Web maps

A web map is how ALIGN saves your work in the Map Builder. It is the equivalent of a project: one saved item that holds your whole map, kept in your Datastore and reopenable at any time.

It is also what the header bar acts on. Saving, publishing, converting into an application and printing all take the web map as their subject, which is why they are documented here rather than panel by panel.

What a web map captures

When you save, ALIGN persists the full state of your workspace:

• the map view (center, zoom, bearing and pitch) and the basemap,
• every layer, with its source and its complete style,
• the controls and widgets you enabled, and where you placed them,
• your map preferences.

Reopen the web map later and you are exactly where you left off.

Saved in your Datastore

A web map is stored as a typed asset in your Datastore, right next to your data. From the Datastore panel you can open a web map, rename it, move it into a folder, or delete it. Each web map keeps a thumbnail, so you can recognize it at a glance.

References, not copies

A web map stores references to your data, not a second copy of it:

• Layers you add from a local file (raster, FlatGeobuf, GeoParquet and so on) are first stored in your Datastore, and the web map points to that asset. A bare file name is never left behind to break when you reopen.
• Live services (WFS, GeoRSS) are stored as a reference and re-fetched when you reopen, so the layer stays in sync with its source.

This keeps a web map light and always openable.

Your keys never travel with it

If a layer or basemap uses one of your provider keys, that key is never written into the saved web map. It is stripped on save and re-applied from your account when you reopen. A web map you publish or hand to someone else carries no secret. This is the same guarantee described in Integrations, applied to every saved map.

Saving

• Save in the header bar (or Ctrl/Cmd + S) saves the current web map. The first save creates it in your Datastore, later saves overwrite it in place.
• The button carries its own state. It reads Save while changes are pending, and Saved once everything is stored, so the header always tells you where you stand.
• A status pill under the header shows the upload and save progress, so you know when your work is safely stored.

Size limit

A web map travels to your Datastore in one request, and that request is capped at about 25 MB of feature data. Before anything is sent, ALIGN estimates what the save would carry and, if it is over, refuses with the name of the layer to fix and its size — nothing is uploaded, nothing is silently lost.

What counts toward the limit depends on the format, as supported today:

Layer	Counts toward the limit?
Drawn features, selections and analysis results	Yes — their features live in the map.
Local vector imports: GeoJSON, GeoPackage, zipped Shapefile, KML/KMZ, GML, CSV, GPX, CAD, OSM PBF	Yes — the render-ready copy is what the map carries.
GeoParquet and FlatGeobuf imports	No — saved as a reference to the asset; the map reopens them from the file.
PMTiles, Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF, MBTiles (as PMTiles)	No — saved as a reference to the asset.
Web services: XYZ, WMS, WMTS, WFS, OGC API, ArcGIS, GeoRSS, video	No — saved as a byteless reference and re-fetched on reopen.

The estimate covers the whole map, not one layer at a time: several medium layers can add up to a refusal, and the message then names the largest one to start with.

If a layer is over the limit, the way through is a format the map can reference rather than carry — and you do not need to leave the Map Builder for it. Open the layer’s menu in the Layers panel, choose Export → GeoParquet, then add the file back through Add data: the re-imported layer is saved by reference and no longer counts. Large vectors also work as PMTiles, and rasters as Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF — QGIS exports both.

Auto-save

Auto-save is on by default. Once you pause, ALIGN saves the map for you through the same path the Save button uses, quietly: no pill, no dialog, nothing to dismiss. A burst of edits collapses into a single save rather than one save per change.

Two things it deliberately does not do:

• It never creates a web map for you. A map that has never been saved is left alone until you save it once yourself, so a half built map is not silently minted into your Datastore.
• It never hides a failure that matters. The manual Save keeps its full feedback, and the Diagnostics panel records what went wrong.

You can turn it off in Settings, under Saving. The preference follows you, not the map.

Reopening

Open a web map from the Datastore panel, or from your dashboard. On reopen, ALIGN restores the map view, the layers and their styles, and your controls, and it re-fetches any live layers so they are current.

What you can do with a saved map

Publishing	Put the map online at its own address, choose who can open it, embed it, share it outside ALIGN.
Converting to an app	Turn the map into a full application in the App Builder, keeping your data, and optionally your layout.
Printing	Compose a print ready sheet with title, legend, scale bar and north arrow, then export it to PNG or PDF.