How to make a map of your RV park.
Every park needs a map a guest can read from the driver's seat. Here is what goes into one, what you need to gather, and how to get it drawn and printed without paying for it.
Start with a site list, not a drawing
The map is only as good as the list behind it. Before anyone draws anything, write down every site by number and type: back-in or pull-through, length, hookups, and anything special like a river view or a group area. Add every building and amenity: office, restrooms, showers, laundry, dump station, playground, pool, boat ramp, storage, dog area. This list is the checklist the map gets drawn against, and it is what you will hand to whoever draws it.
Get an aerial photo or a plat
A drawn map is laid out from something with correct proportions. An aerial from Google Maps, a county plat, an old survey, or even a photo of the map on your office wall all work. The roads, the loops, and the spacing come from that. The site numbers come from your list.
Number sites the way people drive
Guests read the map while rolling in. Numbers should run in the direction of travel along each road, so a guest looking for 27 knows it is past 26 and before 28 without turning around. If your park grew in stages and the numbers jump, the map is the place to fix the confusion with lettered sections, like R for riverfront and GS for golf side, the way Castle Rock Shores does.
Mark what guests ask about
The questions at the office window tell you what belongs on the map. Where is my site. Where are the restrooms and showers. Where is the dump station. Where do I park a second vehicle. Where can the dog go. Where is the pool and when is it open. Put each of those on the map with an icon and a legend, and the office answers fewer questions.
Leave a box for the site number
A blank box labeled "your site" in the corner is the most useful square inch on the map. The office writes the number in at check-in, circles the site, and hands it over. The guest is never lost between the gate and the pad.
Put the rules and camp information on the back
The map is the reason guests keep the sheet. The back is where you put everything else you tell them at check-in: check-in and check-out times, quiet hours, pets, fires, speed limit, generators, the WiFi name and password, laundry and shower hours, and the emergency number. Printed once, it says the same thing to every guest.
Add a digital copy to your website
Once the map is drawn, the same file goes on your website and your booking confirmation. Guests find their site before they arrive, and your listing looks like a real park instead of a satellite photo with pins.
Get it printed for free
Local businesses near your park will pay to be on the back of the map, because your guests are their customers and do not know where to eat or buy propane yet. That is how RV Park Map works: we draw the map from your site list and aerial, lay out your rules and camp information, sell the ad spots to local businesses, and print and ship the maps to your office. The park pays nothing, and reorders are free. See real park maps we have made, or request one for your park.