How to export your locator maps as PDFs & SVGs, including the map layer

To use the SVG and PDF export, you need to be a user on a Custom or Enterprise plan. To find out more about pricing, click here.

Our popular locator maps come with a full vector export, including the underlying map. That means you can print locator maps in unlimited quantity (tell us if you ever print a Datawrapper map on a billboard), change the colors of elements on your map or delete them selectively:

How to export a PDF (or SVG)

To download your locator map as a vector PDF you need to be on a Custom or Enterprise plan. To export, go to  step 4: Publish and click on the big PDF or SVG button:

Some extra options will open about the format and scale factor. Click on the button  Download PDF/SVG and look for the downloaded file in your Downloads folder.

What are the exceptions?

Vectors are delicate to work with, and our locator maps have some powerful features that don’t play together nicely with the vector export.

You will still get a raster map instead of a vector map when downloading…

  • a map that’s tilted
  • a map with labels (We’re talking about the labels you can turn on in step 2: Design map under Map Styles. The markers you add in step 1 are not a problem.)
  • a map with 3D buildings

In any case, if you prefer, you can still export an underlying raster map. To do so, disable this switch in the PDF/SVG settings:

Now the map layer will be a raster image, not a vector image.

Can you work with exports in Adobe Illustrator?

All our PDFs are editable in vector graphics software like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. But the more elements are on your locator map (e.g. buildings), the heavier your exported PDF/SVG becomes. If your exported PDF is bigger than 300 KB it can happen that your graphics software gets a bit slow, so you might need to be a bit patient. We’re working to improve and optimize this. Until then, we recommend the SVG export for detailed maps.

To try it out yourself, you can download a PDF and SVG sample export. You can find a sample PDF file here and a sample SVG file here. Open the links, right-click on the image, then choose Save as… and decide where you want to download the file.