Categories & Organization

Categories help you organize locations on your maps by grouping them and giving each group a distinct color. This guide covers how categories actually work in Mapiry.

What Are Categories?

Categories are simple labels you apply to locations. Each category has only two properties:

Name: The category label (e.g., "Restaurants", "Hotels", "Parks")
Color: A hex color code (e.g., "#FF0000" for red)

That's it. Categories in Mapiry are intentionally simple.

What Categories Are NOT

To set accurate expectations:

❌ Categories do not have icons
❌ Categories do not have descriptions
❌ Locations cannot belong to multiple categories (one category per location)
❌ Categories do not have custom marker styles
❌ You cannot merge or bulk-edit categories
❌ There are no category templates
❌ There is no category analytics

Categories are just a name and a color for organizing locations.

Creating Categories

In the Map Editor

When creating or editing your map, you can add categories:

Create or edit a map
Add a category through the categories interface
Give it a name and choose a color
Save

The exact UI varies, but the concept is simple: name + color.

While Adding Locations

You can also create categories on-the-fly:

When adding a location, select the category field
If the category doesn't exist, create a new one
Enter the name and color
The location is assigned to this new category

Assigning Categories to Locations

Each location can have exactly one category assigned:

Edit a location
Choose a category from the dropdown
Save

The location will appear on the map using that category's color.

No Category is OK

Locations don't require a category. Uncategorized locations typically appear in a default color (usually blue).

Category Colors

Colors are the most important part of categories since they affect how markers appear on the map.

Choosing Colors

Use hex color codes (e.g., #FF0000, #00FF00, #0000FF)
Choose distinct colors so categories are easy to distinguish
Test colors on different base map styles (streets, satellite, dark, etc.)
Limit yourself to 6-8 categories maximum for clarity

Color Best Practices

Good color choices:

High contrast between adjacent categories
Colors that match common associations (green for parks, red for restaurants)
Colors visible on both light and dark backgrounds

Bad color choices:

Similar shades that are hard to distinguish (light blue vs. teal)
Colors that disappear on certain base maps (yellow on satellite)
Too many categories with too many colors (becomes confusing)

Managing Categories

Editing Categories

Go to the categories list in your map editor
Click the category you want to edit
Change the name or color
Save

All locations using that category update automatically with the new color.

Deleting Categories

When you delete a category:

The category is removed
All locations in that category become uncategorized
The locations themselves are not deleted

Be careful when deleting categories - you'll need to manually reassign locations if you want them categorized.

Reordering Categories

The order you see categories listed in the UI typically depends on creation order. There's no explicit reordering feature, so plan your categories thoughtfully from the start.