Roads, land & specialist map layers
Try the main road network on your current postcode map without signing in. Keep your colouring and artwork, and compare with or without roads.
Watch tutorial video Opens YouTube · some videos show an earlier layout
Try roads on the map you are colouring
You can try roads without signing in. In Map details choose Add roads to my map, then Try roads on my map. The main road network appears on your current postcode area, district or sector map. Your colours, territory names, labels, images and other artwork stay in place. Choose Without roads to compare. The assistant can also offer a Try roads on my map button. When buying 12 months of access, the payment panel offers the matching roads package for £10 more plus VAT for areas, £15 for districts or £20 for sectors. These are the extra amounts over the full plain-map package, not the total price of a visitor licence.
Upgrade an active plain-map licence
Open Map details and choose Add roads to my map. Sign in to check your access. With an active plain postcode licence, the one-off upgrade is £10 plus VAT for areas, £15 plus VAT for districts or £20 plus VAT for sectors. The fee is the same throughout the licence year; your renewal date stays unchanged. Your saved colouring, names and other artwork are retained. The upgrade covers that postcode map type, not just one saved file. If roads are already included, use the road controls without buying again. If your plain-map licence has expired, renew the roads package instead.
Pay for an existing-licence upgrade
Preview my map with roads saves your current work and opens a separate preview. Choose card, PayPal or bank transfer to upgrade. Your map stays open while you pay. Access starts only after payment is confirmed; bank transfers use the reference supplied at checkout. You receive an email when roads are ready. Reopen your saved map to see the road controls. The full roads package is priced at the equivalent plain map plus the same upgrade amount. Renewals use the full roads package price.
Road artwork, Google roads and drive times
This upgrade adds the supplied main road network to the map artwork and its exports. It is not a live street map or a drive-time calculation. The On Google preview has its own background map. A request to add roads to a postcode map is different from using Distance/Time. Road visibility is editable; the assistant currently cannot apply an arbitrary custom colour to the road lines.
Road lines
A Roads, Main A Roads / Primary A Roads, Other A Roads and Motorways control the corresponding road line groups. Turning off minor roads while retaining the main routes often makes territory colours easier to see. A road layer here is artwork, not a route calculation.
Road numbers and junctions
Road Numbers, Main A Rd. Nums, A Road Numbers, Primary Road Numbers and Motorway Numbers control the text labels for the relevant routes. Junction Numbers shows junction identifiers; Junction Number Circles and Road Num. Borders control their surrounding symbols where present. Labels and road lines can be switched separately.
Land, parks and built-up areas
Land, Parks & Forests and Urban Areas show their respective background fills. If these compete with the colours of your territories, hide one layer at a time and compare the result. Park Names has a separate switch on maps that include it.
Water, coastline and railways
Water & Lakes controls water features; Water Names controls their labels. Coastline draws the coast outline, and Railways draws the railway layer. Retain them when they help someone recognise the region; hide them when they add unnecessary clutter.
Specialist name layers
Other Names, Other Town Names, Primary Town Names and Urban Town Names are separate name groups supplied with road maps. Outer labels on some health maps are names placed outside crowded boundaries. Their visibility does not change which polygons belong to a territory.
County, council, ICS and ICB layers
A mixed map can show postcode polygons with another administrative boundary over them. Use that layer’s Borders, Width and Labels controls independently. Colouring a postcode district and showing an ICB outline are different operations; the outline supplies context for your territory.