Explorer maps in Minecraft: How to use them

Minecraft is a unique open-world game which offers an infinite amount of areas to explore. Players can scour through its varied terrain and find tempting loot from various secret structures.

But there are ways to find these secret structures rather than just randomly exploring for them. You can obtain these explorer maps in Minecraft to find these secret structures containing rare loot.

But these special maps are not your traditionally crafted maps in Minecraft.

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How to use Explorer maps in Minecraft

There are three types of explorer maps in Minecraft. One to find the Woodland Mansion, one for the Ocean Monument, and one for buried treasures. They are different from normal maps, as they show land and water outlines around the structure. The structure itself is marked as a tiny icon depending on the mansion or monument. The buried treasure is indicated with a red cross.

Explorer maps (Image via lookingforseed)

These structures might not be the closest to the player, in fact sometimes they are thousands of blocks away. If the player icon is smaller and just a dot on the edge of the map, that means the player is a great distance away. The main problem here is that there is no pointer on the player's dot to know which direction the structure is at.

The player has to guess the direction in which the structure is, by noticing the movement of their position on the map. If the player dot is starting to move slightly, that means that the player is on the right path. If the player's dot movement on the edge of the map is decreasing, meaning they are moving away from it.

Explorer map positions (Image via StackExchange/Minecraft)

If the player is less than 1000 blocks away from the map border, the player icon on the map returns to the proper size with the pointer. The map will start filling in with details of the world, and players can direct themselves towards the secret structures. And for buried treasure maps, players will need to dig straight down at the cross on the map to find the chest.

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How to find Explorer maps in Minecraft

Buried treasure explorer maps can be found from looting a sunken ship. Maps for the Ocean Monument and Woodland Mansion can be obtained by cartographer villagers who are at Apprentice level and Journeyman level respectively.