How to Highlight a Country and Its Cities on a Map

Updated 3 October 2026

To highlight a country, pick it in the Country box and the rest of the world disappears. To highlight cities inside it, type a city name and each match is shaded in its own colour. It takes a couple of minutes and exports as a clean image.

Why isolate a country at all?

A world map makes the reader hunt for your point. A map that shows only one country removes that noise. The area you care about fills the frame and the neighbours vanish. It is the style you see in reports, school projects and company presentations, where the country is the subject rather than the backdrop.

Step 1: Choose the country

Open PinCountryMap and click the Country box. Start typing a name and pick it from the list, or scroll through the list. The map zooms to the country and masks everything else in white, with a thin dark line tracing the border.

One thing to know: once a country is selected, the tool accepts only locations inside it. That is useful, because a mistyped coordinate is caught straight away. To work with places in several countries, clear the selection with the × button.

Step 2: Highlight cities and districts

Under City highlights, type at least two letters of a city name. PinCountryMap searches inside your chosen country and shades every matching area together. A single search can bring up the city itself and nearby districts that share the name, so each match has a tick box. Untick any area you do not want.

Need more than one city? Press + Add another city. Each city gets its own card and its own colour, which you can change with the colour picker beside the name. Zoom to all fits every highlighted area in the frame.

City outlines are looked up online, so this step needs an internet connection. If an exact outline cannot be found, the area is drawn as an approximate shape and marked as approximate in the list.

Step 3: Choose colours that work

Keep the shade light enough to see through

The Shade strength slider controls how solid the colour is. Somewhere between 30 and 45 percent works well on satellite imagery: the area is clearly marked, but roads and terrain still show through. On the Light map you can go stronger.

Use few colours, and make them clearly different

Three or four highlight colours is usually the limit before a map turns into a puzzle. Pick colours that are far apart in hue, such as orange, teal and purple. Avoid putting red next to green, because many people with colour blindness cannot tell them apart.

Let the colour carry the message

Use one strong colour for what deserves attention and a quieter one for context. If different cities mean different things, such as sales territories, give each meaning its own colour and explain them in your caption or slide text.

Step 4: Pick the base map

• Light is the cleanest choice for slides and printed reports.
• Satellite adds context and works best with lighter shading.
• Terrain suits hills, rivers and travel maps.

Step 5: Add markers and labels

If you want pins for specific places as well, add them by typing coordinates, pasting a list or importing a file. Short names read best. Press Auto-arrange names, then drag any label that still overlaps another.

Step 6: Download

Choose High quality for slides or Print quality for posters, then press Download PNG. With a country selected, the image has a transparent background and is trimmed to the country, so it sits on any slide colour. The map credits are added in a thin line beneath it. Please keep them when you publish the map, because the map providers ask for them.

Mistakes to avoid

• Shading too many areas, until nothing stands out.
• Using a strong colour that hides the imagery beneath it.
• Forgetting to untick nearby areas that share a city's name.
• Choosing dark highlight colours on a dark satellite image.
• Cropping off the credits.

Common questions

Can I highlight states or provinces?

Not with a dedicated control yet. For now, search for the city or district names inside the country and shade those.

What if the city I typed is not found?

Try the local spelling or a shorter version of the name, and check that you chose the right country. Very small towns may not have an outline in the data. In that case, place a marker at their coordinates instead and label it.

Do I need an internet connection?

Yes. The country list, the city outlines and the map tiles are all loaded online.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no account and no watermark. To keep the service fast for everyone, there is a fair-use limit on downloads per hour.

Ready to build one? Open the map tool. If you have a list of places to add, the guide to plotting coordinates from Excel will save you time, and the itinerary guide shows how to turn a country map into a trip plan.