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Digital Scavenger Hunt Maps Explained: GPS Map vs. Custom Floor Map for Organizers

Published: Sep 14, 2026

When you plan a digital scavenger hunt, one worry comes up again and again: “What if everyone opens the map the moment the event starts, and the map simply won’t load?”

This guide reframes that worry around the kind of event you’re running, then walks you through the option that suits compact, indoor venues best: a custom image map built from your own floor plan. It’s written for organizers and the teams who run events on the ground.

What you’ll learn in this article

Why a sudden rush of traffic that knocks out your map is less likely than it sounds
The two event types that matter here: wide-area routes and single-venue events
How Petanco’s two map types (GPS map and custom image map) differ, with pros and cons
Why a custom image map isn’t affected by outages at external map services
A four-step way to choose your map type, and how to set up a floor map in Petanco

The short answer: whether your map holds up under a rush depends on your event, not just the map service

Let’s start with the conclusion. The scenario where the start signal goes off, everyone opens the map at once, and the map server falls over rarely plays out at real events.

The reason is simple: events where everyone arrives at the same moment and events that lean heavily on a geographic map are almost opposite in nature. The two rarely overlap, so a concentrated load on the map is structurally unlikely.

For the events where a rush does happen (single-venue events), you usually don’t need a geographic map at all. A custom image map (floor map) that doesn’t rely on an outside map service is the better fit, and Petanco includes one as a standard feature.

Why map traffic rarely spikes all at once

If you look at how the map actually gets used, events fall into two broad types.

Type 1: Wide-area routes (city walks, tourism trails, downtown shop crawls, multi-venue tours)

A geographic GPS map really earns its place when participants spread out across a wide area. In that case, participants are spread out in both time and space. These hunts often run for weeks or months, so people show up at different times. The bigger the area and the longer the run, the more the traffic spreads out, so the moment when everyone opens the same map at the same instant almost never comes.

Type 2: Single-venue events (trade shows, conferences, shopping malls, festivals, campus events)

The events where crowds pour in right at the start time are short events held in one place. But these venues are usually compact, and many of them are indoors.

GPS signals struggle indoors, and nobody is traveling across town, so a geographic map adds very little. What participants really want is a floor plan or venue map that shows the whole space at a glance: the exhibitor floor plan at a trade show, the directory map at a mall, or the campus map at an open house.

Aspect	Wide-area route	Single-venue event
Examples	City walks, tourism trails, downtown shops, multiple facilities	Trade shows, conferences, shopping malls, festivals, campuses
Event length	Long (weeks to months)	Short (a single day to about a month)
Traffic concentration	Spread out (spikes are rare)	Tends to peak at the start
Need for a geographic map	High	Low (indoors, compact)
Best map type	GPS map	Custom image map (floor map)

In other words, heavy simultaneous traffic and heavy reliance on a geographic map almost never happen together. Before you worry about how stable a map service is, work out which type your event is.

The two map types in Petanco

In Petanco, you choose the map type for each campaign under Options > Map Settings > Map Type. There are two choices.

Type 1: Standard Map (GPS), for wide-area and outdoor events

This type shows each spot on an online map using its GPS coordinates. The map tiles are loaded from an external map service. If your spots are densely packed, turn on Group Nearby Spots to cluster neighboring spots together. Participants can check their current location on the map, and each spot’s detail page offers a “Get directions in Google Maps” button.

Pros: On a city walk or tourism trail, participants can see at a glance where they are and where the next spot is.
Cons: GPS signals are weak indoors, and location accuracy drops inside buildings and underground.

Type 2: Custom Map (Image), for single-venue and indoor events

This type uses an image you upload as the map itself. Your facility floor plan, venue map, or an illustrated map becomes the map. Instead of geographic coordinates, you set each spot’s location by placing a marker on the image. Participants pinch to zoom in on the details.

Pros: Ideal for indoor events where GPS doesn’t work. Floor plans and custom-designed maps that don’t fit on a geographic map can be used as they are.
Cons: It doesn’t show the participant’s GPS location. It’s built for guiding people around a venue relative to the map.

GPS map vs. custom image map at a glance

Aspect	Standard Map (GPS)	Custom Map (Image)
How spots are placed	GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude)	Markers placed on the image
Map source	Map tiles from an external map service	The image you upload
Participant’s current location	Shown	Not shown
Indoors and underground	Weak (GPS accuracy drops)	Works reliably
Multiple floors	One geographic map	Register several maps; participants switch with a selector
Densely packed spots	Group Nearby Spots (clustering)	Pinch to zoom
Best for	City walks, tourism trails, downtown shop crawls	Trade shows, conferences, malls, festivals, campuses

What a custom floor map does for your operations

A custom image map is made for single-venue events, and it brings some practical advantages on event day.

