Flag map video maker: fill a country with its flag

What a flag fill is in Mapflyover

Mapflyover shapes can carry fills. A fill can be solid, gradient, pattern, picture, video, text or stat, and fills come with reveal animations, so a shape can colour in as its name is spoken. A flag fill is the picture kind: the flag becomes the picture inside the country's outline. A fill can also stay on after the camera leaves, which is what makes comparisons work — fill one country, fly to the next, and the first is still wearing its flag when the verdict arrives.

Fills sit alongside the other labels rather than replacing them: the location chip shows the place's name with its flag, stat cards carry a single number per scene, and up to 12 extra places can be highlighted in the same scene — every neighbour at once, for example.

How to fill a country with its flag, step by step

1. Choose the format first. Landscape 16:9 suits explainers and comparisons on YouTube, where wide countries keep their shape; vertical 9:16 suits single-country profiles and quizzes on Shorts, Reels and TikTok. Mapflyover exports only those two shapes, so decide before you build.

2. Write the script or prompt. Write your own script — one fact per place is the discipline that works — and it stays word for word into the captions. Or describe the video with built-in Create with AI, naming the places and their order, and the studio builds an editable project. A connected AI agent over MCP can build the scenes too, though agents cannot export.

3. Add the country and check its outline. Add one scene for the country and check the match: search returns ranked candidates from OpenStreetMap, and the right one is usually first. For a name shared by several places, add the country code. If a match is wrong, switch it in one tap; for a place with no outline you can draw a circle or import your own GeoJSON shape instead.

4. Apply the flag fill. Set the place’s fill to a picture fill and choose the country’s flag from the flag icons Mapflyover provides, so the flag fills the real outline — you do not need to find or upload a flag image yourself, though you can use your own picture instead if you prefer. Choose a reveal animation so the flag appears as the country is introduced, and decide whether the fill stays on when the camera moves on — leave it on if another filled country is coming.

5. Add the chip and any cards. Turn on the timed location chip so the arrival is labelled with the country’s name and flag, and add a stat card only if the scene has one number worth showing. Keep one idea per scene; a filled shape plus a chip is usually enough.

6. Add narration and captions. Generate the voice-over with the built-in voices — 48 Google WaveNet voices across 13 language variants, free, no key needed — or upload your own MP3 or WAV recording. Captions are timed from the narration word by word, with the spoken word highlighted, so the flag reveal can land exactly on the country’s name.

7. Pick a map look, preview and export. There are ten map looks. Satellite is the default; Dark and Light make fills stand out. Preview start to finish — checking that no fill from a previous country confuses the current one — then export the MP4 in your browser.

Worked example: filling Pakistan with its flag, mid-flight

1. Build a two-country project: a scene for India, then a scene for Pakistan, in that order.

2. In the Pakistan scene, set the fill to a picture fill using Pakistan’s flag, with a reveal animation, and set the fill to stay on.

3. Turn on the location chips so each country is labelled, with its flag, as the camera arrives.

4. Write two or three script lines — the flight over, the arrival, one fact about Pakistan — and generate the narration; the flag reveal times to the line that names Pakistan.

5. Finish pulled back with Pakistan still filled beside India. Kept under 90 seconds at 720p, this exports on the Free plan.

Tips for flag-fill videos

• ›Compare at one scale: finish with both filled shapes in frame together, not two separate close-ups.
• ›Keep fills on during a comparison, so the first country stays coloured at the verdict.
• ›Check small or island shapes at phone size; simplify overlays if a shape is not obvious.
• ›Use the country code for ambiguous names, so the outline — and therefore the fill — is the right country.

Plans and limits

Building, previewing, narration and captions are free on every plan. The Free plan ($0) exports 2 MP4 videos a month at 720p, up to 90 seconds each, with a small Mapflyover mark, across 3 projects. Pro ($20/month) exports 30 videos up to 1080p and 5 minutes, with no mark. Studio ($70/month) exports 300 videos up to 4K and 15 minutes. The satellite map look is exported with a free Mapbox public token you add once; the other nine looks need no token.