Rescroll

Free map animation maker

Pick two cities and download an animated map of the route between them: a pin drops, the line draws along the shortest path and a plane flies it. A 1080p MP4, made in your browser. Free, no sign-up, no watermark.

How it works

How to make a map animation.

Four steps, about a minute, and nothing to install.

  1. 1

    Pick two cities

    Search for the city the route starts in and the city it ends in. There are 1,208 to choose from. Each pin shows its city's name, or type your own label, such as an airport code.

  2. 2

    Choose the map and the vehicle

    Dots draws the land as a grid of dots, like a departures board; Solid fills it in with a fine coastline. Send a plane, a car, a train, a ship or a plain dot along a solid or a dashed line.

  3. 3

    Set the camera and the look

    Pull back starts close on the first city and widens to the whole route, Follow stays with the vehicle, and Still shows everything from the start. Then pick one of six looks, or your own route and background colors, and a frame shape.

  4. 4

    Download the MP4

    Press Download. The map is rendered in your browser at 1080p and saved to your device, usually in a few seconds. No account, no watermark.

Ready-made versions

Start from the one you came for.

Each one opens its own maker with the settings filled in. Change anything, then download.

Travel map animation

Paris to Rome by car on a paper-colored map: a dashed line, a camera that follows the car, then the whole route with its distance.

Flight path animation

Los Angeles to Tokyo across the Pacific, white on black in a 16:9 frame, with the distance in miles.

Popular routes

When a map animation isn’t enough

The free map animation is the starting point.

Here you get one route on a clean world map. In Rescroll you describe the graphic you actually want, say “drop a pin on Lisbon as I say it, then draw my flight to Tokyo with the dates of the trip”, and it's designed from scratch on your own video. Attach a screenshot of a map style you like, or your logo, and it matches them. Not right yet? Ask for the change in the chat.

Free map animation

Rescroll

One route between two cities

Any map graphic you can describe, matched to a screenshot, your logo or your fonts

A clip you overlay and key out yourself

Built on your own video, placed around you

You line it up in your editor

The pin drops on the exact word you say

Change it with the settings here

Change anything by asking in the chat

Make it yours in RescrollSee AI motion graphics

Part of the Pro, Ultimate and Scale plans.

Flight map. The pin drops as she says the city.
Travel plans. A departures board flips in each city.

Both built in Rescroll from a description.

The basics

What is a map animation?

A map animation is a short video that draws a route on a map: a pin drops on the starting point, a line travels to the destination, and a second pin lands there. Travel videos use one to show where a trip goes, and explainers use one to show how far apart two places are.

This maker draws the route between any two of 1,208 cities along the great circle, the shortest path over the globe, so a flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles crosses the Pacific instead of doubling back across the whole map. A plane, car, train or ship rides at the head of the line and turns with it, and a chip shows the distance in kilometers or miles.

Choose the camera to suit the shot. Pull back opens close on the first city and widens as the line grows. Follow keeps the vehicle in the middle of the frame, which suits a road trip. Still shows the whole route from the first frame, which is the simplest to lay over other footage.

What you download

Price
Free. No sign-up, no email, no watermark.
Format
MP4 (H.264), no audio
Resolution
1080p: 1080×1920, 1920×1080, 1080×1080 or 1080×1350
Frame rate
30 or 60 fps
Route
Any two of 1,208 cities, drawn along the great circle between them
Map
A dot-matrix or solid world map, from Natural Earth's public-domain data
Travels by
Plane, car, train, ship or dot, on a solid or dashed line
Length
2 to 12 seconds of travel, plus up to 5 seconds resting on the finished map
Colors
Six looks, or any route color on any background color
Overlay
Green background for chroma key, or black for a Screen blend
Where it runs
In your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

In your editor

Put the map animation on your video.

An MP4 has no transparent background, so the map animation comes ready to key. Set the background to green and remove it with chroma key, or to black and use a Screen blend.

How to add a map animation in CapCut

Download the map animation on a green background. In CapCut, drag it onto the track above your video so it sits on top as an overlay. Select it, open Video → Remove BG → Chroma key, pick the green with the color picker and raise Strength until the background is gone. Menu names move a little between CapCut versions; look for Chroma key. If you made it on black instead, set the clip's blend mode to Screen.

How to add a map animation in Premiere Pro

Put the map animation on a video track above your footage. From the Effects panel, drag Ultra Key onto it and click the Key Color eyedropper on the green. For a version on black, skip the key: in Effect Controls, set Opacity → Blend Mode to Screen.

How to add a map animation in DaVinci Resolve

Place the map animation on the track above your footage. On the Edit page, open Effects → Open FX, find 3D Keyer under Resolve FX Key and drag it onto the clip, then sample the green in the viewer with the Open FX overlay switched on. For a version on black, set Composite Mode to Screen in the Inspector instead.

How to add a map animation in Final Cut Pro

Connect the map animation above your footage in the timeline. From the Effects browser, drag the Keyer effect onto it; it finds and removes the green by itself. For a version on black, set Blend Mode to Screen in the Video inspector.

Questions

Map animation: your questions, answered.

How do I make a map animation?

Choose two cities in the map animation maker at the top of this page, pick a map style and a vehicle, and press Download. You get a 1080p MP4 of the route drawing itself, made in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark.

How do I make a map animation in CapCut?

