City Map Vector for Adobe Illustrator: SVG, PDF and AI
Adobe Illustrator is where most city posters, wayfinding maps and branded maps are finished. The quickest way to get a real street network into it is to export the area from OpenStreetMap as a vector file instead of tracing a screenshot. This guide walks through the export and the first things to do with the map in Illustrator.
Step 1. Select the area in the map builder
Open the map builder and draw a rectangle around the part of the city you need: zoom with the mouse wheel, drag to move, then press and drag to outline the area. A smaller area exports faster and keeps more detail - a single district takes seconds, a whole city can take several minutes.
Step 2. Pick a map style and level of detail
The style sets the colours and line weights of the exported drawing. Minimal gives a clean base that is easy to restyle, blueprint gives a ready drawing look, and there are other styles such as standard and neon. The level of detail ranges from an overview (major roads only) to maximum (every building and footpath); the builder suggests a sensible level for the size of the area. You can also choose the sheet format: A4, A3 or custom.
Step 3. Choose the format for Illustrator
- SVG - the best starting point for editing. The map arrives split into layers: roads, buildings, water and greenery come as separate named groups, and a separate layer carries the names of objects, searchable in the Layers panel.
- AI - Illustrator's own format. Since version 9 it is built on PDF, and the export is a single artboard with paths, fills and editable text - a ready base for design work. Object names are stored as a hidden catalogue that Illustrator shows split into separate letters, so do not rely on it for labels.
- PDF - vector geometry that keeps every detail at any zoom and opens on any device; useful when the same file also goes to a client for review. For very large areas pick raster PDF, which opens instantly regardless of feature density - but that version is no longer editable as vectors.
If the file will be placed in a layout rather than edited, EPS also opens in Illustrator.
Step 4. Open the map in Illustrator
Open the SVG or AI file directly with File > Open rather than placing it, so that the paths stay editable. Open the Layers panel and collapse all groups: a dense district can contain tens of thousands of paths, and expanding everything at once slows the application down.
Step 5. Recolour and restyle
- Select a whole group (for example water) and set one fill for all of it.
- Use Select > Same > Fill Color or Stroke Weight to grab every object of one kind in a flat file, then move it to its own layer.
- Change stroke weights by layer: main roads thicker, residential streets thinner, footpaths hairline or hidden.
- Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork swaps the whole palette to brand colours in one dialog.
Step 6. Clean up with Pathfinder
Pathfinder is useful once the style is settled. Unite merges touching building outlines into city blocks, which reads better on a small poster. Minus Front cuts water out of a background shape. Before you apply Pathfinder to a large selection, save a copy: the operations are heavy on thousands of shapes, and you may want the original outlines back.
Tips
Pick the level of detail for the final size: an A3 poster of a whole city does not need every footpath. Convert colours to CMYK when the artwork is ready for print - the export uses RGB. Delete hidden layers before saving the final file to keep it light.
Credit the data
The maps are built from OpenStreetMap data, which is published under the Open Database License. When you print or publish a map, keep a short credit such as "© OpenStreetMap contributors" somewhere on the layout - in the corner of a poster or in the imprint of a brochure.