No dependence on external map tiles: A custom map displays the image you uploaded. It doesn’t pull geographic map tiles from an outside service, so worries like “the map won’t load if a particular map hosting service is unstable” or “we’ll need to switch to a backup map service during an outage” simply don’t apply.
Multiple floors: Register a separate map for each floor (1F, 2F, 3F, and so on) and reorder them by drag and drop. When there are two or more maps, participants switch between them with a selector on the map page.
Reliable indoors and underground: Because it doesn’t depend on GPS signal, it works steadily inside exhibition halls, convention centers, and shopping malls.
Built for detail: Custom map images are kept at up to 2048px on the long edge (other images are compressed to 1280px), so detailed venue maps stay readable. You can upload JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP files up to 5MB, and they’re converted to WebP automatically.

How to choose your map type in 4 steps

STEP 1: Identify your event type. Will participants travel around a wide area (wide-area route), or gather at one venue (single-venue event)?
STEP 2: Check whether it’s indoors or outdoors. If most of your spots are indoors or underground, GPS isn’t a good fit.
STEP 3: Pick the map type. Choose “Standard Map (GPS)” for wide-area and outdoor events, and “Custom Map (Image)” for single-venue and indoor events.
STEP 4: Prepare the map. For a custom map, get your floor plan or venue map ready, then place a marker for each spot on it.

What about outdoor events in a compact area, like a street festival or a county fair? GPS works outdoors, so a Standard Map (GPS) with Group Nearby Spots turned on is a solid choice. If you already have an illustrated festival map, you can upload it as a Custom Map (Image) instead. Go with whichever your participants will find easier to read.

How to set up a custom floor map in Petanco

STEP 1: In Options, open Map Settings and turn on “Display Map Page.”
STEP 2: Under “Map Type,” select “Custom Map (Image).”
STEP 3: Click “Add Map,” enter a “Map Name” (for example, 1F or Hall A), and upload the “Map Image.” Repeat for each floor. A landscape image of 2048px or more is recommended.
STEP 4: Open each spot’s edit screen and go to the “Spot Map” tab. Under “Position on Map,” choose a map with “Select Map,” then click the image to place the marker. You can drag the marker to fine-tune its position.

Spots without a marker don’t appear on the map, but participants can still reach them from the spot list. Keep in mind that deleting a map also deletes the markers placed on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the map stop loading if everyone opens it right when the event starts?

Wide-area events that rely on a geographic map spread participants out over time and space, so traffic spikes are rare. Single-venue events, where spikes are more likely, are better served by a custom image map that doesn’t depend on an external map service, so the concern largely goes away.

Can I use the map feature at an indoor event where GPS doesn’t work?

Yes. Set the Map Type to “Custom Map (Image)” and upload a floor plan or venue map. That image becomes your map.

Will a custom map still display if an external map service is unstable?

A custom map displays the image you uploaded and doesn’t fetch geographic map tiles from an outside service. It isn’t affected by the stability of those services.

Does it work for venues with multiple floors?

Yes. You can register multiple custom maps, and participants switch floors with the selector on the map page.

Can I use the GPS map and a custom map together?

No. Each campaign uses one or the other. Choose the type that fits your event best.

Which check-in methods work best with a custom map at an indoor venue?

Petanco offers six check-in methods (QR code, GPS, keyword, quiz, puzzle, and NFC), with 23 patterns in total when you include combinations. Indoors, the methods that don’t depend on GPS signal (QR code, NFC, keyword, quiz, and puzzle) are the reliable choice.

Summary

The “map crashes the moment the event starts” scenario rarely happens, because of how events actually work.
Single-venue and indoor events, where rushes do happen, barely use a geographic map in the first place.
For those venues, a custom image map (floor map) that doesn’t depend on external map tiles is the best fit.
Before worrying about map service stability, choose the map type that fits your event.
Petanco includes both a Standard Map (GPS) for wide areas and a Custom Map (Image) for single venues and indoor spaces as standard features.

Creating and testing a digital scavenger hunt in Petanco is free, so you can upload your own floor plan and see how it looks before you publish.

→ Create your digital scavenger hunt with Petanco for free

Author: Petanco Staff