This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.
Here's the full recipe for a festival or event map — we'll use a made-up "Riverfront Summer Festival" with 60 vendor booths, three stages, and a parade route. By the end you'll have a live map for phones, a printed handout, and numbers that prove attendance to sponsors.
One idea to hold onto as you build: your collection is the data (the vendors and their info), and your map is how visitors see it. Most of the steps below alternate between the two.
1. Create the Map
On the Maps page, create a new map and name it — "Riverfront Summer Festival." It comes with a collection where your vendors will live. Open the map in the editor: the settings rail is on the left, and the live preview on the right is your actual map, so everything you do shows instantly.
2. Get Your Vendors In
Pick the path that matches where your vendor info lives today. You can mix all three.
Path A: Your vendors are already listings
If the businesses are already in your workspace as listings — the usual case for a main street or chamber — don't retype anything:
Open the map's collection (click the Source pill in the editor header) and click Add from listings.
Check off everyone participating and click Add to collection. Each vendor arrives with their description, photos, phone, and website already attached — and stays in sync with the listing.
There's one catch: each pin lands at the business's storefront address, but at the festival they're at a booth. So drag each one to its spot:
Back in the map editor, click the pencil on the vendor to open its edit panel, then click Move on map next to the address.
Drag the pin onto the booth location. Zoom in first — at street level you can place it within a few feet. Drag again to fine-tune.
Leave Keep original place info switched on. That means the pin moves but the vendor's real street address stays on the card — which is what you want, since the booth isn't their mailing address.
Tap Done, then Save changes.
Because the vendor is connected to its listing, this move only affects this map's collection — you'll see an "Overridden for this collection" note on the location, and the listing itself keeps the storefront address for your year-round map and directory. If you ever need to undo it, one click on Use the listing's address puts the pin back.
Path B: You have a vendor spreadsheet
Open the collection and click Import. We take CSV, Excel, and KML / Google My Maps files — and there's a Download template if your spreadsheet needs a starting shape.
Match your columns to fields (vendor name, address, category, booth number — anything extra can become a field during the import).
Review the preview, then let us place everything. You'll see what matched, what needs review, and what failed, with a search box to fix any stubborn addresses before finishing.
Imported pins land at their addresses too — so for vendors boothing away from their storefront, use the same Move on map steps from Path A to drag them into position.
Path C: Place things right on the map
Stages, beer gardens, first aid, restrooms — festival fixtures don't have street addresses, and that's fine. In the map editor, double-click the exact spot on the map. The add-place form opens with that precise location already filled in (no address needed — the pin goes exactly where you clicked). Type a name like "Main Stage," pick a category, and save. Zoom way in before you double-click and you can drop pins with booth-level precision.
This is usually the fastest way to build out the festival infrastructure layer: zoom into the grounds and double-click your way down the vendor rows — Booth A1, A2, A3 — in a couple of minutes each.
3. Add Booth Numbers
Booth numbers live in a field on your collection — you add the field once, then fill in each vendor's value:
In the map editor's Places panel (or on the collection page), click Fields, then Add a field.
Name it "Booth Number" and choose the Short code type — it's built for codes like "A3" or "12" (up to 8 letters, numbers, or hyphens) and can label pins on the map.
Fill in the numbers. For 60 vendors, skip the one-at-a-time route: open Bulk Edit and type them down the Booth Number column like a spreadsheet, then Save. (See Using the Bulk Edit Spreadsheet.)
Now show them on the pins: in the map editor, open Markers → Numbers on markers and pick your Booth Number field under Number field.
Every pin now wears its booth number on top of its icon. Places you leave blank — like the restrooms — simply show no number.
4. Set Up Categories
Open Fields and expand the Category row. New maps start with one category, so build your real set: click Paste list and enter them in one go — "Food, Drinks, Crafts, Music, Kids, Info & Restrooms."
Click each category, then Edit marker, and give it a look: a Color + shape, an icon from Icon search (there's a food truck, a music note, a restroom icon…), or your own image via Custom image.
Assign vendors in bulk: on the collection page, click Select, check all the food vendors, then Edit field → Category → Food. Repeat per group — much faster than opening 60 places.
In the map editor, check Markers → Marker style is set to Driven by a field with Category selected, and in Filters → Field filters, turn Category on (the Fan out display puts the choices right across the top of the map).
