When Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi were waiting to be summoned before the Council, they waited in the Planning Center, noting that Coruscant was glowing red, symbolizing the danger surrounding the upcoming Eriadu Trade Summit that would be attended by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum. As they waited for Master Adi Gallia to descend from the High Council Chamber, the pair chatted with Master Jorus C'baoth as Jinn reflected that it was from the Meditation Deck that he first truly saw Coruscant.
Many Jedi were drawn to the Map Room in troubling times. Master Qui-Gon Jinn went to the Map Room to reflect on his decision to not take the young Obi-Wan Kenobi on as an apprentice. Grand Master Yoda came to Jinn and told him that Kenobi would make a good student, and that if Jinn refused to take him, the High Council might assign him someone regardless.
In 30 BBY, Sheyf Tinté Vos of Kiffu and Kiffex addressed Masters Mace Windu, Saesee Tiin, Yarael Poof, and Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos from the holomap regarding a disturbance at a prison complex on Kiffex. Because of his Kiffar heritage, the representatives dispatched Jedi Vos to investigate this problem. Later it would be discovered by Master Windu and Caretaker Astaal Vilbum that the problem was Anzati wraiths attracted to the power of the Dark Jedi Volfe Karkko.
Following the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, particularly at times when his mind and spirit were troubled, would go into the chamber and, as a personal form of meditation, set a dozen maps to play simultaneously so that he could decipher the complex information of the galaxy's myriad star systems; his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to whom the spectacle was a confusing blur, could not imagine why someone would find peace during such an exercise. After the Jedi Temple Apprentice Tournament of 20 BBY, Apprentice Whie Malreaux ventured up to the Map Room to seek solace. The previous user of the room had been studying the Battle of Brentaal IV, Malreaux set it to display the entire galaxy so that he could marvel at how the political contests of the time did not affect the bigger picture. When Master Maks Leem entered the room Malreaux revealed that he had already foreseen the conversation and knew that Master Yoda wished to see him in the Halls of Healing.
At the close of the Clone Wars, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious was revealed to the High Council too late. Sidious, in his guise as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, ordered the Grand Army of the Republic to siege of the Temple and the execution of every Jedi present. Led by Darth Vader, the 501st Legion raided the Temple, ruining the ancient edifice. While a small Imperial force maintained occupation of the Temple, the Map Room was left abandoned and unused. While occupied, the spy Eve Yarrow entered the Temple's Map Room and entered information into the room's systems knowing that Darth Vader would find the information and use it against a small contingent of anti-Imperials that she had mustered together. Soon after she had hidden the information, ex-Jedi Ferus Olin found it under the file on the Bespin system and deleted the information.
The Temple would survive for much of the Galactic Civil War, the Council Tower which contained the Map Room leering over the surface of Coruscant for years. The structure was even re-inhabited briefly, as members of the New Jedi Order searched the destroyed complex for any information on the teachings of the Old Order. It wasn't until several years later that the five towers of the Temple collapsed, the Council Tower completely destroyed, by the aftershock caused by the disaster with the Lusankya. The new Order would clear the rubble away and erect a small praxeum in its place on the roof of the Ziggurat; though this too would be lost during the Yuuzhan Vong War.
When the Galactic Alliance reclaimed the world, Chief of State Cal Omas ordered the Reconstruction Authority to rebuild the Temple as a gift for the great sacrifices made by the reformed Order against the Yuuzhan Vong. While the structure was rebuilt using blueprints of the old building, it is unknown if the Map Room was reconstructed or replaced within the High Council Tower.
The Map Room of the Jedi Temple was a domed rotunda located several hundred meters above the main entrance of the High Council Tower. The ceiling was veiled in a soft fabric and was held up by the pillars lining the walls. Holoprojectors around the chamber created the three-dimensional maps that filled the room.
A control panel on the wall allowed visiting Jedi to select a planet, system, or sector from the databanks and the room would instantly display the maps, rendering three-dimensional images that revolved through the empty space. A soft voice would detail planetary geography, languages spoken, traditions, cultures, religions, affiliations, and other details that Jedi would memorize before leaving on missions. Devoid of furniture, Jedi sat on the floor or stood as the stars and planets spiraled over head.
Following the execution of Operation: Knightfall the chamber lay ruined; though the holoprojector still functioned. Most of the walls were half destroyed, while the floor was pitted with blasterfire. A large gash in the broken floor gave one a view of the atrium several stories below. The ceiling, equally shattered, was opened up to the great empty shaft that ran from the Operations Planning Center downward. Ferus Olin dropped through a hole in the High Council Chamber several stories up and plummeted through the ceiling of the Map Room following a duel in the uppermost chamber of the tower.
- Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I
- Power of the Jedi Sourcebook
- Star Wars: Complete Locations
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia