Map edit mode

The map edit mode is the primary editing mode. It has these main parts:

1. Navigation bar
2. Sidebar (ORBAT, Events, Layers, Select, Graphics, Settings and Tools tabs)
3. Map
4. Details panel
5. Map toolbar
6. Timeline

Navigation bar

The navigation bar is at the top of the screen. It has these items, from left to right:

• Main menu: the ORBAT Mapper logo.
• Scenario name: click it to see the scenario information.
• Save: this button shows only when the scenario has changes that you did not save. Click it to save the scenario.
• Help, Share scenario and Search.
• Rec: the recording control. Refer to Recording.
• Playback: the play/pause button and the playback menu. Refer to Playback.
• Editing mode switch: MapLibre view (map), Grid and Chart. Refer to Editing modes.
• Undo and Redo.
• Keyboard shortcuts and Toggle dark mode.
• Settings (hamburger menu): the map view, the base layers, the ORBAT display, and the time and date settings. These settings are for your device. The scenario does not keep them.

Main menu

The main menu gives you almost all the scenario actions:

• File: save, load, download, share, import and export the scenario. It also has Export map as image and Duplicate scenario.
• Edit: undo, redo, revert to the saved version, and copy or paste the scenario with the clipboard.
• View: show or hide parts of the screen (map toolbar, timeline, ORBAT panel, unit breadcrumbs, scale line, pointer location). This menu also has the unit label options, the measurement units, the coordinate format and the Terrain submenu.
• Tools: Browse symbols.
• Help: the documentation and the keyboard shortcuts.

To search for units, features, places and actions, press Ctrl/Cmd+K.

Sidebar

The sidebar is on the left side. It has these tabs:

Tab	Use it to
ORBAT	See and change the hierarchy of sides, groups and units.
Events	See the scenario events.
Layers	Control the feature layers, control-measure layers and more.
Select	Select many units by category.
Graphics	Find a control measure and draw it on the map.
Settings	Change the scenario settings. The scenario keeps these settings.
Tools	Export the map as a PNG image, with print sizes and a custom area.

ORBAT tab

The ORBAT tab shows the order of battle (sides, groups and units) as a tree that you can expand.

Browse and select

• To select a unit, click it. To select a range, hold Shift and click. To select or deselect one unit, hold Ctrl/Cmd and click.
• To move in the tree, use the arrow keys.
• To expand or collapse a unit, click the chevron icon. To open or close a full side, use the expand/collapse actions at the side level.
• To find units by name, click the filter icon of a side. Then type in the Filter field. The location filter switch shows only the units near the current map view.

Drag and drop

TIP

The unit symbol is the drag handle. Drag the symbol, not the name of the unit. When the pointer is on the symbol, it changes to a move cursor.

• To place a unit on the map, drag its symbol from the ORBAT tab and drop it on the map. Unit position recording must be on.
• To put units in a different sequence or below a different parent, drag their symbols to a different position in the tree.
• To make copies of the dragged units, hold Ctrl/Cmd and drag.
• To make copies of the units with their state (positions and timeline data), hold Ctrl/Cmd+Alt and drag.
• You can drag more than one selected unit at the same time.
• If Unit hierarchy recording is on, the application records the change at the current scenario time. Refer to Recording.

Clipboard

• Ctrl/Cmd+C copies the selected units. Ctrl/Cmd+V puts them into the target unit.

Context menus

Right-click a side, a group or a unit, or use its dropdown menu. You then get actions such as edit, add subordinate, duplicate, move up/down, hide/show on map, lock/unlock and delete.

• You cannot drag or change locked units and groups.
• Hide on map removes the unit from the map, the range rings, the unit tracks and the GeoJSON/KML exports. The unit stays in the ORBAT, but it is dimmed. Hide a unit does not hide its subordinates. To hide them also, select Hide on map (with subordinates). The scenario keeps this setting.

Layers tab

The Layers tab shows the scenario layers in the sequence that the map draws them:

• Feature layers: points, lines, polygons, rectangles and circles.
• Control-measure layers: tactical graphics such as phase lines, boundaries and attack arrows.
• Map layers: image, XYZ tile and TileJSON layers. Refer to Map layers.
• Range rings: all the range rings of the units. Refer to Range rings.

To add a layer, use the button at the bottom of the tab. To change the sequence of the layers, drag them.

