Routes & directions

Connect floors with lifts and stairs

Map makers All guides

A journey between floors has to change level somewhere, at a stair or a lift. You mark those spots with Stairs and Lift markers, and give the matching markers on two floors the same name to link them into one route. This guide covers placing and naming them.

Place a marker

  1. Open the floor

    Switch to the floor you want, then on the Wayfinding tab click Draw wayfinding on the map. Markers belong to the floor that is showing.

  2. Pick Stairs or Lift

    Click Stairs or Lift in the toolbar. One tap places one marker, so no Done is needed.

  3. Tap where it stands

    Click the exact spot the stair or lift lands on this floor. Place it on or right beside a Route line so paths can reach it.

  4. Repeat on the other floor

    Switch to the next level the stair or lift serves and place a marker there too, at the spot it lands on that floor.

Markers are colour coded on the map: lifts show green, stairs show red, so you can tell them apart at a glance.

Two markers link into one route only when they share a name. New markers are named automatically as you place them (for example stair-1, lift-2). To link a marker to one on another floor, give them the same name.

  1. Select the marker

    Pick the Select tool and click the marker you want to name.

  2. Type the shared name

    A small name box appears in the toolbar. Type the name you want the pair to share and click Rename. Use the exact same name on the marker on the other floor.

Give each separate stairwell or lift its own name. If two unrelated stairs share a name, the router could change floors at a spot where there is really no way through. Keep a stair and a lift on different names too.

Stairs vs lifts in step-free mode

The difference matters for step-free routing. A Lift marker stays usable when a visitor turns step-free on. A Stairs marker is avoided in step-free mode, the same as a step barrier.

So if any floor change might be needed step-free, make sure a lift links those floors, not only stairs. A destination reachable only by stairs will fail step-free, and Mapvera tells the visitor exactly that. See Mark steps and barriers for step-free routing.

Test the journey

In the preview, route from a place on one floor to a place on another. The line should change floor at your marker and continue on the next level. If nothing draws, the two markers probably do not share a name, or one is not connected to its floor's paths. See Fix drawn routes that do not connect.