Interactive tool

Ecosystem Map Maker

An ecosystem map shows who and what a service depends on. Put a customer or service outcome at the center, add the actors that affect it, and label what passes between them: information, money, approvals, products or support. This is a first draft for discussion, not a complete picture of reality.

Use the workspace See the method

Workspace

Start with a usable artifact

Start with one question: who must coordinate for this service to work? Add only actors whose role matters to that question, then name each exchange.

Optional AI starting draft

Enter 2–10 options or actors. AI organizes them into a relationship map. Suggestions and scores are unverified hypotheses. The manual editor on this page is free.

Names and notes are sent to the configured AI provider. Do not enter confidential information or personal names.

Actor and relationship map

Add actors, then name the exchange between them. The example is a starting structure.

Actors

Relationships

Method

From research to a decision

1
Name the decision and put the customer or service outcome at the center.
2
Add relevant people, organizations and systems; label each connection with an action or exchange.
3
Ask who can verify each important link, note missing actors, and download the SVG for review.

Example to adapt

For a payments service, a first pass might include a customer, merchant, bank, fraud provider and support team. These are example roles, not a verified map of your business.

Make the first draft useful

Decide what the map needs to answer

Choose one question before you add boxes: who has to coordinate, or where does a handoff fail? The Danish Design Center method lists concrete actors and groups them by role, motivation and resources. A label as broad as “private sector” hides useful differences.

Danish Design Center: Ecosystem Mapping

Give every connection a meaning

Label a link with an action such as “pays”, “approves”, “shares data” or “fulfills”. An unlabeled line leaves the dependency open to interpretation. Include touchpoints and systems when they matter to the service question.

GSMA: actor and flow mapping

Use gaps to plan the next conversation

Before sharing, ask who can confirm each important link. Which handoff is assumed? Which actor only appears when something goes wrong? Treat your SVG as a prompt for field research and revise it when the people closest to the work challenge it.

GSMA: highlight gaps and pain points

Choose by the question

Which map do you need?

Map type	Choose it when…	Method
Ecosystem map	You need to see actors and their relationships around a service.	GSMA method
Experience or journey map	You need to follow what a user does and feels over time.	GOV.UK Service Manual
Stakeholder matrix	You need to decide who to engage based on power and interest.	ONS guidance
Market map	You only need to group companies into categories.	Market map workspace

Common question

Is an ecosystem map a journey map?

No. The ecosystem view connects actors around a service; the journey view follows an experience through time. Start with whichever question is blocking the decision.

Keep exploring

Related workflows

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