Minecraft Cartograph, Free Minecraft Map Tool
Please Note: Cartograph is no longer being supported, but another modder has taken up the cause and re-released a version that works.
Looking For An In-Game Minecraft Mini Map?
- Zan's Free Minecraft Minimap Mod
For more free Minecraft mods and tools, visit: One of the most important (and notably absent) tools that the avid minecrafter needs is a map tool. For many months, minecrafters wandered about the place,...
Cartograph is a mapping tool for Minecraft that reads through all the image files for a particular Minecraft save and creates a map image based on those files. It is particularly useful in instances where a base has been built a fair way away from the initial spawn point and upon dying, the player is unable to find it again, though its uses are certainly not limited to simple postmortem navigation.
Cartograph has a range of modes that reveal your map in different ways. Normal view simply shows a basic top down map with your structures highlighted upon it. It is useful for basic navigation.
Height map is useful for determining where high and low terrain lie if you are concerned with such matters.
Isometric
Isometric view creates an isometric map that allows your structures to be seen with more clarity. It is a more 'realistic' map type that can be used to more effectively brag about your in game achievements. This is my preferred map type because it most accurately reflects the impact of the player's works upon the world.
Oblique provides a similar perspective to isometric, however it does so with a 'top down' view point, so although structures can clearly be seen as more than mere lines on the map it does not have quite the same depth of view.
Cave mode is where Cartograph starts to take on a bit of a 'cheating' vibe. Why? Because it shows you where the cave systems exist in your world, which is handy if you want to be able to find dungeons quickly without digging for eons and eons. After several months of playing Minecraft naturally, I'd never found a dungeon. A couple of minutes with Cartographer and cave systems and dungeons were revealed clear as day,.
Whether you simply wish to create map style images of your world, navigate around heavily explored areas (the further you go in Minecraft, the more likely it is that you'll end up completely and utterly lost,) or save time and discover where the biggest zombie infested dungeon systems are, Carograph is pretty much an essential tool for anyone wishing to get the most out of their Minecraft experience.
Its also worth noting at this point that Cartograph is a stand alone tool, it is not a mod and does not require installation to the Minecraft program, which is good news for people who are wary of installing mods either because they don't feel comfortable doing so, or because they fear conflicts with existing mods.
Download Cartograph from the official thread.