The Maps section enables you to bring individual files from different projects to a map and provide a full spatial overview of the project you are working on. This allows you to jointly collaborate on your projects and identify spatial contexts in your data such as data coverage and spatial features.
You can reach the main maps display via the left navigation bar as indicated below:
Creating, Editing and Switching maps
The maps section will show an overview of the available maps that have been created by you or other users. In this overview you can add, remove or switch maps.
You can switch between card or list overview of all your maps.
To add a new map, click the “Add Map” button to create a new map.
To rename a map, click the […] icon and choose to rename the map.
To delete a map, click the […] icon and choose “delete”. Note that once a map has been removed, you will not be able to retrieve it afterwards.
To switch to the map, simply click the Map you would like to open. Your view will switch to the map. On the top of your screen you will see the map you are on. To switch back to the maps overview click the “Back” arrow at the top left of your screen.
You can also rename or delete the map via the three dot menu on top of your screen.
Map Collaboration and Access Control
All users have got the ability to create their own maps and add layers based on the data access they have. These Maps are initially private to the creator and in addition only accessible by workspace administrators.
To collaborate on maps the map creator can invite other users to the map.
Note: If a new user is not a workspace member yet you can enter the email address and invite him directly from the map. The new user will be added as 'Guest' to the workspace and map viewer by default.
These users have the possibility to view or edit the map based on the permissions given.
Overview of map elements
On each map you can display a number of spatial layers to visualize its project backgrounds, available data from the filemanager and additional external datasources via web map services, as well as style the layers according to your requirements. The map contains the following elements:
Basemaps
The basemap icon on the bottom left provides the basis of interactive map functionality with selectable opensourced representations: Open Sea Map and ENC Nautical Map.
Toolbar
The toolbar on top of the map allows you to switch between a range of functionalities including feature information, geospatial file search, measurement tools and weather forecast information.
Scale and positions
The display on the bottom right shows current scale, cursor coordinates, the coordinate system and zoom buttons.
Layers
You can add the spatial preview of individual files as layers to the map. Individual layers can be reordered, grouped and and styled to individual needs.
How to work with the map
Basemaps
Toggle between basemaps by clicking on the bottom left icon and choose the desired map background.
For details see Open Sea Base Map and Nautical Base Map.
The Base Maps are intended for reference only: These charts are intended for background and situational awareness. They are not approved for navigation purposes. This service enhances the geospatial context of your data, especially in coastal, port, or maritime-related applications.
Using tools from the toolbar
There are a range of tools that allow you to retrieve different information or data availability from your map. Choose the desired functionality by selecting the tool with a mouse click:
Feature Information Cursor
When the “feature information cursor” is activated (1), you can click on the map features like points, polygons, lines, rasters (2) to receive and display additional information about all layers at this location in a modal opening on the right side (3).
Via clicking on the left arrow next to the file name
a file preview and further options appear
the file name
option to zoom to the layer
open the file preview in full screen mode
open the file preview in a separate modal
zoom in/out the preview
the project the file is stored in
open the file in the projects file explorer for further investigation in the same browser tab
same as 7., but open this in a new browser tab
The functionality of opening a separate modal (4.) can be executed for multiple file previews to show information in various forms.
The following example shows multiple previews of files in the same area, a multibeam 3D view, a supporting document for this area and a video.
The document and video were added to the map after having geotagged the files in the file explorer.
The modals can be closed by clicking on the x in the top right corner.
If you like to find out if there are more files of interest in this area use the below explained geosearch.
Geospatial filesearch
The GeoSearch Tool enables the user to define a search area on the map to find spatial data files in all your projects that intersect with the drawn area.
Select the search icon
2. Choose the type of search area you would like to use (circle, rectangle or polygon)
3. Choose the desired form and draw it on the map by setting mouse clicks accordingly.
4. Double click to set the search area
Once your search area has been defined, your Geosearch result will be shown. This consists of a list of files that contain information that intersect with your search area from any project in the workspace.
You can refine the search area in the Geosearch results window via 'Edit Area'
A modal with all found files is opened:
The search result can be filtered based on:
Further search text (e.g. parts of file names)
Projects
File type (like gsf, las)
Datatype (like MBES, point, raster)
Aquisition start and end date
With hovering over a result file in the list the corresponding footprint is highlighted on the map, where each Datatype has their own designated color of map highlight.
With a right-click on the file choose the desired additional options:
"Add to map": Add that found file to your current map.
"Open in project": Navigates directly to the file in the project for further investigation.
Close the box by clicking on 'Close' button or on the top right 'X'.
Measuring tool
The measuring tool provides the possibility to get point information (coordinates) and measure: distances, surface areas and radius on the map. This tool is for exploration purposes only. None of the results are stored or kept.
Click on the measuring tool icon and choose what you want to measure:
Point information (coordinates)
By clicking the Copy icon you can copy these coordinates.
Distance (Polyline)
Rectangular surface area (Rectangle)
Radial surface area (Circle)
Surface area (Polygon)
Click with the mouse on the desired points or draw an area, finish the selection with a double-click (for distance) or final click for areas.
Close the measuring by click on the 'X'.
Weather forecasts
This provides instant access to forecasts of weather and metocean data including: Wind speed, gusts and direction; current velocity and directions; significant wave height and direction.