Now a hungry visitor taps "Food" and sees exactly the pins they care about.
5. Draw the Festival Grounds
Open Shapes & Overlays in the map editor:
Have a designed site plan? Under Image overlays, upload the image — it drops onto the map with corner handles. Drag to move it, and use the handles to scale and rotate until your drawn streets line up with the real ones underneath. Lower the opacity a touch if you want the base map to peek through. This is the move for hand-drawn festival maps and site plans from your designer.
Or draw it in Proxi: under Shapes, draw a polygon around the festival footprint, rectangles for the stages, and a line along the parade route. Each shape can be styled (fill, outline, opacity), renamed ("Parade Route"), and reordered. Precise mode lets you set exact sizes when eyeballing isn't enough.
Want visitors to toggle these on and off? In Filters → Layer filters, switch on Show layer filter — the map grows a Layers dropdown listing your shapes and overlays.
6. Add the Schedule
Times and dates are just another field on your collection — you add a field with the Date & time type and fill it in per place, the same way you added booth numbers. (If you're coming from Proxi's classic editor: this replaces the old map-level date/time setting, and it's more flexible.)
Click Fields → Add a field, name it "Performance Time" (or just "When"), and choose the Date & time type.
Open a place — say the Main Stage's 7pm headliner — expand the field, and set it: pick the date and time, use Add end for the end time, or flip on All day for all-day happenings. Something recurring, like a shuttle that loops all weekend? Repeats handles that. Set the Timezone so out-of-town visitors see local time.
Then let visitors browse by time: in the map editor under Filters, a Date filter section appears once the collection has a date field. Turn on Show date filter and Hide past events by default — Saturday afternoon, the map shows Saturday's remaining events, not Friday's.
Tip: not every place needs a time. Booths without one simply don't participate in the date filter — only your scheduled happenings do.
7. Make It Yours and Set the View
In Branding: your festival name as the Title, dates as the Subtitle ("July 18–20 · Riverfront Park"), your colors under Brand colors, and the festival logo. We'll warn you if your color choices are hard to read together.
In Display → Map style, pick a style that fits — Standard is safe; Paper and Watercolor give event maps a nice printed-program feel.
Frame the starting view: pan and zoom the preview until the festival grounds fill the screen, then click Set current view as default in Display → Default view. Visitors land exactly there — not on a whole-city view where the festival is a dot.
8. Decide What Visitors Can Do
In Point Card → Actions and Viewer actions, keep it simple for an event: Get directions on (walking mode is a nice default inside a festival), Save on so people can bookmark booths to hit later, and map sharing on. Skip comments and visited-tracking unless they serve your event. (See Choosing What Visitors Can Do on Your Map.)
9. Put the Map Everywhere: Links, QR Codes, and Embeds
A festival map only works if people open it — and the trick is meeting them where they're standing. Click Share in the editor for the link and QR code (the Maps page's share dialog has a Download QR Code for a print-resolution version), then put that QR everywhere on the grounds:
Entrances and gates — a banner or A-frame with "Scan for the festival map" catches people at the exact moment they're wondering where to go. When the map opens on their phone, the locate button shows them right where they're standing.
The info booth — a big QR on the booth itself deflects half the "where is…" questions.
Every vendor booth — a small QR card at each booth turns every table into a map distribution point. Vendors love it because it helps visitors find their booth number on the way back.
Stages, restrooms, beer garden — anywhere people stand in line is somewhere they'll scan.
The printed program and wristband inserts — and the printed map itself: in Print & Export, turn on Show QR code so paper handouts hand people the live map too.
Online, set the link preview in the editor's Sharing section so the map looks great in neighborhood Facebook groups, and embed it on the festival website with the two-line embed code — the embedded map updates live as you edit, so "check the map for updates" is a real answer. (See Sharing and Embedding Your Map.)
For the paper handout, click Print & Export: the Map + list template, an Inset map if one dense vendor row needs a zoomed-in box, and the list page sorted by Point number so the printed list matches the booth numbers on the pins — or grouped by Category for a program-style layout. (See Printing Your Map.)
10. Consider Gamifying It
A festival passport turns wandering into a mission — and spreads foot traffic to every corner of the grounds. Create a Passport from the sidebar and choose Use existing collection in the wizard so it runs on the same vendors as your map:
Pick 10–15 stops — anchor vendors, the far end of the grounds, sponsor booths — and set QR Code Check-in as the method. Use Export Codes → Download All QR Codes with the PDF — Branded format for print-ready check-in signs at each stop.
