Sharing your public map responsibly

Why this matters

Publishing a public map is a generous act. You’re opening up your garden, its plants, stories, and structure, to visitors who want to learn, explore, and appreciate what you’ve created.

At the same time, anything you make public can be seen by anyone with the link. That includes photos, descriptions, and the way your garden is presented to the world.

BotanicalMapper gives you tools to control what’s shared. You decide what goes live, what stays private, and whether you have the right to publish it. This guide helps you make those decisions thoughtfully and with confidence.

In short

• Your public map shows only what you choose to make public
• You control visibility at both record and photo level
• Photos need extra care, especially where people are involved
• Clear, accurate descriptions build trust with visitors

What “public” means in BotanicalMapper

In BotanicalMapper, your Public Map is a published, view-only version of your workspace. It can include your map name, description, logo, and selected photos, along with the plants, landmarks, areas and shapes you’ve chosen to share.

A few key points to understand:

• Your map must be published before anyone can view it
• Individual plants, landmarks, areas and shapes can be marked Public or left private
• Only items marked Public will appear on the published map, alongside your chosen settings for types and attributes
• You can control which types of records and which attributes appear on the public map
• Some sensitive fields, like history, are never shown publicly
• New records default to not public, you opt in to sharing them

Think of your public map as a carefully curated version of your working garden map. It’s not everything, just what you choose to show.

Photos and people, consent and common sense

Photos bring your map to life. They show texture, colour, and seasonal change in a way text can’t. They are also the most personal part of what you publish.

If a photo clearly identifies a person, whether that’s a visitor, staff member, volunteer, or child, you should not publish it without their permission.

This is especially important for:

• Open days or group visits
• Volunteer sessions
• School groups or family events
• Images taken near paths, entrances, or public viewpoints

A few practical ways to handle this:

• Choose angles that don’t include faces
• Crop photos where needed
• Ask for permission if someone is clearly visible
• Be extra cautious with images of children
• Remember that QR codes and printed links can outlast a single event

When you publish your Public Map, BotanicalMapper includes a reminder to check that your photos are appropriate and don’t include identifiable people without consent. Treat that as a moment to pause and review, not as a formality.

How to exclude specific photos from the public map

Sometimes a plant or landmark is fine to share, but a particular photo isn’t. That’s where photo-level control becomes useful.

Here’s how to manage it:

1. Open the plant, landmark, or area on your map
2. Open Manage photos for that record
3. For each photo, use the checkbox:
   “Exclude from Public Map”
   • Checked means the photo stays in your workspace but is hidden from the public map
   • Unchecked means the photo can appear publicly, if the record itself is Public
4. Review each image and decide what should be visible

Important:
Excluding a photo from the public map does not delete it. It simply controls what visitors can see.

Tip
When you upload a new photo to a record that is already Public, BotanicalMapper often excludes it from the public map by default. This gives you a chance to review it before it becomes visible, a simple safety-first approach.

Working in a team

If you’re part of a shared workspace:

• If a record is already public, only workspace admins can change the “Exclude from Public Map” setting on its photos
• Other team members can still manage photos for private records

This helps keep public content consistent and avoids accidental changes.

A small note on your Public Map gallery

Your Your Public Map page may include a small photo gallery separate from plant or landmark images. Only upload images here that you’re fully comfortable sharing publicly.

Entity-level vs photo-level control

It helps to think of visibility in two layers.

1. Record, entity level

• Marking a plant, landmark, or area as Public means it can appear on your published map
• This depends on your map’s settings for types and attributes

2. Photo level

• The “Exclude from Public Map” option lets you control individual images
• This is useful when a record is public but one image shouldn’t be

Together, these give you flexible control.

One small thing to be aware of:

• If you change a record from Public back to private, any shared links to it will stop working until it’s public again

That’s normal, but it can catch people by surprise if links have been shared widely.

Accurate information, your responsibility

Visitors often trust what they see on a public map. Whether they’re planning a visit, studying plant collections, or simply exploring, they assume the information is reliable.

That trust matters.

As the publisher of your map, you’re responsible for:

• Using correct plant names and labels
• Writing clear and accurate descriptions
• Avoiding misleading information about access, opening times, or locations
• Updating records when things change

BotanicalMapper is a tool, it does not verify every detail on your map.

Before publishing, or updating, it’s worth taking a moment to review your public-facing content. A quick check can make a real difference to how your map is received.

Original writing and copyright

It’s tempting to copy a well-written description from a book, nursery catalogue, or website, especially when time is short. It’s important to use your own words wherever possible.

As a simple guide:

• Write descriptions in your own voice
• Avoid copying long passages from other sources
• Don’t lift text from websites, catalogues, or other gardens without permission
• Short factual details, like cultivar names or classifications, are fine
• If you quote something, keep it brief and acknowledge the source

You retain copyright in what you write and upload. Publishing your map means you’re confirming that you have the right to share that content.

Keeping things original also gives your map its own character, something visitors genuinely value.

A simple pre-publish checklist

Before you publish, or update, your public map:

• Only the records I intend are marked Public
• I’ve reviewed photos, faces are excluded or consented
• Sensitive images use Exclude from Public Map
• Descriptions are accurate and written in my own words
• I’ve read the publishing reminders on Your Public Map

Closing

Sharing your garden map can inspire curiosity, learning, and connection. It turns your work into something others can explore and appreciate.

Privacy and responsible publishing are part of that process. BotanicalMapper provides the tools, you make the final decisions about what to share.

If you’d like the formal rules, you can read our Terms here. For day-to-day use, a little care and attention go a long way.

We’re here to help you share your map with confidence, and with care.