# Making a parks-and-streets map with the City Parks preset > a green-forward map celebrating a city's park system This preset celebrates a city's green space: the street grid in black, parks and recreation areas in three shades of green, and water cut out as holes over a blue backplate. It loads on Central Park, where the rectangle of green against the Manhattan grid does all the talking. ## What you need ### Laser cutting - 3 mm [laser-grade plywood](https://yxecreations.com/collections/laser-grade-plywood) for the land plate; green ply/acrylic for parks; blue [acrylic](https://yxecreations.com/pages/acrylic-sheets) or paint for the backplate (`#236cd1`) - Laser cutter, glue, weights, masking tape ### UV print / sublimation - High-res PNG, flat blank ### 3D printing - FDM printer; multicolor (3MF) recommended: green(s), black, blue, plus a land color ## 1. Start from the preset Open [the City Parks preset](/map-designer?preset=city-parks). It loads on Central Park at zoom 12.8: most of Manhattan with the park as a bold green block. Search your city and aim the frame so at least one large park dominates; zoom 12.5 to 13.5 works for big urban parks, tighter (14) for a single neighborhood park. The contrast between grid and green is the design: pick a spot where both are strong. ## 2. Tune the layers Five layers, top to bottom: - **Major roads**: Solid mode: motorways (width 4), motorway links and primary (3), black. The structural lines, exported as solid fills (fill-engrave them on a laser). - **Streets**: Score mode: secondary, tertiary, and streets, all width 2, black. On a laser these score as single-pass centerlines (line mode), not filled ribbons: the fine grid texture. The first thing to thin out if it's too busy. - **Parks**: Solid mode, three fills: **Parks** `#6FBF73`, **Recreation areas** `#8FCF8F`, **Grassland** `#A8D8A8`. Three close greens give the green space subtle variety; unify them to one green if you're cutting parks from a single sheet. - **Water**: Solid with *invert as holes*: a land plate with rivers/reservoirs subtracted, blue backplate showing through. - **Backplate**: `#236cd1` blue. ## 3. Export - **Laser:** per-layer SVG ZIP, water inversion on, small-polygon cleanup on (grassland produces confetti). Streets *score* as single-pass centerlines; parks and the land plate are the cut layers. Major roads come through as solid fills, so fill-engrave those or score their centerlines to taste. - **UV print:** high-res PNG; Background off for transparent printing onto colored substrate. - **3D printing:** 3MF for colors, STL for single color. ## Laser Cutting & Engraving ### Laser cutting 1. Cut the **Backplate** from blue material. 2. Cut the **Water** layer (the land plate with water holes) from your land-colored sheet. Tape first; islands (hello, Manhattan neighbors) come loose. 3. Cut the **Parks** layer from green stock. These are chunky shapes and cut cleanly; small grassland patches that survived cleanup can be skipped at assembly if too fiddly. 4. Glue parks onto the land plate, land plate onto the backplate, or use [3M tape](https://yxecreations.com/collections/3m-tape) for a no-mess bond: 467 or 468 for acrylic, 300LSE for harder materials. 5. Score **Streets** as single-pass lines, then fill-engrave **Major roads**, onto the assembled face (or onto the land plate before gluing parks, but the parks sit on top of the grid visually, so doing this after assembly matches the design). Test power on scrap. 6. Sand, finish, frame. ## UV & Sublimation Printing ### UV print / sublimation 1. Export the high-res PNG (4096 px). The three-green park palette and black grid print beautifully flat. 2. Print on white hardboard, or use the transparent-background variant on light wood so the substrate becomes the land tone. ## 3D Printing ### 3D printing 1. Export the 3MF: land plate with water holes, green park shapes, black road ribbons, blue base, pre-stacked. 2. Print flat, no supports, 180 mm+ so the width-2 street ribbons hold. Or hide Streets and keep just Major roads for small prints. ## Make it yours - Park-proud cities work best: NYC (Central/Prospect), London's royal parks, Vancouver's Stanley Park, Chicago's lakefront. - Unify the three greens to `#2E7D43` for a bolder single-green statement, or push them apart for a patchwork effect. - Autumn edition: `#D98E32`, `#C96F2E`, `#E3B448` for the three park features. - Drop the Streets layer entirely for a minimal "parks and arteries" poster. - Mark a park bench, playground, or wedding spot with a heart icon at export. - Corner holes mounting option + [anodized standoff spacers](https://yxecreations.com/products/4-pack-anodized-standoff-spacers) = floating acrylic wall mount. - Add **Forest** to the Parks group for cities where woodland rings the center. --- Open the tool: https://www.mylasertools.com/learn/guides/city-parks Read online: https://www.mylasertools.com/learn/guides/city-parks