Add an award like "Festival Explorer — visit 10 stops" with a Completion Message that sends finishers to the info booth for a prize entry.
Share the passport's registration QR at the gates right next to the map QR, and let the leaderboard run on a screen at the info booth.
Test it yourself as a tester before the weekend. (See Testing Your Challenge or Scavenger Hunt Before Launch — and the check-in machinery is covered step by step in Running a Restaurant Week Passport; it's the same for festivals.)
The quiet payoff: every check-in is counted per booth, which becomes sponsor-grade proof of foot traffic — which brings us to money.
11. Make Money With Your Map
The map is some of the most valuable real estate at your festival — every attendee looks at it, repeatedly. Sponsorship inventory you can sell on it:
Presenting sponsor in the header. Put "Presented by First National Bank" in the Subtitle (Branding → Header), or upload a co-branded logo so the sponsor is on screen every time the map opens.
Sponsor logos on the map itself. Use Image overlays (Shapes & Overlays) to anchor a sponsor's logo right on the grounds — the stage sponsor's mark next to "Main Stage," a logo panel along the edge of the festival footprint. It reads like signage on the site plan, because that's exactly what it is.
Featured pins. Sell vendors an upgrade: flip on Featured on this map and their pin draws on top in your featured color and sorts first in the list. Easy to deliver, easy to price.
Sponsored check-in stops. If you run the passport, sell "official stop" slots — sponsors get guaranteed foot traffic, and the per-booth check-in counts prove it afterward.
Special offers. A sponsor's deal in the map's offer field ("Show this screen for $1 off") gives them a measurable reason to be on the map.
To run the selling side through Proxi, open Revenue → Sponsorships: create a program ("2026 Festival Sponsors") with tiers — say Gold at $1,000 with featured placement and logo display, Silver at $250 with a featured pin — then enroll businesses from their listing with a checkout link, or share the self-serve sponsorship page and let them pick a tier and pay directly. The dashboard tracks who's active and which benefits you've delivered. (Set up payments first under Settings → Payments; sponsorship programs are part of Premium.) One honest note: benefits don't place themselves — after a sponsor pays, you flip on their Featured pin or place their logo overlay, then mark the benefit fulfilled.
Two more revenue angles: charge passport registration (a $5 entry funds the prize pool — switch on Charge Participants on the passport's Registration Page), and if your event sells access to the map itself, password and paywall gates are still managed in the classic editor for now.
12. During the Festival
Edits go live the moment they save — no republish step. A vendor cancels morning-of? Open them and flip off Active on this map; they vanish from the map but stay in your collection. Food truck moved? Move on map, drag, done. Keep the map editor open on your phone's browser and you can run the whole weekend from the info booth.
13. After the Festival
Open Analytics on the map's card: engagement over the weekend, which booths got the most views and directions taps, and a Download button on the Points tab that turns into your sponsor wrap-up — "your booth was viewed 340 times, with 41 people tapping for directions." That's the report that sells next year's booths. (See Understanding Your Map's Analytics.)
And next year? Duplicate Map from the Maps page carries your categories, branding, and shapes into a fresh copy — you just update the vendors.
Beyond the Map: Planning and Promotion Tips
The map is one piece of a bigger event. A few field-tested tips from festival-planning pros:
Recruit vendors 90–60 days out. That's the window when vendors commit to events — direct, personal outreach to vendors already doing similar fairs nearby fills booths faster than any mass post. And follow up with vendors who applied but haven't paid; some always drift.
Give every vendor an arrival time. One late food truck in a shared loading lane can delay your whole opening. Assign load-in slots and put one person in charge of them — then share the map with vendors so they can see exactly where their booth is before they arrive.
Hand sponsors ready-made promotion. In the final 2–4 weeks, send sponsors finished graphics, email copy, and your map link — sponsors with ready-to-post assets actually post. Your map's QR code belongs in that kit.
Plan crowd flow from the parking lot in, not from the gate in — and keep one person on radio/phone duty for the grounds all day.
Send the sponsor recap within 10 business days, built around promised-vs-delivered numbers. Your map analytics slot right in: booth views, directions taps, and total engagement.
Market the district year-round, not just event week — festivals land harder with an audience that already follows you.