Before GTA 6 hits the shelves May 26, 2026, an army of dedicated fans are already walking the streets of Leonida in their head. Behind every trailer frame, every promotional screenshot lies a community of digital cartographers, tirelessly mapping out Rockstar’s fictional state, largely based on the real-life Miami, brick by brick, street by street.
This community effort, coordinated largely through a discord server, has become something of a multiplayer detective game. Leading the operation is project coordinator DuPz0r, who curates the discoveries of nearly 400 dedicated community cartographers.
The result is an ever evolving community map, and if DupZ0r’s previous pre-release maps for games such as GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 are anything to go by, we can expect it to be shockingly accurate.
‘It’s a multiplayer detective game’
Dupz0r got into mapping all the way before GTA Vice City launched in back in 2002: ‘“Not long after GTA III came out, I discovered gouranga.com and GTAForums. GTA3 was a leap into the future. I was instantly hooked on this new 3D sandbox genre. It started with a small group of us creating fan-made maps. When news of Vice City emerged, we started mapping out how we thought it would look.” His family was always supportive of the hobby that now reaches thousands: “My friends and family have always thought it was cool that I’d found this niche hobby and as amazed as I am that it’s gained such a large community & following.”
Dupz0r leads the community mapping effort by reviewing suggestions (“tickets”) and incorporating the most upvoted ones into the main map. He explains: “For this bigger project I gather all the data from all the hardworking mappers and assess their findings based on the group consensus and then draw them into the main community map when enough people upvote it. I still dip my toes in every other aspect – for example I will go on hunts for IRL buildings, or some days I’ll do some triangulations on one thing we could all be stuck on. – essentially helping out where I think I’m needed. Once I feel like enough things have been added I’ll post an update for the map. And then give the mappers time to respond, figure out what’s next on the agenda and look for any mistakes I’ve made, then submit a new ticket and cycle continues.”
Ask anyone in this niche community why they would spend thousands of hours analyzing frames to map an unreleased game, and the responses tend to sound like it’s a game in itself, mapper rlx says: ‘It’s an ongoing multiplayer detective game, if you will. It can be incredibly satisfiyng to piece this together, and it’s kind of cool to become intimately familiar with the map of a massively anticipated game that’s still a year from release.’ rlx adds: “Just like GTA has lore, mapping GTA 6 has its own lore by now, its own memes, its own language.“
Creating a map that doesn’t exist
Mapping out an entire game world just from footage is not a small task. It means digging into every screenshot and trailer, analyzing buildings and locations, and trying to match them to real-world references. rlx explains: “I think the most important part is looking at the screenshots and video frames very very thoroughly, so that you develop a mental model of what the map looks like, and also of what you’ve identified an what you haven’t. so that whenever you stumble across a random restaurant next to a new point of interest on streetview, you realize: ah, that looks a bit like that one restaurant in-game we haven’t found yet.” rlx proceeds to explain that many community are from Miami, which helps the mapping process.
Though the process isn’t always easy and can take a long time, rlx says the community’s attitude has been positive: “I think, in the end we know that we’re always going to figure things out, even though sometimes it takes longer. But I think it’s really important to always keep a fresh set of eyes, and look at things from a new angle.”
Surprising discoveries
Sometimes, they discover surprising new details , narrowing down when Rockstar scouted locations based on things like graffiti or even the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in 2018. According to rlx: “99% of the game is based on a 2015/2016 version of Florida. That’s when the scouting clearly happened.”
Many suggested production for the game started after the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, around 2019, but this tell us GTA 6 could have been in development for a longer time. rlx explains that the map is significantly larger than that of it’s predecessor: “It’s defintely bigger, atleast twice the size of GTA V, probably more, beyond that it’s defintely a lot denser.” he also proceeds to explain that despite Florida being mostly flat, the map has a lot of verticality in buildings.
For anyone hoping that all buildings in the game will be accessible, the mapping team brings you back to earth: “There are millions upon millions of square feet of floor space in this game. Only a tiny fraction will be accesible, but that’s still going to be a lot.” The footage does feature a lot of interiors that do not look parallaxed due to how the windows are shaded, but other footage also points to the contrary.
New details
The mapping community’s response to trailer 2 may not be what you expect, as rlx explained it was primarily on the more analytical side: “you know, i’m a bit of a specialist, so my reaction was a bit special: what’s up with the north-east? because there’s an entire quadrant of the map that we haven’t seen anything of.” DupZ0r says the footage will help making the map a lot clearer: “there’s enough for us to pore over for months at least. But I also think R* are very intentional about exactly what the frame in every shot, so not to spoil the fans too much.
The mapping community has already uncovered some new details, as garza hints at a possible Georgia inclusion: “Current discussion has focused on GTA VI’s map borders, which may not be island-based like previous games, but instead more landlocked—similar to RDR2. New locations like Gloriana (likely Rockstar’s version of Georgia) and Mount Kalaga (not typical of Florida terrain) suggest the map pulls from beyond the state. Trailer 2 provided new angles and official names, helping update areas like the Keys and making the map more authentic. Ambrosia and Port Gellhorn are now key focus points, especially as Vice City becomes increasingly detailed. Overall, Trailer 2 has been a treasure trove, and DuPz0r plans to push even more updates to the map throughout the year.
Dupz0r also shares his biggest recent finding: “For me I think one of the biggest recent finds was probably the existence of Bocamar Bridge in Port Gellhorn, based on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay. It extended the map’s scope beyond ‘Gellhorn even though we had our suspicions, it was the smoking gun we needed to expand the map.”
The project isn’t stopping when the game comes out. If anything, that’s when the second phase begins: finding the real-world inspirations for every last building. According to rlx, that post-launch detective work could stretch well into 2027. if you want to check out the mapping community discord you can join here or if you want to check the current map you can go their website.
We’ve also got all of the screenshots and videos from Rockstar on our site in full 4K.
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