Introduction to seating maps

Numbered seating maps let you sell tickets where buyers choose exactly where to sit. Instead of general admission, each person selects their specific seat, table, or section from an interactive map.

The interactive map automatically fits the full venue into view when it loads, supports panning across the stage, and has refined touch behavior on mobile so buyers can select seats without accidentally moving the map. Colors and visual styles are consistent across all map elements — rows, tables, sections, and tooltips — giving your buyers a polished, uniform experience.

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When to use a seating map?

There are two main reasons to use maps:

1. Events with specific locations

When each ticket has a unique assigned spot that the buyer needs to know:

• Theaters — Seat Row A, Seat 15
• Stadiums with numbered seats — Section 108, Row 5, Seat 23
• Dinners with assigned tables — Table 7, Place 3
• Concerts with numbered orchestra — Buyer chooses their exact seat

In these cases, the map is necessary because the buyer has to select their specific location. A generic ticket isn't enough.

2. Improve the purchase experience

Even when you could sell regular tickets (VIP, General, Standing), the map helps buyers visually understand what they're purchasing:

• Concerts with zones — See where the stage is and how close each section is
• Restaurants — Choose a table near the window, bar, or quiet area
• Stadiums — Understand from what angle they'll watch the game
• Conferences — See which rows are closest to the presenter

Example: At a concert with VIP, Orchestra, and Standing, you could create 3 tickets and be done. But if you show the map with the stage, buyers decide better:

• "I want to be close" → Chooses VIP
• "I prefer to see everything from above" → Chooses Balcony
• "I don't mind being far" → Chooses Standing

When do you NOT need a map?

If location doesn't affect the experience (everyone sees the same thing, there's no focal point, no assigned seating), you probably don't need a map. A general admission ticket is enough.

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What can you create in a map?

Sellable elements

These are the places buyers can select and purchase:

Element	Description	Example
Seat rows	Lines of numbered seats	Theater, cinema, bleachers
Round tables	Circular tables with chairs around	Galas, weddings
Rectangular tables	Tables with chairs on sides	Restaurants, conferences
Areas	Zones with defined capacity (no specific seat) — general admission	Standing room, GA pit
Sections	Stadium-style sectors whose places live in a nested interior map	Section 108 with rows inside

Area ≠ Section: an Area sells capacity in one zone; a Section is a container you open with Edit Content to place rows, tables, or areas inside. See Create a seating map.

Focal point

Place a Focal point on the map (usually the stage center). Buyers' best seats available ranking uses distance to that point. Optional — maps work without it, but best-available ranking needs it.

Decorative elements

These make the map clearer and more professional, but aren't sold:

• Shapes — Rectangles, circles, and polygons to delimit zones
• Lines — To mark aisles or divisions
• Text — Labels like "Stage", "Entrance", section names
• Icons — Bathrooms, stage, entrance, bar, food, stairs, emergency exit

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How does the process work?

The flow has three steps:

1. Create the map → 2. Assign it to a location → 3. Create the event

Step 1: Create the map

You use the map builder to design your venue: add rows, tables, areas, sections (with interior maps), a focal point, and decorative elements. Define how many places each element has and what they're called (Row A, Table 1, Section 108, etc.).

Step 2: Assign to a location

When you create a location for your event, you can associate a map with it. This connects the map design to the physical venue.

Step 3: Create the event

When using that location in an event, tickets are automatically generated based on the map. Buyers see the interactive map and choose their spots.

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Accessing seating maps

Go to Seat maps in the main sidebar menu.

If you don't have any maps yet, you'll see a button to create your first map. If you already have some, you'll see a table with all your maps where you can:

• Edit — Modify the map design
• Duplicate — Create a copy (useful for variations of the same venue)
• Delete — Remove maps you no longer need

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Buyer experience

When someone wants to buy tickets for an event with a numbered map:

1. They click "Buy"
2. They see your venue's interactive map — automatically fitted to show the full layout
3. They zoom and pan to explore available zones, including the stage area
4. They select the seats/tables they want (on mobile, the map won't drift when tapping a seat)
5. They see the total price and confirm
6. They continue to normal checkout

It's visual and intuitive. Already sold places appear as unavailable, and each zone can have a different price. All seat and section colors display consistently across the entire map.

Recent improvements to the map checkout

The following improvements have been made to the buyer experience on seating maps:

• Pinch-to-zoom on mobile — Buyers on touchscreen devices can use a two-finger pinch gesture to zoom in and out on the map during checkout, making it easier to explore the venue and select seats on smaller screens.

• Single-category blocking alert — If a buyer's selection is blocked because it conflicts with a single-category restriction, a clear alert message is shown directly on the map. This lets buyers understand immediately why they can't complete their selection.

• Section filter in the checkout panel — Buyers can now filter available seats by section directly within the checkout panel, alongside the existing category and price filters. This makes it easier to find seats in a specific part of the venue.

• Updated multi-price seat modal — When a seat has multiple pricing options, the selection modal now matches the layout and behavior of the standard checkout flow, providing a more consistent experience.

Live availability and pricing

While a buyer is selecting seats, ticket availability and prices refresh automatically in the background — no page reload needed. This means that if stock runs out or a price changes while the buyer is browsing, they always see up-to-date information.

If a ticket or rate they had in their cart is no longer available by the time they go to complete the purchase, those cart lines are removed automatically. This prevents checkout errors and keeps the process smooth.

Faster seat selection with prefetching

When a buyer hovers over a ticket option in the venue panel, the system silently prefetches the best-available seat suggestions in the background. By the time they click to add seats, the seating map responds nearly instantly — reducing wait time and making the selection experience feel snappy.

Identifying restricted-view and accessibility seats

Seats marked with a restricted view display a restricted-view icon on both individual seat items and on section items. Accessibility flags you set in the builder (Wheelchair-accessible, Semi-ambulatory, Companion) also show as icons on the buyer map and in seat tooltips, so buyers can spot them before purchasing.

Selecting and deselecting seats

When a buyer taps or clicks a seat, a highlighted indicator bubble appears over it to confirm the selection. Tapping or clicking that bubble again deselects the seat — so correcting a selection is quick and straightforward.

Navigating the map on mobile

On mobile devices, buyers can pinch to zoom in and out of the map. After finishing a pinch gesture, the map snaps cleanly back to the full fit-view level when zoomed out close to it, keeping orientation easy to recover. The map no longer triggers an unintended zoom immediately after lifting fingers from a pinch.

Seat tooltips automatically hide as soon as a buyer starts panning the map, keeping the view uncluttered while navigating.

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Seat tooltips

Individual seat tooltips

When a buyer hovers over or clicks a seat, a tooltip appears with structured information displayed in a column-header layout: the Section, Row, and Seat — similar to professional seating platforms. This makes it easy to read precise location details at a glance.

The tooltip stays visible after a buyer clicks a seat, so the selected-state animation remains fully visible before the buyer proceeds. To undo a selection, buyers can use the Deselect action label shown in the tooltip.

Section tooltips

When a buyer hovers over a section (before drilling into individual seat selection), the tooltip shows:

• The number of available seats in that section
• A summary of the ticket categories offered within it

This gives buyers the information they need to evaluate and compare sections before committing to a specific seat.

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Next steps

Now that you understand what numbered maps are, the next step is learning how to create one:

1. Create a seating map — Complete builder guide
2. Use maps in events — How to assign maps and create numbered events