is made public again.

Visitor share links use URLs such as:

/p/your-map-name?plantId=123

The same pattern applies for landmarks, areas, and shapes.

Your Public Map setup sections

The setup page is organised into collapsible sections.

You will see actions such as:

Save Changes
Cancel
Preview
Publish
Unpublish
Open, when the map is already published

Basic Information

This section controls the public profile of your map.

Fields include:

Logo, max 5MB
Title, optional
Photos, up to 10 profile gallery images
Description, required to publish
Website URL, optional
Postal Address, optional
Opening Times, optional

Profile photos are stored as EXIF-free WebP variants for display. So they don't contain any details about you or where the photo was taken.

Metadata

Required publishing fields include:

Place Type
Region

Place Type options include:

Garden
Estate
Park
Woodland
Public Space
Historic Site
Other

Tags are optional and can be entered as comma-separated terms.

Settings

Here you can choose what visitors see.

If Show All Eligible Attributes is unchecked, you can choose visible built-in and custom attributes per tab:

Plants
Landmarks
Areas
Shapes

If your workspace uses collections, you can choose which collections appear in the visitor filter, with Select all and Clear all options.

Publishing

This is where you set the public identity of the map.

Fields and controls include:

Include on BotanicalMapper’s Featured Maps page
Map Name
Public URL and Copy
QR Code and Download
Embed Code
Copyright and publishing reminder
I have read the terms and agree to publish this content.

Map Name drives the slug and URL. It cannot be changed while the map is published. Unpublish first if you need to change it.

To publish, you need:

Map Name
Description
Place Type
Region
Terms accepted

Save Changes saves draft settings. It does not publish the map by itself.

Preview and visitor bounds

Click Preview to open:

/p/your-slug?preview=true

Preview lets you see the map as visitors will see it, even before publishing.

In preview, owners can also set visitor bounds. These define a circular area, using a centre and radius, that limits how far visitors can pan away from your site.

If no bounds are set, visitors can pan freely. If bounds are saved, panning is restricted to that area.

A good habit is:

Draft → Mark records Public → Preview bounds → Publish → Share

What visitors see

The visitor map is simpler than the signed-in map.

Visitors can:

Browse public plants, landmarks, areas, and shapes
Open read-only details
Use basic filters
Switch between countryside-style and aerial-style basemaps
Use zoom, and rotation controls
Open the info panel
Copy share links to specific public records

Visitors cannot:

Edit records
Upload photos
Open the Spreadsheet
Use Weather, Tasks, full Map Display, or Save View
See private records
See excluded photos

GPS coordinates are not shown as separate public attribute fields, although the item’s placement on the map is visible.

The info button opens an About panel showing the public profile information you configured, such as logo, photos, description, website, opening times, and address.

Featured Maps

Featured Maps is a public directory of published maps that have opted in.

It is available at:

/featured

Anyone can browse it, signed in or not.

The page includes:

A map with featured garden markers
A list of public maps
Search
Place type filters
An info panel explaining how to browse

On desktop, the list appears in a left sidebar. On mobile, it uses a bottom drawer pattern.

Search can match place names, plants, and scientific names. Place type filters use the same options as public map setup, such as Garden, Estate, Park, and Woodland.

When someone selects a featured map, they can see summary information and open the full published map in a new tab.

Opting out of Featured Maps does not unpublish your map. It simply removes it from the directory. People with the direct /p/{slug} link can still visit if the map is published.

Unpublishing removes public access.

Privacy and content control

You control public visibility in several layers:

Publish or unpublish the whole map
Mark individual records Public or private
Choose visible attributes
Use Exclude from Public Map on photos
Set visitor bounds

Do not publish identifiable people in photos unless you have permission, especially children, visitors, volunteers, or staff in background shots.

You retain responsibility for content you choose to publish. The setup page includes reminders about appropriate photos, copyright, and the Terms.

To take the map offline, use Unpublish.

Promotion checklist

Before sharing widely:

Mark only the right records Public
Review photo exclusions
Preview on desktop and phone
Set visitor bounds
Download the QR code for signage
Test the embed on your website
Decide whether to opt in to Featured Maps
Copy entity share links for labels or interpretation

Troubleshooting

Can't see Your Public Map in the menu

What to check

Your subscription plan includes Public Map publishing.
A workspace is currently selected.
You're signed in with a Workspace Admin account.

Publish button is disabled

What to check

Before publishing, make sure you've:

Entered a map description.
Selected a Place Type.
Selected a Region.
Accepted the publishing terms and conditions.

Nothing appears on the live map

What to check

The map has been published.
Records you want to display are marked as Public.
The photos you expect to see are not all marked Exclude from Public Map.

Can't change the map name or URL

What to check

The map must be unpublished before you can change its name or URL.

Map isn't appearing on the Featured Maps page

What to check

The map has been published.
Include on BotanicalMapper's Featured Maps page is enabled.

Preview works, but the live map doesn't

What to check

Remove ?preview=true from the web address and confirm that the map has been published.

Team member can't find the setup options

What to check

Public Map settings are available only to Workspace Admins.

Closing checklist

Eligible workspace selected
Public profile completed
Description, Place Type, and Region filled in
Records marked Public
Photo exclusions reviewed
Preview checked
Visitor bounds saved
Terms accepted
Publish clicked
QR code, embed, and public URL tested
Featured Maps opt-in decided

Launch day timeline

T-7 days
Review records, descriptions, photos, and public attributes.

T-3 days
Preview the map, test on mobile, and set visitor bounds.

T-1 day
Print or test QR codes and check key share links.

Go live
Click Publish, open the public URL, and confirm the visitor view looks right.