I’ve always wanted to make a map-making app, a “Google Docs, but for maps”. The problem is that no one but me really seems to get what it’s for, so I’ve had a hard time convincing anyone it’s something they (might) need.
The map tool
I still love maps so I wanted to build something smaller:
Click here to open this specific map.
It’s a simple tool that lets you do a few things:
- Create points and lines with a name and color
- Snap points to their walking / cycling / driving path
- Hide all labels to keep the map clean (like I’ve done in the screenshot)
- Share the map just by copying and pasting the URL
The last feature is important. No accounts needed to share a map, just share the link. The link is pretty long and looks like this for the above map:
Ugly, but the good thing is that your AI agents can create it for you.
I created another tool called AI Map that lets AI create the map for you. Just describe what you want to see, and the tool will make a ChatGPT or Claude prompt for you.
Clicking on “Open in ChatGPT” lets you run the prompt:
The problem is that the answer contains a suspiciously long URL, and ChatGPT does hallucinate locations. I have realized that it tries to confirm them, but not always.
The output map looks pretty good though:
Click here to see this map.
Technical stuff
The map tool
Honestly, this was surprisingly easy. I made a decision to raw dog javascript rather than use React, ShadCN, and MapCN, and that was a great decision. The entire tool is in one file, and 95% of it was written by Claude and Codex. Agent browser is great for testing web apps.
I’ve always said this: what’s good for humans is also good for agents. The fact that the entire map is stored in the URL meant that my agent could do some testing and return the exact problematic map. Or I could paste in a few map links to give my agent more context.
- Me: Please do some testing and find bugs
- Claude: Sure. Here’s a map with issues:
https://parthkabra.me/tools/map?v=... - Me: Great, that is an issue, please fix it. Also check out this map
https://parthkabra.me/tools/map?v=...I have 10 points but I’m only seeing 5
The AI map maker
This was a lot easier, just have AI make documentation on how to build a URL, and make it accessible: https://parthkabra.me/tools/map/agents. I wanted to use https://parthkabra.me/tools/map/agents.md, but weirdly, ChatGPT was unable to fetch the URL ending in .md. I wonder if it’s not supposed to follow “untrusted” prompts.
More tools like this?
This worked really well, and it makes me wonder why we don’t see more AI tools that are just instructions + a nice way to render data. It’s a single file that draws points and lines, and a page of docs telling an agent how to build the URL.
I didn’t even really build this with AI in mind. I wanted a tool that worked for me, and I soon realized that agents could be great at making maps too with some docs. What’s good for humans turns out to be good for agents. And a map that lives entirely in a link is something anyone can share, no account needed. Human-native, agent-native, and shareable all turned out to be the same thing.
What about Google Docs for maps?
Coming back, I think the reason “Google Docs for maps” was a hard sell is because most people don’t actually want to make a map. Maps are fiddly and intimidating, and you just want the one that answers your question or displays some data.
But that’s exactly the part an agent can do for you now. Describe the place, the time, whatever you’re curious about, and a map appears. Gemini already does a bit of this, and I keep running into more of it, but honestly it’s not great (yet). Customizing it is difficult, and it seems to be limited to just points and not routes.
I’m still not sure who this tool is for, or if the “for maps” version of the idea ever really lands. But I use it, it’s fun, and the thing I learned is to stop building for the masses and just build something I’d want to use.