Move the pointer on a layer or an item to see its actions:

• Zoom to: zoom the map to the layer or to the item.
• Toggle visibility: show or hide the layer or the item. The tab dims the hidden items.
• More actions: set as active layer, edit, move up/down, duplicate, copy as GeoJSON and delete.

New features go into the active layer. You can lock a control-measure layer to prevent changes.

Some layers and items show only part of the time. By default, the tab does not show the items that are hidden at the current scenario time. To see them, set the Show time-hidden items switch to on.

Select tab

Use the Select tab to select many units at the same time. Click a category row to select its units. The counts and the results use the current scenario time.

The categories are: Side, Main unit icon, Command level, Unit status, Map visibility, Standard identity, Symbol status, HQ / Task force / Dummy and Symbol modifiers. The tab hides the categories that cannot change the selection.

The Add/Narrow switch is at the top of the tab:

• Add: click a category to add its units to the selection. Click it again to remove them.
• Narrow: click a category to keep only the selected units in it. For example, select Land unit, then go to Narrow and click a side. You then get the land units of that side.

Other actions at the top of the tab:

• Invert: select all the units that are not selected.
• Clear: clear the selection.
• Show all hidden: show all the units that are hidden on the map.

When you select units, a footer shows the number of selected units. It has these actions:

• Zoom to: zoom the map to the selected units that have a location at the current time.
• Hide and Show: hide or show the selected units on the map.

Graphics tab

The Graphics tab is a catalogue of all the control measures.

• To find a control measure, type in the search field, or use the filters: All, Points, Lines, Areas, Tasks and Generic.
• To draw a control measure, click it. Then draw on the map. To cancel, click it again.
• To put a control measure at a specified position, drag it and drop it on the map.
• Use the footer to change the cell size, to collapse or expand the sections, and to show the descriptions.

The px/m switch sets the size of new point symbols:

• px: the symbol keeps the same size on the screen when you zoom.
• m: the symbol has a size on the ground, and it becomes larger or smaller with the map.

Settings tab

The Settings tab has the scenario settings. The scenario keeps them. The sections are:

• Equipment categories, personnel categories, supply categories, supply classes and supply units of measure
• Range ring groups
• Unit statuses, each with an optional colour
• Map settings and bounding box
• Symbol fill colors
• Custom unit symbols

Map

The map is the central work area. It shows the units as military symbols, and you draw the map features and the control measures on it.

Operate on units

• To select a unit, click its symbol. To add a unit to the selection, hold Shift and click. To select all the units in an area, drag a box on the map.
• Click on the symbol of the unit, not on its labels. If units are on top of each other, the application selects the nearest unit.
• To place a unit on the map, drag its symbol from the ORBAT tab or from the unit breadcrumbs and drop it on the map. Unit position recording must be on.
• To move a unit to a new position, drag it. Unit position recording must be on.
• Unit symbols have a rotation that you can set, and labels that show the names of the units.

Map controls

The map controls are in the top-left corner of the map:

• Globe: show the map as a globe or as a flat map.
• Zoom and compass: the compass shows the rotation and the tilt of the map.
• Terrain: set 3D terrain and hillshading to on or off. When you set terrain to on, the map tilts to show the relief. When you set it to off, the map becomes flat again. If the button is amber, there is no elevation data. Refer to Terrain and hillshading without an internet connection.

To change the terrain settings, use the Terrain submenu. It is in the map context menu and in View in the main menu. There you can set the exaggeration, the hillshade settings and the source of the elevation data. The application keeps these settings between visits.

Map context menu

Right-click the map to open the context menu. A target marker shows the position that you clicked. The menu has these items:

• The coordinates of the position. Click them to copy them.
• Orbit here: refer to Orbit mode.
• Units and Features at the position.
• Add: add a unit or a point at the position.
• Map base layer, Map flavour and Terrain: refer to Map layers and Offline use.
• Map settings: coordinate format, measurement units, unit rotation, scale line, pointer location, feature tooltip, day/night terminator, unit labels and the Hellfire option.
• Playback and options to show or hide parts of the screen.

On a unit track in edit mode, the menu also has Convert waypoint to via point and Convert via point to waypoint.

Orbit mode

In orbit mode, the camera moves to a position and turns slowly around it.

• To start, select Orbit here in the map context menu. As an alternative, press O to orbit the center of the screen.
• To select a new center, click the map.
• When you zoom or tilt the map, the orbit stops for a short time. It starts again after the gesture.
• To stop, press O or Escape.

