What does a cartography table do in Minecraft?

Cartography tables can be useful for Minecraft players who prefer to navigate their world via map.

Though not a commonly used block, cartography tables do have some important uses for those who get easily lost in the Minecraft world. Cartography is defined as the science of map drawing, and that is exactly what cartography tables provide to Minecraft players.

Maps such as buried treasure maps can be found throughout any given Minecraft world, but before they are written out for players to follow, they must first be created via a cartography table.

The following is a guide for Minecraft players curious about all things cartography table related.

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Cartography tables in Minecraft

Basic uses

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As mentioned, cartography tables are used to create maps. Using a cartography table allows players to clone maps, expand them, zoom into them, and even lock them so that they cannot be modified any further.

Each of these options require different recipes.

The supplies needed for any given recipe combination within the cartography table are maps (empty or not), paper, glass panes, or compasses. Equipping an empty map will create a detailed map of a player's surroundings.

To expand the map, players need to place a pre-existing map and a blank piece of paper into the cartography table.

To clone a map, they must combine a pre-existing one with an empty map while to lock one, place a map and glass pane into the cartography table.

Bedrock players can do much more with cartography tables by creating locator maps. These maps can be created using compasses combined with maps, empty maps, or pieces of paper.

A pre-existing map and a compass will create a locator map, while an empty map or blank piece of paper will create an empty locator map.

Cartographers

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Cartography tables can be found in villages that have cartographers. Although not every village is guaranteed to have a cartographer, luckily they are very simple to craft. All it takes to make a cartography table is four wood planks and two pieces of paper.

Additionally, players can craft a cartography table and place it next to a villager without a job to turn that villager into a cartographer. Doing so might prove to be helpful in the map creation process.

The more advanced the cartographer is, the better map-related trades players will encounter.

Cartographers will start out trading basic map items such as paper, glass panes, or compasses, but after many trades are made, the cartographer will level up and offer more robust items.

Players can even eventually trade emeralds for banners, maps or a woodland mansion once a cartographer has leveled up enough.

Fuel

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Something Minecraft players may not have known is that cartography tables can actually be used as fuel in furnaces in the same way other wood blocks can in place of coal.

Of course, doing so will eliminate the block entirely. However, for those players who somehow obtain a cartography table and have absolutely no use for it, burning it to cook some valuable food or ingots may be worthwhile.