Someone reviewing your location map may want to find a particular branch, explore a territory, or open the details behind a marker. A client checking locations and a colleague reviewing a territory plan may need different information, even when they're looking at the same map. That person's purpose helps you decide what the shared map should let them see and do.
Decide who should open the map
Choose Share Externally for recipients who don't have a Maptive license. This works for a client reviewing locations, a colleague exploring a territory plan, or a public audience using a location map. Decide how broadly the information can travel before choosing the privacy level.
Use Maptive's external sharing options to give someone an interactive map they can open without a Maptive license or login.
Public means anyone with the link can view the map. A recipient can forward that link, so the audience may grow beyond the people you originally had in mind. Use this option for information you're comfortable making available to anyone who receives the URL.
Password Protected requires the map's password. Maptive uses one shared password per map. Everyone you give it to uses that same password. Decide how you'll manage access later with that in mind.
Changing the password locks out people who have the previous one. It doesn't let you remove just one named recipient while everyone else keeps their old access. You'll need to give the new password to the people who should continue viewing the map.
A shared map isn't private just because it isn't found by Googling. Someone who has the URL can still open a public map. Make the privacy choice based on the data and audience, rather than on whether a search engine lists it.
If recipients need to make lasting changes to records or map settings, handle that through your internal team access. External viewers use the map you publish to them. Their exploration doesn't grant permanent editing rights.
Choose the shared starting view
Open your map and get the display ready for a first-time viewer. Show the relevant region, choose a useful zoom level, and apply any filters or route view that should be present when the link opens. Someone opening a branch map shouldn't have to search the whole country to find the locations being discussed.
- Click the Share icon on the left side of the map.
- Choose Password Protected or Public.
- Select the starting Map view.
- Choose the sharing method.
- Use Copy to copy the URL when you're ready to test it.
For the starting view, you can use the primary default view, your current view, or a newly named view created through Create a Map View. The current view can carry the filters, routes, and zoom you've prepared. A named view is useful when you want a recognizable starting point for a particular review.
Choose the view for the reader's first task. If they need to inspect an expansion area, frame that area clearly. If they're looking for the closest service location, start wide enough to show the choices and keep the relevant search or navigation controls available.
A starting filter controls what appears first. It doesn't establish which rows a viewer is authorized to access. Treat the full shared-map data and its viewer settings as a separate check. If some records shouldn't be available to that audience, don't rely on an opening filter to keep them out.
Set what viewers can use
Enable the needed tools
Open the gear for Map Settings, then go to Shared Maps/Presentational Maps. Choose the tools and features that support what recipients need to do. A map for finding locations can stay simple, while an analysis map may need filters and area tools.
Keep the legend available when marker colors or boundary fills carry meaning. Legend Only gives you a legend based on the grouping or boundary data. Check that its labels make sense to someone who didn't prepare the spreadsheet. An internal category code may need a clearer label before you publish the map.
Enable search when recipients need to find an address or location. Enable the Filter Tool when they need to narrow the displayed records. For a territory review, that might mean examining one rep's customers at a time. For a location directory, it might mean finding locations in a particular category.
Choose analysis tools for a specific purpose. The Routing Tool lets a viewer work with routes, while the Distance Calculator supports distance checks. The Boundary Tool, Radius/Drive Time Tool, and Heat Map Tool can support area and concentration questions when those actions belong in the shared view. You don't have to enable every tool simply because it's available.
Set zoom limits and Restrict Map Panning if recipients should stay within a useful geographic view. Test those limits against the locations near the edge of your map. A restriction that keeps the view tidy can also make an important marker hard to reach if it's set too tightly.
Check the data viewers can see
Review the visible data columns, marker popup data, and export data separately in the shared settings. Each gives viewers a different way to read the same records. A field hidden from a marker popup may still need to be excluded from a spreadsheet view or export.
Keep useful identifying information visible. A viewer may need a branch name and service category to choose a location. They may have no reason to see an internal account note or a contact field. Work through the columns with the audience's actual task in mind.
Open a representative marker after making the popup choices. Check that the viewer can identify the location and understand the fields you kept. Removing a field can also remove context, so look at the resulting popup rather than judging the checkbox list alone.
Exports need their own decision. Click Authorize to request export activation. After authorization, Activate lets you set which tools can export. Enable exports only where the recipient needs a data file, then check the export-data settings for the columns that file should contain.
An exported file can be saved and passed along separately from the map. Include only the fields the recipient needs for that work. If an export is supposed to contain branch names and addresses, inspect the downloaded file to make sure it doesn't also carry columns you hid elsewhere.
Check hidden-marker behavior
Pay attention to the Marker Visibility Button when markers are hidden. That control can let a viewer show them again. If the intended view should keep those markers hidden, disable the button where appropriate and test the result outside your account.
This is especially useful when you're sharing a boundary or heat-map view. You may want the audience to explore the regional pattern without turning on a dense set of individual locations. Check both the initial display and the controls that could change it.
Recipients can interact with the enabled tools, but those actions don't make permanent edits to your source map. Explain that when viewers are expected to explore alternatives. If the work requires an approved change to the stored map or its records, an authorized editor should make that change through the team's editing workflow.
Copy the link or embed code
For a direct link, finish the sharing choices and use Copy. Keep the copied URL for the recipient test. If you've chosen password protection, have the intended password ready so you can check the complete opening experience.
You can also put the interactive map on a website. For the embed flow, open Settings, go to Shared/Display Maps, and choose Open next to Embed Map. Select Password Protected or Public, set the width and height, and copy the embed code into the website.
Choose dimensions for the page where the map will appear. A narrow page needs enough height for people to use the controls and open a marker without losing the map beneath it. Check the actual page after inserting the code, since the available space can differ from what you saw in the map editor.
Password protection is a choice in the embed flow as well. Test it on the destination page if you use it. A website embed still needs the same deliberate choices about tools, popup fields, and exported data as a direct shared link.
Test the recipient's map before sending
Open the copied URL in a private browser window or another session where you aren't logged in as the owner. That gives you a useful check of what an outside recipient can see. Your normal editor view won't answer that question.
For a password-protected map, confirm that the password is required and that the intended password opens it. For a public map, confirm that it opens without an account. Then check the first region and zoom level against the starting view you chose.
Use the map as a recipient would. Search for a known location, try an enabled filter, and open a few markers with different categories or data patterns. Inspect the legend and test the panning or zoom limits. If you hid markers, look for any control that could reveal them.
Test every enabled export you expect people to use. Open the resulting file and inspect its columns, including fields near the end of the table. Compare those columns with your sharing choices. Correct any unwanted exposure in the relevant settings, then open a fresh recipient session and repeat the affected check.
For an embed, complete the same checks on the published page layout. Make sure the map has enough space for the controls and location details. Once the outside view passes these checks, the link or embed is ready for its intended audience.
