# 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 ## Step 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 12.5–13.5 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. ## Step 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: `landusePark` `#6FBF73`, `landuseRecreation` `#8FCF8F`, `landcoverGrassland` `#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. ## Step 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 `landcoverForest` 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