Make the animation here and add the MP4 to your CapCut project like any other clip: it's a finished video, so there's nothing to animate in CapCut itself. To lay it over your own footage, download it on a green background and remove the green; the steps are under “Put the map animation on your video” on this page.

Which cities can I choose?

Any two of 1,208 cities: capitals and larger cities around the world from Natural Earth's list of populated places, plus a few places travelers look for that it leaves out, such as Porto, Phuket and Bali (as Denpasar). Start typing a name to search. If a place isn't there, pick the nearest city that is and type the name you want into its label.

Why is the route a curve and not a straight line?

The line is a great circle, the shortest path between two points on a globe. Flattened onto a map it bends toward the nearer pole, more so the further the route is from the equator. It's the same reason a flight from London to New York passes south of Greenland.

Can I show the distance in miles?

Yes. “Distance chip” has three settings: Kilometers, Miles and Off. The figure is the great-circle distance between the two cities, worked out from their coordinates.

Can I change the names on the pins?

Yes. Type up to 26 characters into “From label” or “To label”: a neighborhood, an airport code, “Home”. Leave one empty and it shows the city's name. Turn off “Show city names” to drop the labels and keep the pins.

What's the difference between the Dots and Solid maps?

Dots draws the land as a grid of dots that stay the same size on screen as the camera moves, like a departures-hall display. Solid fills the land with a flat tone and a thin coastline, like a printed map.

What do the three cameras do?

Pull back opens close on the first city and widens as the line grows, so the route is revealed as it's drawn. Follow keeps the vehicle in the middle of the frame, then pulls back when it arrives. Still frames the whole route from the first frame and doesn't move.

Can I add more than two stops?

Not in one clip. Each clip is one route between two cities. For a trip with several stops, make a clip per leg and join them in your editor.

How long is the animation?

7 seconds with the settings it opens on. Travel time runs from 2 to 12 seconds and the finished map can rest for up to 5 more. The pin drops at either end add two seconds, and a following camera takes a second and a half to pull back once it arrives.

Is there a page for a specific route, like London to New York?

Yes. Any two cities in the list have a page of their own that opens on that route, with its distance and heading. The most traveled routes are linked under “Popular routes” on this page.

Why is my island or lake missing from the map?

The map is a simplified outline of the world, made from Natural Earth's 1:110 million land data. Small islands aren't on it, and nor are lakes apart from the Caspian Sea. A pin still lands in the right place, even where the map shows open water.

Is the map animation maker free?

Yes. It's free to use and free to download, with no account, no email address and no watermark on the video. There's no limit on how many you make.

What format and resolution is the video?

An MP4 with H.264 video, at 1080p in the shape you choose: 1080×1920 (9:16) for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, 1920×1080 (16:9) for YouTube, 1080×1080 (1:1), or 1080×1350 (4:5) for the Instagram feed. You can export at 30 or 60 frames per second.

Can I get the map animation with a transparent background?

MP4 can't store transparency, so the map animation comes ready to key instead. Set the background to green and remove it with chroma key in your editor. If the graphic is light, you can also set the background to black and use the Screen blend mode. Either way only the map animation is left over your footage.

Is my video uploaded anywhere?

No. The map animation is drawn and encoded on your own device, using your browser's built-in video encoder. Nothing is sent to a server and there's no render queue.

Which browsers does it work in?

It needs a browser that can encode video with the WebCodecs API: current versions of Chrome, Edge and Safari, and Firefox on a computer. If your browser can't, the page tells you before you start.

Can I use the map animation in client work, ads or monetized videos?

Yes. The video you download is yours to use in personal and commercial projects, with no attribution needed.

Can I match my brand, add my logo or change the design?

Not in the free maker, which is deliberately simple. That's what Rescroll's AI motion graphics are for: describe the graphic you want in plain English, attach your logo, fonts or a screenshot of your style, and it's designed from scratch on your own video, placed around you and timed to the word you say. Ask for any change in the chat. It's part of the Pro, Ultimate and Scale plans.

More free tools

Other graphics you can make here.

All free, all made in your browser, all without a watermark. See every free tool.

Arrow animation

A hand-drawn red arrow that sweeps in, flicks its head and taps at the spot, with a handwritten label.

Confetti overlay

Rainbow confetti fired from two cannons in the bottom corners, tumbling as it falls, on black.

Fireworks overlay

Ten multicolor bursts on pure black, rising, opening and sparkling out over an 8-second loop. Ready for a Screen blend.

Money rain

Banknotes and gold coins falling at different depths, notes fluttering and coins spinning. Any currency sign, any note color.

Snow overlay

Soft falling snow in four depths on pure black, with the nearest flakes out of focus. Loops, ready for a Screen blend.

Emoji animation

A 😂 that springs in, overshoots, wobbles and settles with a ring and sparks. Or make any emoji rain, float up or burst.

Keep reading

Where to go next.

AI motion graphics

Counters, charts, app screens and maps designed from a description, on your own video and timed to your words.

AI video editor

The whole edit from a sentence: silences and bad takes cut, captions, color, zooms and graphics.

Rescroll vs After Effects

When to keyframe a graphic yourself, and when to describe it instead.

Rescroll vs CapCut

Preset text animations against graphics designed for each moment. Often used together.

Your next video,
edited like the top 1%.

Drop it in. Say what should appear. Read the plan, press Build, and export the finished video — no After Effects, no editor, no template.

Make your first graphic

Part of Pro, Ultimate and Scale · Export is free · Failed builds are refunded