A lightweight world map board for Windows — color the globe, mark positions, track forces, follow the news, and export a board you can share.
MapBoard is a desktop app for building interactive scenario boards: grand-strategy style maps, crisis dashboards, teaching aids, campaign notes, or personal geopolitics scratchpads. Everything lives in plain project files you own.
| Paint the world | Click countries to recolor them; style names, focus a nation, or clear back to the default fill. |
| Place what matters | Notes, free text, icons (markers, isometric sprites, emoji, flags), and force tokens. |
| Draw freely | Brush, pencil, lines, shapes, rail, spray, eraser, and more — strokes stay locked to geography under pan/zoom. |
| Units in 2D & 3D | Land, naval, air, and strategic tokens with faction colors, status, heading, and optional 3D figurines (including commercial infrastructure). |
| Live context | RSS headlines, market quotes, and a floating Journal (notes, objectives, notifications, news). |
| AI-assisted boards | Optional multi-provider LLM tab: describe what you want, generate map objects, apply them in one step. |
| Your data, your files | Projects are JSON under your Documents folder. Export a high-quality PNG or JPEG with a subtle watermark. |
- Scenario builders — wargames, campaign planning, alternate history
- Analysts & hobbyists — annotate theaters with notes, layers, and provenance-friendly fields
- Educators & presenters — paint regions, drop pins, export a clean map image
- Anyone who thinks better on a map — news, markets, and personal notes in one dark, focused workspace
- Natural Earth–based country outlines (including many small countries and islands)
- Pan, scroll-zoom toward the cursor, fit world (middle-click or zoom out)
- Focus on a selected country; toggle country names and ocean/sea labels
- Optional cities & states for a country (major cities and admin borders when enabled)
- Right-click the map for place / zoom / copy / export shortcuts
Placement tools drop a single item, then return to Select so you don’t spam the board.
| Tool | Shortcut | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Select | V |
Click countries or objects; edit them in the side panel; paint the selection |
| Note | N |
Pin shapes (square, circle, triangle, diamond, hexagon) at S / M / L |
| Text | T |
Free map labels with size, bold, italic, and outline |
| Draw | D |
Freehand and shape strokes; width from XS–L |
| Icons | I |
Libraries: Markers · Iso · Emoji · Flags |
| Units | U |
Force / facility tokens; type filters; 3D toggle; size, status, heading, national skins |
Also useful
- Space + drag or left-drag empty map → pan
- Ctrl+Z → undo
- Arrow keys nudge selected objects (Shift = larger step)
- Right-click a note / icon / unit / text → delete
- Palette swatches plus hex colors (
#RRGGBB/#AARRGGBB) - Clear to default fill (checkerboard /
none) - Per-country stats and metadata as editable JSON (currency, tags, style, optional analyst fields)
- Copy coordinates in familiar latitude, longitude order; Import coordinates accepts decimal or DMS and drops a pin
A floating window over the map:
- Notes — free-form entries with accent color and timestamps
- Objectives — track status (available / current / completed / failed)
- Notifications — attention items become map tiles along the top (
!= attention; left-click opens Journal, right-click dismisses) - News — clippings (including from RSS)
Saved with your user data so boards and personal notes stay separate when you want them to.
| Tab | Purpose |
|---|---|
| JSON | Edit the selected country or object; import one or many annotation objects when nothing is selected |
| RSS | Color-coded multi-feed headlines, unread dots, manage subscriptions, refresh, open links, send to Journal |
| Markets | Spot quotes (indices, FX, rates, commodities, crypto, ETFs, equities); green/red day change; search catalog or add custom symbols; drag to reorder |
| Layers | Show/hide and lock built-in layers and project groups |
| LLM | Generate board objects from a prompt (optional map context + web search when supported); apply results to the map |
Bring your own API key for a supported provider (OpenAI, SpaceXAI / xAI, Anthropic, or Google Gemini). Write a prompt, generate structured map objects, preview, and apply. Multi-turn history and provider preferences stay in your Documents folder — keys are never baked into the app.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New | Ctrl+N |
| Open | Ctrl+O |
| Save | Ctrl+S |
| Save As | Ctrl+Shift+S |
- Unsaved changes show a
•in the title and prompt before discard - Export image: high-resolution PNG or JPEG (map context menu or export action)
- Branding: discreet MapBoard / Apps By James watermark on exports
A small headless CLI can validate project files and apply annotation batches — handy for scripts and pipelines without opening the UI.
- Windows
- .NET 8 (or a self-contained build that includes the runtime)
dotnet run --project MapBoard.csprojOr open the solution in Visual Studio / Rider and start the MapBoard app project.
A self-contained single-file publish embeds map data and icon assets so one executable is enough on another PC. Folder-style publishes need the full output folder (app + Data + Assets).
MapBoard creates a friendly tree under your user documents:
Documents/MapBoard/
maps/ ← project boards (default board seeded once)
journal/ ← notes, objectives, notifications, news
llm/ ← optional AI settings & chat history
markets/ ← market panel preferences
rss/ ← feed lists & settings
Your boards stay visible for backup, sync, and sharing. Country geometry ships with the app; it is not copied into Documents.
- Select first — paint and JSON editing follow the current selection.
- One-shot tools — pick an icon or unit from the bottom strip, place once, then refine under Select.
- Zoom smart labels — markers scale with zoom to reduce clutter; unit/icon callsigns hide when zoomed far out.
- Batch import — with nothing selected, paste a JSON array of notes/texts/icons/units/drawings into the Object panel and Apply (one undo undoes the batch).
- Full projects vs. snippets — use Open for complete board files; use Apply only for annotation objects.
- RSS + Journal — follow feeds in-panel, then push a headline into Journal News when you want it kept with the campaign.
- Map projects and journal content live on your machine under Documents.
- RSS and Markets fetch only what you configure (your feeds and symbols).
- LLM calls go to the provider you choose, with your key; the app does not require an account.
- No telemetry is required to use core board features.
Ideas under consideration (not commitments):
- Easier sharing of boards between users
- Professional installers and clearer download packages for Windows
- Continued unit, icon, and journal polish
Feature requests and feedback are welcome wherever the project is published.
MapBoard — Apps By James
Country boundaries derived from Natural Earth data. Market quotes may use public quote providers configured in the app. Icon and flag assets are bundled for offline use on the board.
Use and distribution terms follow the project repository. Support and donation options may appear in-app as they become available.
Paint the board. Mark the world. Own the file.