How to make a Cartography Table in Minecraft: Step by Step Guide

In order to craft a Cartography Table, you will need:

1. Crafting Table
2. Any kind of Planks
3. Paper

The simplest way to obtain a Cartography Table is to explore a few Villages until you find a Cartographer’s house. Inside, you will find a Cartography Table that you can break into an inventory block. Any tool will do to break it— even your hand will suffice!

A Cartographer’s house in a Village in Minecraft

If you want to make your very own Cartography Table, then you’ll have to do so via the old fashioned way for which you will need to do some prep work. Cartography Tables require some Planks and some Paper, which can be harvested by chopping down trees and punching sugar cane.

Planks are simple enough to acquire. Using an axe or your bare hand, go strike any variety of tree in Minecraft. After harvesting the raw wood, place it into your 2x2 inventory crafting grid, and voila, you have all the Planks you will need to craft a Cartography Table.

Sugar Cane, on the other hand, could pose a bit more of a challenge. If you do not already have some laying around, you will need to go searching near water sources. Sugar Cane grows near any water in the Overworld, so go find a river and walk along the banks. Villages also commonly have Sugar Cane farms that you can harvest from without penalty.

Sugar Cane growing along a River.

Once you have harvested at least six pieces of Sugar Cane, you can craft them into the two sheets of Paper you will need for your Cartography Paper. To craft the Paper, simply open a Crafting Table and place your Sugar Cane in this exact configuration.

In a Nutshell:

Get some Planks, get some Paper, and get a Crafting Table. Place four Planks below two Papers for your table. Or steal one from a Village!

Step 1: Open the 3x3 Crafting Table grid.

Step 2: Place your Planks and Paper in this pattern.

Tip: Notice that any variety of Planks can be placed in any configuration.

Cartography Tables in Minecraft have two main uses: employing Villagers as Cartographers and crafting or improving Maps. First, we will cover the uses of a Cartographer, then we will focus on using the table on your own Maps.

Cartographer Villagers can be useful for Emerald trading, given that you have a productive Sugar Cane farm. They will exchange Emeralds for Paper, which can then be used with other employed Villagers — like Toolsmiths or Fletchers — for other useful materials. Cartographers can also trade with you for Banners, certain specialty Maps and specially designed Banners.

A Cartographer Villager in Minecraft.

For your own purposes, Cartography Tables can be used to easily create Maps or modify existing ones. Among the many different uses of a Cartography Table, you can add a Player icon to it, so you always know where you are. You can lock a Map, so that a specific route is saved (say a route to a valuable biome or mine).

Here is the full list of possible modifications:

1. Expanded Map + Cleared Map
2. Cloned Map
3. Locked Map
4. Map with a Player Locator
5. Blank Map
6. Blank Map with a Player Locator

While it would take too long to explain all these modifications in depth here, check out this article for a more thorough explanation of each type of map.

The UI for the Cartography Table.

Are there any secret uses for Cartography Tables in Minecraft?

Yes, technically a Cartography Table can be used as one of the more inefficient fuels in a Furnace in Minecraft. It can also be placed under a Note Block to make the sound of a bass.

How do I turn a Villager into a Cartographer?

First, you need an unemployed Villager who has a bed in the Village. Once they are assigned to a bed, place a Cartography Table next to the bed, and they will transform into a Cartographer. Make some good deals!

Be it saving a useful route in a locked map, expanding the scope of your existing map, or making some sweet deals with a local Cartographer, the Cartography Table is your all access pass to discovery in Minecraft.

Now that you know how to use it, it is safe to say you know where you are in your world. Like the saying goes, if you know where you are, then you must also know who you are. Congratulations on your journey of self-discovery!