Guide: Drawing Links on the Intel Map

edited June 2022 in General

One of the major activities in Ingress is linking Portals together to create Control Fields. When the Links are small and you can see both Portals in your Scanner, it's easy to work out if a Link can be made.

However, when it comes to links of a few kilometers or even a few thousand kilometers, you're going to need a much wider view than the Scanner.

This is where the Ingress Intel Map comes in.

How To Draw A Link

The Intel Map shows the Portals in a given area, and you can click on a given Portal to see it's current state.

Additionally, in the Portal's details there is a "Link" in the top right corner, that allows you to draw Links on the map, to determine if you can connect two Portals together.

When you tap this button, the Portal Details panel will close and the map will switch to Linking mode The source Portal will by highlighted with yellow bars around it, so that you can remember which Portal you're linking from.

Moving your mouse over another Portal will open the Portal Details for that Portal and also put similar yellow bars around the Portal marker so you can be sure you've got the right one.

If you then tap the Portal marker, it will draw a link between the two Portals on the map.

Removing Drawn Links

The yellow circle with an X allows you to remove the drawn Link if you want, and a button also appears in the top right of the map marked "Clear" that allows you to remove all drawn Links at once.

Checking For Blocking Links

The drawn Link above cross no other Links. However, often when you want to plan a Link, you will find that the path between the two Portals has blocking links or "blockers" which will prevent the Link from being made if they are not removed.

In this above view, the three Enlightened Links marked in red dashes are blockers for a Resistance link between the two portals. In order for a Resistance Agent to make the drawn Link, they will first have to destroy the Portals anchoring at least one end of each of the Links.

Saving and Sharing Your Drawn Links

When you've planned out your Links, you may want to save your plan, or share it with others to help you build.


In the top corner of the Intel Map there is a button marked Link. If you click that button with drawn links, and no Portal selected, it will give you a long link with coordinates to recreate your drawn Links.

Simply copy the URL in the "Map link" box to a text editor, or create a bookmark with the URL in it to save your drawn links. Navigating to the bookmarked URL will recreate the Links you have drawn, and allow others to see your design by sharing the URL with them.

Note that while you can draw as many links as you want, the "Map link" URL is limited to only the most recent 40 drawn Links.

Using The Mobile Intel Map

The Intel Map when used on a mobile device, is largely the same for drawing Links. However, it lacks the ability to copy the drawn Links to share or bookmark them, so it's most useful aspect is for checking for blockers while in the field.

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