Mapping New Zealand's Best Road Trips as Map Videos

Few countries pack this much scenery into so few kilometres of road. New Zealand's classic drives are short enough to animate in full, with no compression and no skipped legs. That makes them perfect map video material.

Three drives worth animating

• Milford Road:Te Anau to Milford Sound, 120 km of fiordland. It's one dramatic dead-end line, so let it draw slowly.
• Coromandel loop: a coastal circuit from Thames around the peninsula. Loops read beautifully because the line closes on itself.
• Southern Scenic Route: Dunedin to Queenstown via the Catlins, the long southern arc that earns a widescreen frame.

Build each one in Drive mode

Set Route Builder to Drive and the line hugs every switchback instead of cutting straight through the mountains. Add the towns you pass as stops with short pause holds. The full walkthrough is in how to animate a road trip route with multiple stops.

Sell the trip, not just the scenery

If these routes are your product, the tour operator's guide to itinerary map videos shows how to turn a drawn line into a pitch. Prefer a straight-line epic over loops and fiords? Try mapping Route 66 for the American version.

Frame those hairpins from a low chase angle with Camera Director.