Hellfire strike

The Hellfire strike is an optional animation for orbit mode. To set it to on, go to Map settings in the map context menu and select Hellfire (orbit mode). You can also use the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+K).

To fire a missile at a position, hold Shift and click the map while it orbits. As an alternative, use the Hellfire submenu in the map context menu. The On impact setting tells the application what to do with the units that the missile hits:

• Nothing (only the animation)
• Hide units
• Remove units from map
• Delete units
• Set destroyed status

You can also set the map shake to on or off. Each strike is one undo step.

Range rings

Range rings are circles around a unit, for example to show the range of a sensor or a weapon.

• To add a range ring, select the unit. Go to the Map display tab in the details panel. Then click Add in the Range rings section.
• You can put range rings into range ring groups. The map shows the rings of a group as one shape where they overlap.
• Range rings follow the zoom visibility range of their unit.

In the Layers tab, the Range rings row controls all the range rings:

• Show or hide all the range rings, one group, or the ungrouped rings. The scenario keeps these settings. They do not change the visibility setting of each ring.
• Open a group to see its rings. Each ring has its own visibility toggle.
• Add a range ring group, change its name, and change its style.
• Drag the Range rings row to change where the map draws the rings.

Map toolbar

The map toolbar is at the bottom of the map. It has these tools:

• Select unit, Move unit and Rotate unit. To move units, Unit position recording must be on. In rotate mode, drag on a unit (or on the selected units) to set the rotation of the symbol at the current scenario time.
• Keep tool active to add multiple: use the same tool again and again.
• Measurements: measure lengths and areas.
• Draw: opens the draw toolbar.
• Unit track: show and change the tracks of the units.
• Add unit: select the echelon and the symbol, then click the map to add a unit.
• Toggle reference grid: refer to Reference grid.
• Undo, redo, and buttons that go to the previous or next day or event.

Measurements

The measure toolbar has the Length and Area tools. You can also show the segment lengths, a range circle and great-circle paths, keep more than one measurement, and snap to near objects.

Unit tracks

Select Unit track, then Show unit track to see the path of the selected units. To change the path, also select Edit track:

• To add a waypoint, hold Ctrl/Cmd and click the map. The application calculates the time from the speed of the unit.
• To move a waypoint or a via point, drag it.
• To add a via point, drag the midpoint handle of a leg.
• To delete a waypoint or a via point, hold Alt and click it. You cannot delete the initial location.
• To change a waypoint into a via point, or a via point into a waypoint, right-click it.

Draw toolbar

Use the draw toolbar to make control measures and map features. The tools are in these groups:

• Control measures: the pinned control measures. The toolbar pins up to five control measures, for example the ones that you used last. All… opens a search of all the control measures. The palette button sets the style of the selected control measures. If you did not select a control measure, it sets the style of new control measures.
• Shapes: Point, Line, Polygon, Rectangle and Circle. A Freehand mode is available for lines and polygons.
• Options: Keep tool active to add multiple, Snap to grid and Record feature geometry.
• Selection: this group shows only when you select map items:
  • Edit: change the vertices of the selected item.
  • Move: move the selected items.
  • Duplicate and Delete.

A new control measure goes into edit mode immediately. To edit a selected control measure, you can also click it again. If the scenario has no layer for the new item, the application makes one.

On a touch device, an action bar shows while you draw. Use it to finish or cancel the drawing.

Reference grid

Use the Toggle reference grid button to show or hide a coordinate grid. Its dropdown has MGRS and latitude/longitude grids, interval controls, colour, opacity and line width. The map automatically draws a readable subset of the selected finest interval as you zoom.

The grid settings are display preferences for the current device. The scenario does not keep them. The application keeps the selected mode, intervals and appearance, but each new map starts with the grid hidden.

Details panel

When you select a unit or a map item, the details panel shows. It gives related data and editing controls.

Unit details

The header shows the symbol, the name, the short name and the status of the unit. Click the symbol to change it. If the unit has no short name, click Add short name to add one. A locked unit shows a lock icon. Click it to unlock the unit.

The toolbar below the header has these actions: zoom to, show in ORBAT, hide on map, edit, set location, and more actions (duplicate, move, create subordinate, delete, clear state). Move the pointer on a button to see its tooltip. If a button is disabled, the tooltip tells you why.

