Your Survey Map is a physical item. The terrain you discover and the markers you draw belong to that particular map, not your account. Give it to another survivor and they receive its discoveries and notes. Lose it and you lose access to that information; picking up the same map restores access. A different map has its own record.
Open and choose your map
- Carry a usable Survey Map and press M to open its full-screen view. You can also hold it and choose Unfold Survey Map to enter the custom map menu after the animation. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, and press M again or Escape to close it.
- If you carry several Survey Maps, hold the one you want to use. The held map takes priority. Only the active map records your journey; carrying several maps does not combine their discoveries.
- You can keep a Survey Map in the dedicated map attachment slot on supported backpacks. It remains the same physical item, with the same discoveries and markers.
Unknown terrain starts covered. Travel into new areas to chart nearby terrain. The charted percentage shows how much of that map you have discovered. Opening the screen or standing still does not reveal the whole world.
No navigation equipment
You can keep exploring and charting terrain without a compass or GPS, but the Survey Map does not give you an exact location marker or a live compass heading. Use the terrain and landmarks to find your bearings. A compass or GPS alone does not replace the Survey Map needed to open this menu.
Compass: heading and an approximate area
Carry a usable compass to see your heading and an estimated area on the map. The circle starts at a 1,200-metre radius and can narrow to 300 metres as you travel through different sampled areas in compass mode. It is always an estimate, not an exact position pin. Standing still or repeatedly circling previously explored ground does not keep improving it. There is no guaranteed time or walking distance to reach the smallest circle.
GPS: an exact location while powered
Carry a usable GPS receiver with a working battery and switch it on. GPS takes priority over a carried compass and gives an exact position arrow, facing direction and X/Z coordinates. It charts a wider area as you travel, but does not instantly uncover the entire map. Travel in powered-GPS mode does not train the compass estimate.
Switch off the GPS, lose it or lose power and the exact fix disappears. Your existing discoveries and markers stay on the paper map. A compass can still provide its approximate navigation help if you have one.
Draw markers with a pen
- Carry a black, red, green or blue pen with ink remaining. Open the Survey Map and right-click the place you want to mark, then choose Add marker. You can also double-click a location to open the marker editor.
- Choose a pen colour and an icon: person, tent, vehicle, meeting point or house. Enter a label of 1–48 characters and choose Place marker.
- A full pen has five marker uses. Adding a marker spends one use; the pen controls show the uses remaining. Each map can hold up to 64 markers. Save a full black pen for copying and use a partly used pen for ordinary notes.
- Right-click a visible existing marker and choose Remove marker. Removing a marker is free and needs no pen, but does not refund ink. To change a note, remove it and place another. The Markers ON/OFF control hides or shows annotations without deleting them.
These are notes you place on that map. Placing a marker does not uncover unknown terrain. A vehicle or person icon does not automatically track a moving vehicle or another player. Anyone who receives that physical map can read and change its notes; annotations have no private ownership lock.
Repair a damaged map
Combine a Damaged or Badly Damaged Survey Map with paper and complete Repair Survey Map with paper for 10 seconds. It uses one paper and repairs the map to Worn while retaining its discoveries and markers. Cancelling does not spend the paper. A ruined map cannot be repaired with this action.
Make an independent copy
Combine your Survey Map with a full black pen showing five uses left. Complete Copy Survey Map for 60 seconds. A successful copy consumes the pen and creates another map containing the original discoveries and markers; a separate blank map is not required.
The original stays with you. After copying, each map develops independently: new exploration or marker changes on one do not update the other. Cancelling the action preserves the ingredients. Part-used black pens and other pen colours cannot make a copy.
Look after the item
Compass accuracy is temporary navigation confidence, separate from the discoveries and markers saved on the paper and separate from its charted percentage. Copying or handing over a map does not copy a GPS device, battery or that temporary confidence. Do not rely on compass confidence surviving a reconnect or restart.
Discoveries and markers survive normal reconnects and restarts with the surviving map item. Trading, dropping or recovering that same map does not turn it into a fresh chart. Death alone does not erase it: someone can recover the surviving item. Ruining a map permanently clears its discoveries and annotations; repair cannot bring them back. A deleted or despawned map takes its information with it. Keep an independent copy somewhere safe. Ordinary DayZ paper maps are different items; use a Survey Map for these features.