---
title: "How to make a custom ocean map | Guides | Map design"
description: "Build customized maritime maps with global bathymetry data."
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at [/llms.txt](https://docs.maptiler.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any URL.

# How to make a custom ocean map

Most web maps focus on the land features, and the ocean is often left as a flat blue polygon. Our [Ocean map](https://cloud.maptiler.com/maps/ocean-v4/) provides global bathymetry, including sea floors, depth contours and labels, and shaded relief.

This guide explains how to customize the ocean depth styling in **Map Designer** to get your own maritime map.

## Get started

To start customizing the Ocean map, open it in our map design editor.

[Open Ocean map in editor](https://cloud.maptiler.com/maps/editor?map=ocean-v4)

The editor loads with the **Quick edit** panel open, allowing you to make simple modifications of the map color range and fonts.

## Fine-tune colors and shading

The Ocean map uses several dataset to render sea floor elevation and give it beautiful shading. You can use various styling methods that apply to both land terrain and sea floors.

1.  Go to **Layers** → block **Ocean** → layer **Ocean RGB**.
2.  In the layer settings panel, set the **Visualization** method:
    
    -   To use sea floor **shading (3D)**, select `Hillshade` and adjust the shading method, color, opacity, and other properties. See the [hillshading guide](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/map-design/terrain/hillshading/) to learn more.
        
    -   To use **color relief (flat)**, select `Color relief` and choose a **Color ramp** from the presets. See the [color relief guide](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/map-design/terrain/color-relief/) to learn more.
        

![Adjusting the Ocean map's color ramp](./ocean-color-ramp.webp)

## Customize grid lines

The latest version of our Ocean (v4) uses the [Grid](https://docs.maptiler.com/schema/grid/) dataset to show lines for time zones, meridians, circles of latitude, tropical circles, and their labels.

-   Go to **Layers** → block **Grid**. Now you can adjust the line styling and label fonts.
-   To hide the grid lines, click the little eye icon to hide all the lines and labels.
-   If you need more granularity, expand the **Grid** block and work with individual layers.

![Adjusting the grid lines](./ocean-grid.webp)

## Add country borders

By default, the Ocean map is “clean” and contains no land-based administrative boundaries. You can add these from the [MapTiler Planet](https://docs.maptiler.com/schema/planet-v4/) dataset.

1.  Go to **Layers** and click the **(+) Plus** button to add a new layer.
2.  Select the **MapTiler Planet** data source.
3.  Add the `country_border` layer.
4.  Switch to the **Style** tab and adjust the color and width of the country borders.

Tip

To display only countries with a coastline, switch to the **Data** tab and add a **Filter** for the `maritime` attribute.

If you also want to show the names of the countries, follow the same steps to add the `country_label` layer.

![Adding country borders to Ocean map](./ocean-country-borders.webp)

## Customize depth layers

For the ocean floor changing based on the **depth values**, there are fully customizable layers of different colors, going from the lightest blue for a depth of 0 m to -50 m to the darkest for a depth of -11,000 m to -12,000 m. We are keeping consistent intervals between the depths, but you can modify the breakpoints if needed.

The **depth labels** on contours are also changing based on the ocean floor. With the depth getting lower than -4,000 m, the labels are paled out to stand out in the dark waters. Keep this in mind when modifying the depth layer and/or labels color.

![Ocean depth labels styling](./ocean-depth-labels.webp)

## Use your map

When done, you can [publish](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/map-design/how-to-publish-a-map/) your custom map and share it with the world. The options are the same as when [using a ready-made map](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/using-map/).

Tip

The easiest way is to add the map to your website [as an iFrame](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/using-map/iframe/).