The panel has these tabs:

• Details: name, short name, description, external URL and initial location.
• Map symbol: SIDC code and the appearance options of the symbol.
• Unit state: timeline entries. They show position changes, status changes and other recorded state at each time.
• TO&E/S: table of organization, equipment and supplies.
• Map display: the zoom levels where the unit shows on the map, and the range rings.
• Properties: maximum speed and average speed with selectable units of measure.

Edit many units at the same time

Select more than one unit to edit them together. The header shows the number of selected units. You can remove units from the selection there.

You can set the status, change the symbol, remove the units from the map, edit the text amplifiers and the speeds, lock the units, and remove TO&E items. The change applies to all the selected units, but not to locked units. Each change is one undo step.

If a field has different values for the selected units, it shows Mixed.

Control measure details

When you select a control measure, the panel has these tabs:

• Style: colour, line width, echelon and size.
• Amplifiers: the text labels of the control measure.
• Details: name, description and the doctrinal description of the control measure.
• State: the state entries at different times.

The toolbar has zoom to, duplicate, style, edit shape and edit data. In edit mode you can also move the labels and change the arrow widths. Hold Alt and click a width grip to reset it.

Feature details

When you select a map feature, the panel has these tabs:

• Style: visibility, marker (for points), stroke, arrows (for lines), fill and text labels.
• Details: name, description and media.
• State: the state entries at different times. You can also give the track of the feature to a unit.
• Transform: make a new geometry with operations such as buffer, convex hull, simplify and smooth.

Recording

The recording controls specify which changes go on the scenario timeline while you edit. The Rec button in the navigation bar shows the current recording state.

Recording modes

There are three independent recording modes. You can set each mode to on or off:

• Unit position: records the changes of the unit locations on the map. Only this mode is on by default. Thus, the timeline immediately records the units that you move on the map. If this mode is off, you cannot drag units to new positions on the map.
• Unit hierarchy: records the changes of the organizational structure of the units. If this mode is on, the application makes an entry with a time on the timeline when you drag a unit to a new parent or when you change the sequence of the units in the ORBAT tab. It does not change the hierarchy directly.
• Feature geometry: records the changes of the shapes of the map features (points, lines, polygons). If this mode is on, the application makes a timeline entry when you draw or change the geometry of a feature. It does not change the feature directly. You can also set this mode in the Options group of the draw toolbar.

All the recorded changes have the current scenario time. When you move along the timeline, the scenario shows the projected state at each time. This state comes from the recorded entries.

Use the Rec button

Click the Rec button to set the recording to on or off:

• When the recording is on, a red indicator and icons show which modes are on.
• When you click the button, all recording stops.
• When you click the button again, your previous recording configuration starts again. The application keeps your last selection.

Use the dropdown menu on the right side of the button to open the Recording Settings. There you can set each recording mode to on or off independently.

Timeline

The timeline is at the bottom of the map editor. It shows the time range of the scenario. An amber histogram shows the times that have many changes.

Move in time

• To go to a time, click that position on the timeline.
• To move continuously through the scenario, drag to the left or to the right.
• To zoom in and out, use the scroll wheel.
• Event markers (amber circles) show the scenario events. To go to an event, click its marker.

The time controller shows the current scenario time. It also has buttons that go to the previous day, the next day, the previous event and the next event.

Playback

Use the playback controls in the navigation bar to animate the scenario in time:

• Play/Pause (K) starts or stops the automatic movement of the time.
• Speed is the scenario time for each real second, for example 15 h/s. This is the default. Use Speed up (>) and Slow down (<) to change it.
• Loop playback plays the selected time range again and again.
• Add marker sets the start and the end of the playback range. Clear markers removes them.

Unit changes

The Unit changes panel shows the changes of the units and the map items:

• Click a bar of the histogram to see the changes in that time interval.
• Click the Changes button on the timeline, or press H, to see the changes near the current time.

The panel has two views:

• List: the changes in time sequence. A line shows the current time. Links go to the previous and the next change.
• Lanes: one lane for each unit or map item, on a time axis. You can show the trips of the units. To move a change to a different time, drag it. The change snaps to the changes on near lanes, to the scenario events and to the current time. Hold Alt to snap only to a 5-minute grid. To select many changes, drag a box.

To filter the changes, use the kind of change, the name, or Only in map view. Select the time window, from ±1 hour to ±7 days. The panel can float over the map or dock below it. The application keeps the view, the columns and the sort sequence.

Context menu

Right-click the timeline to get more options:

• Zoom in / Zoom out
• Add a scenario event at the time that you clicked
• Hide the timeline