Venue maps put your event's floor plans in the Blackthorn Event Navigator app. You add a map for each floor or area, place pins where things happen, and link each session to its pin. Attendees open the map in the app, see what's at each pin, and jump from a session straight to its spot.
What attendees see
- A Map tab and a View Venue Maps button. Attendees open your maps from the Map tab, or from the View Venue Maps button on the Info tab.
- One map per floor or area. If you add more than one map, attendees switch between them.
- Numbered pins. Tapping a pin shows its name, its description, and the sessions held there. Attendees can add a session to their agenda right from the pin. They only see the sessions their ticket includes.
- View on Map. On a session, View on Map opens the right map, zoomed in on that session's pin. Back returns to the session.
- Zoom. Attendees pinch to zoom and drag to move around the map.
Venue maps work best on Event Navigator 1.10 or later, which includes fixes to the map. Ask attendees to update the app.
Before you start
- Blackthorn Events 5.54 (the June 2026 release) or later. We recommend 5.61 (the September 2026 release) or later: before 5.61, a pin keeps only one of its sessions when you save, pins can't be reordered, and Copy from Event can copy maps from the wrong event.
- Enable Navigator Attendee Mobile App checked on the event.
- A floor plan image for each floor or area, as a JPG, PNG, GIF, or WebP file. Each image you upload is shared through a public link so the app can show it, so don't upload anything you need to keep private.
- The Blackthorn Event Organizer or Blackthorn Events Admin permission set, to add and edit maps.
Set up venue maps
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Add your maps. In Event Builder, open the Venue Maps step. For each floor or area, name the map and upload its image. You can also add maps later with Add Venue Map on the Event record's Venue tab.
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Place pins. On the Event record, open the Venue tab and click the edit (pencil) icon on the Venue Maps card. Choose a map, click Add Pin, and drag the pin to its spot. Give the pin a name and a color, and put directions in its description. Attendees see the name and the description.
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Link sessions. Select a pin and click Add Session to link the sessions held there. Each session can have one pin, and a pin can have many sessions.
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Save. Click Save once when you're done. Maps, pins, and session links are saved together.
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Choose when attendees see the maps. On the event's Event Settings, set Venue Maps:
- Always: attendees can see the maps at any time.
- Post-Registration: only registered attendees can see them.
- Hide: the maps don't appear.
Keep Show Map checked. If the event belongs to an Event Group, the group's Event Settings apply instead.
Tip: On Event Settings records created before your org upgraded, Venue Maps can be blank, and a blank value hides the maps. Set it to Always or Post-Registration.
Good to know
- Replacing an image: pins keep their place as a percentage of the image, so use a new image with the same layout.
- Deleting a map also deletes its pins and their session links. The image file stays in Salesforce Files.
- Copy from Event copies another event's maps and pins, but not their session links. Link the sessions again on the new event.
- Custom Event record pages: the Venue Maps editor sits on the Venue tab of the Blackthorn Event record page. If your org uses its own Event record page, add the BT Events Venue Maps component to it.
- Static maps: if an event has no venue maps, View Venue Maps lists the event's Event Content marked to show as a venue map in Navigator, such as a PDF.
Known issue: If an attendee taps a pin and then a session in the pin's detail sheet, the sheet's X button may not close it afterward. Swiping the sheet down closes it. A fix is planned.
For Salesforce admins
Objects and fields
| Object | Field | API name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venue Map | (object) | conference360__Venue_Map__c |
One record per floor or area |
| Venue Map | Display Name | conference360__Display_Name__c |
The map's name in the app |
| Venue Map | Image URL | conference360__Image_URL__c |
The public link created when the image is uploaded |
| Venue Map | Event | conference360__Event__c |
Required. An event that has venue maps can't be deleted until its maps are deleted |
| Venue Map | Sort Order | conference360__Sort_Order__c |
The order of the maps in the app. Set when you save on the Venue tab |
| Map Pin | (object) | conference360__Map_Pin__c |
Child of Venue Map (master-detail) |
| Map Pin | Description | conference360__Description__c |
Shown to attendees when they tap the pin |
| Map Pin | Color | conference360__Color__c |
Hex color |
| Map Pin | X Position, Y Position | conference360__X_Position__c, conference360__Y_Position__c |
The pin's position as a percentage of the image |
| Session | Map Pin | conference360__Map_Pin__c |
The pin where the session takes place |
| Event Settings | Venue Maps | conference360__Venue_Maps__c |
Picklist: Always (the default for new records), Post-Registration, Hide. Blank hides the maps |
| Event Settings | Show Map | conference360__Show_Map__c |
Checkbox, on by default |
| Event | Enable Navigator Attendee Mobile App | conference360__Enable_Attendee_Passport_App__c |
Must be checked for the event to appear in Navigator |
Permissions
- Blackthorn Event Organizer and Blackthorn Events Admin can create, edit, and delete venue maps and pins.
- The other Blackthorn Events permission sets can view them, but saving changes on the Venue tab needs one of the two sets above.