Who is it for?

Eurêk'roquis is for anyone who wants to make a clear, neat map without mastering mapping software: secondary school pupils preparing for their exams, undergraduate and master's students, PhD students and researchers illustrating a dissertation, a thesis or an article, teachers, journalists, associations and newcomers to cartography. It follows the rules of graphic semiology: colour fills and graduated colours for area data, point and line symbols, a hierarchy of labels and a legend organised into sections.

What you can do

A custom base map

World, continent, region or country: choose the extent and the projection, with borders and country names. You can also start from the map library or import your own base map (SVG, PNG, JPG or PDF).

Fills, hatching and graduated colours

Colour a country or a sea in one click. Graduated colours are for maps by classes, such as densities or rates.

Map symbols

Cities, ports, bases, arrows, sea routes, custom areas and symbols proportional to a value. You can import your own icons as SVG.

Neat labels

A range of fonts, capitals, halo, background box, icons and leader lines to the place. Country names can be placed automatically.

An organised legend

Click a symbol to add it to the legend, then file it under titled sections. The legend follows colour changes on the sketch map.

Title, scale, north arrow and sources

The scale adapts to where it is placed, the north arrow follows the projection and the sources appear at the bottom of the sketch map.

Precise alignment

Snapping lines elements up with each other as you move them, as in drawing software.

Export ready to hand in

PNG image, A4 PDF document, or SVG file organised in layers for Illustrator and Inkscape.

Make a sketch map in five steps

Choose or create the base map that suits the topic.
Colour the areas with the Fill tool, or with hatching.
Add the point and line symbols, then name the places with the Label tool.
Send each symbol to the legend and give it a caption.
Add the title and the sources, then export the sketch map.

Open Eurêk'roquis

Frequently asked questions

Is Eurêk'roquis free?: Yes. The tool is free and needs no sign-up. Only the review of a sketch map by a cartographer is a paid, optional service.
Where are my sketch maps saved?: In your browser, automatically. You can also download the project as a .croquis file to pick it up on another computer.
Do I need to install any software?: No. Eurêk'roquis works in any recent browser, on a computer or a tablet.
Where do the base maps come from?: Custom base maps are built from Natural Earth data. The map library also offers ready-made base maps, with or without relief.