Customization

How to customize icons and markers

Updated on June 01, 20263 min read

Icons and markers are the visual signature of your animated travel map. Travel Story Maker lets you swap the moving vehicle, the start and end markers, and the look of stop labels — so two trips with the same route can still look completely different.

Three families of icons

Travel Story Maker distinguishes three families: the moving vehicle (one per segment), the stop markers (one per stop, default "pin"), and the start/end markers (special icons for the very first and very last point of the route).

Change the moving vehicle

Open a stop in the sidebar to set the vehicle of the incoming segment. The catalog includes 25+ 3D Fluency models: car, bike, train, plane, boat, helicopter, rocket and more. The vehicle is oriented automatically along the heading and scaled for the current zoom level.

Pick start and end markers

In the Animation panel, the Markers section lets you replace the default pins by themed icons — home, flag, star, heart, hotel — to clearly mark where the trip starts and ends. This single change often makes the video feel more personal.

Stop labels

You can show or hide stop labels globally, or per stop. When shown, you choose the font weight (regular, bold) and the contrast (light pill, dark pill) so labels stay readable on every map style.

Tip: consistency over variety

Mixing too many icon styles makes a video look messy. A good rule: one vehicle family per trip (all 3D vehicles or all flat icons), one marker style for start/end, and the default pin for intermediate stops.

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