diff --git a/example/main.ml b/example/main.ml
index 9e685c4..43b9fcd 100644
--- a/example/main.ml
+++ b/example/main.ml
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 (* create map *)
-let map =
-  let container =
-    match Brr.Document.find_el_by_id Brr.G.document (Jstr.of_string "map") with
-    | None -> failwith "map container not found"
-    | Some el -> el
-  in
-  Leaflet.Map.create container
+let map = Leaflet.Map.create_on "map"
 
 (* setup map *)
 let () =
diff --git a/src/map.ml b/src/map.ml
index bbd5da3..2f2db23 100644
--- a/src/map.ml
+++ b/src/map.ml
@@ -6,10 +6,13 @@ let of_jv = Fun.id
 
 let to_jv = Fun.id
 
-let create ?(options = Jv.null) container =
-  match Brr.El.at (Jstr.of_string "id") container with
-  | None -> failwith "container doesn't have id"
-  | Some id -> Jv.call Global.leaflet "map" [| Jv.of_jstr id; options |]
+let create_on ?(options = Jv.null) id =
+  Jv.call Global.leaflet "map" [| Jv.of_string id; options |]
+
+let create_from_div ?(options = Jv.null) container =
+  if Brr.El.has_tag_name Brr.El.Name.div container then
+    Jv.call Global.leaflet "map" [| Brr.El.to_jv container; options |]
+  else failwith "container is not a <div>"
 
 let invalidate_size map =
   let (_ : Jv.t) = Jv.call map "invalidateSize" [| Jv.true' |] in
diff --git a/src/map.mli b/src/map.mli
index d027da4..c1a7770 100644
--- a/src/map.mli
+++ b/src/map.mli
@@ -2,9 +2,14 @@
 
 type t
 
-(** [create container] creates a map on [container]. * To have a functional map
-    you will need to add a tile layer to it. *)
-val create : ?options:Jv.t -> Brr.El.t -> t
+(** [create id] creates a map on the <div> with DOM id [id]. To have a
+    functional map you will need to add a tile layer to it. *)
+val create_on : ?options:Jv.t -> string -> t
+
+(** [create_from_div container] creates a map given [container], an instance of
+    a <div> HTML element. To have a functional map you will need to add a tile
+    layer to it. *)
+val create_from_div : ?options:Jv.t -> Brr.El.t -> t
 
 (** [invalidate_size map] checks if the map container size changed and updates
     the map if so *)