diff --git a/conf/core/json/ext_map.json b/conf/core/json/ext_map.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..33bcc2e53b6445f6262927bb941817dbe2e0f198
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/core/json/ext_map.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "disabled": true
+}
diff --git a/src/core/js/ext_map.js b/src/core/js/ext_map.js
index 5ef5c5dc2a2a8f336764f6f083defb26f444cad9..aba52042292df7d2ead3b42b104db29855ca275a 100644
--- a/src/core/js/ext_map.js
+++ b/src/core/js/ext_map.js
@@ -742,6 +742,9 @@ var caosdb_map = new function () {
             var toggle_button = undefined;
             try {
                 const config = await this.load_config();
+                if (config.disabled) {
+                    return;
+                }
                 if (!config.views || config.views.length === 0) {
                     logger.warn("no views in config");
                     return;