Select the weather tool by clicking on the waves symbol
2. Then click on the map to select the location of which you like to receive the weather information.
3. The data is being requested and when available the forecasts are offered in two views where you can switch between tabular (default) and graph view.
4. You can close the modal by clicking the top right 'X'.
Home Extent
You can set your home extend (the map area you like to come back to with one click) by clicking on the right side icon (first time, i.e. you did not set it yet)
A dialogue opens allowing you to zoom to the area you like to set as your home extent. Confirm the setting when done or close the dialgue not to apply this:
When set once and you like to change your home extend please go via your bottom left user icon > Profile settings.
Layers
The layers added to the map are listed in the layer tree located on the left side of the map. The layer tree can be collapsed by clicking on the X, and unfolded by clicking on the Layers label.
To add a layer (or layer group) click the '+' button next to 'Layers' heading.
Now you can choose the layers source, either from project files, the geo library or externally.
Projects lets you select any project, by double-clicking you will be provided with a list of all geo-referenced files of this project in a flat view. You can select one or multiple files
Library offers to add layer(s) from a pre-installed wms/wfs library
External offers to add a layer from an external user specified wms/wfs URL. In this case it is checked and indicated whether this service is currently availalble
When you drilled into a deeper level of hierarchy use the '...' to go up one level and continue.
Click 'Add' to add the selected layers to the map, 'Cancel' to leave this operation.
Layer options
Toggle visibility on/off
To enable/Disable visibility: Click the eye icon next to the layer nameChanging the order
To change the layer order, move the cursor over the layer until the cursor changes into a “grab” icon and click to drag & drop to the order you desire.Zoom to layer: Right click on the layer and choose 'Zoom to layer'
Grouping:
Use the '+' icon at the top of the layer tree (or right-click on an existing group) to add a new layer group
right-click on the group name to
Ungroup
Add a layer to the group
Add a (sub) group
Rename the group
Remove the group
drag and drop layers to
reorder the layers tree
add layers to the group
After creating a group you can Zoom to the layers in this group
Notes on Layer Group visibility:
Turning a group off will hide all layers and sub-groups within it, but the system remembers their individual visibility settings.
Turning the group back on restores only the layers and sub-groups that were previously visible, keeping the user's intended display configuration intact.
Removing a layer: Right click on the layer and choose 'Remove'
Layer Appearance
Appearance of layers can be enhanced via several styling options. Vector and raster layers and footprint appearance can be changed by either double clicking on the layer or right-click and choosing 'Details and style'.
Vector Layer Styling
Opacity/Transparency
Set opacity: use the slider to set the desired opacity where a lower value results in an increasingly transparent appearance.
Setting Colors
Single color:
Select your color. The change is applied immediately.
Customize colors
Colors of individual features can be styled based on their attribute values. When desired you can save your style under a custom name to make it also available to other layers and to be used by other users.
In case there are already saved styles these can be applied from the list 'Select style' and edited via the pencil icon:
The defined colors will be displayed in the layer tree as an expandable legend.
Raster Layer Styling
you can adjust layer opacity between 0-100% using a slider or input box. Changes affect layer transparency from fully transparent to fully opaque
You can select a colormap color map using the colormap selection. Choose from the following colormaps:
Grayscale: Displays the raster values in shades of gray, with black for the lowest values and white for the highest. Useful for elevation, intensity, or other single-band continuous data.
Blues: A gradient from light blue to dark blue. Commonly used for representing water depths, precipitation, or any data where increasing values are represented by darker shades.
Greens: A gradient from light green to dark green. Often used for vegetation indexes, agricultural data, or environmental layers like forest cover.
Reds: A gradient from light red to dark red. Typically used for temperature data, heat-related metrics, or intensity measures.
Heatmap: Uses a gradient of colors (blue to red) to represent density or intensity. Ideal for data like population density or temperature.
Terrain: A combination of greens, yellows, and browns designed to represent terrain and elevation data visually. Often used in DEMs (Digital Elevation Models).
Viridis: A perceptually uniform colormap with a smooth gradient from dark blue to yellow. Suitable for data that requires readability by colorblind users.
Spectral: A rainbow-like colormap transitioning through red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Useful for visualising data with a wide range of values.
Coolwarm (Diverging Colormap): Transitions smoothly from blue (low values) to red (high values), with a neutral white in the center. Useful for datasets with a meaningful zero point, like temperature anomalies.
Ocean: A colormap optimised for representing ocean depth, typically transitioning from green (deep) via blue to white (shallow depths).
Opacity Ramp: Transitions from transparent to fully opaque for datasets where opacity reflects value intensity. Common for overlays or visualising magnitude on top of other layers.
Side Scan Sonar: Optimized color map (black-to-copper gradient) for Side Scan Sonar rasters. This industry-standard styling improves contrast and enhances the visibility of acoustic features, supporting clearer interpretation and more efficient data analysis.
Changes apply to the raster shortly after the selection choice is made.
When the raster layer is created, the default colormap (gray) is shown
The min and max value is taken from the range as given from the raster.
You can edit the minimum and maximum values, as long as the minimum value < than the maximum value.
The raster cell colours adapt corresponding to the color along the spectrum of the defined in the range of the colormap.
The Minimum and Maximum Values can be reset, by clicking the reset option 🔄
Given the raster has got negative values and the colors (e.g. red and green) are swopped according to your liking, you can click the “Invert Colormap” toggle button, and the colours are inverted