The town map is a very handy feature in the game. It allows you to see where you are in your town, and the location of all of the buildings in the town. It is also extrememly handy when visiting other towns in Wi-Fi, and see the map of their town. Rover gives you the town map on the bus at the beginning of the game. It can be acessing it in the inventory or the tab buttons, + and -, on the Wii remote.
Above is an example of how a town map might look.
If you click on the orange icon directly below the map on the left, the list will switch to "Buildings". Instead of seeing your villagers names, you can click on Nook's Shop, Tailor, Town Hall, Museum, Gate, and the Bus Stop.
Each icon on the map represents a different place in the town. Below is a list of each icon on the map and what they represent.
Player's House
Your house location is displayed by the above icon. It looks exactly the same as other players houses, but is coloured orange instead of blue.
Empty/Other Player's Houses
Empty houses are represented by the above icon. Three of these appear on your map, in different locations. If you have multiple player's in one town their houses will show up like this (when they aren't playing)
Player
The location of the player is shown as the above icon.
Villager's House
Villager's houses are displayed as the icon above.
Tom Nook's Shop
Tom Nook's Shop is displayed as a small leaf icon.
Town Gate
The Town Gate is displayed as a small yellow archway.
Bus Stop
The Bus Stop is displayed as the icon above.
Town Hall
The Town Hall is displayed as the icon above. The envelope is in reference to the Post Office within.
Museum
The Museum is displayed as the icon above.
Tailor's shop
The Tailor's Shop is displayed as a shirt icon as above.
Waterfall
The waterfall is at the most northern part of you town and where the river meets the lower tier. It is indicated by the icon above.
Certain fish can only be found here.
Pond
The pond is where your river develops a sort of "bump," usually as it turns a corner, as indicated by the icon above.
Certain fish can only be found here.
Holding pond
These are isolated ponds of freshwater where only certain fish are found.
Bridge
Bridges are displayed as the icon above. You can get another bridge, see rewards for more details.
Ramp
Ramps are displayed as the icon above.