Globe vs Flat Map, Atmosphere, and Labels

Step-by-step guide

1. 1

   Open the map controls panel

   Hover over the square style tile in the bottom-left corner of the map, or tap it on a touch screen. A panel opens beside it and stays open while your pointer is over it. It has three columns. View (1) holds Globe, Flat, Atmosphere, and 3D Terrain, which raises mountains and valleys (see the guide on changing the map style). Labels (2) holds All Labels, Cities, Countries, Roads, and Neighborhoods. Map Type is where you pick the base map, which the guide on changing the map style covers. A check mark shows what is switched on.

   

2. 2

   Choose Globe or Flat

   Globe is the default. It draws the Earth as a sphere, so when you zoom out the planet floats in empty space. Flat draws the usual rectangular web map. Click either name in the View column and the map changes at once. The picture shows the same camera on both. The choice applies to every slide, and when you are zoomed in on a city the two look almost the same.

   

3. 3

   Turn Atmosphere on or off

   Atmosphere is on by default. On a globe it adds a glow along the edge of the planet while you are zoomed out, as in the left half of the picture. Click Atmosphere in the View column to switch it off, and the edge becomes a plain cut against the background, as in the right half. The glow fades as you zoom in close. It is easiest to see on the Dark style, which is what the picture uses.

   

4. 4

   Tilt the camera

   The Tilt slider (1) at the left edge of the map sets the camera angle, and the number under it shows the degrees. 0 looks straight down, and the top of the slider is 85. Drag it up, or click it and use the arrow keys. On a Flat map, a steep tilt brings the horizon into view, and with Atmosphere on there is a blue sky gradient above it; the picture is at 75 degrees. With Atmosphere off, that area is plain dark. After you move the slider, an Update Slide bar appears at the bottom of the map. Click Update Slide to save the angle to the selected slide.

   

5. 5

   Hide groups of labels

   The Labels column controls the text that is part of the base map. All Labels is the master switch. Cities, Countries, Roads, and Neighborhoods each hide one kind of label, and a dimmed row means that group is hidden. In the picture the right half has Cities and Neighborhoods off, so the place names are gone while the roads and the river stay. Switching Countries off removes country names but keeps city names. If you switch All Labels off, the other four do nothing, and the pins and text elements you added disappear from the map as well, so keep All Labels on when your animation uses them.

   

6. 6

   Check how labels behave on each map style

   The label switches work on whatever labels a map style contains. Classic, Light, and Dark are built from the same set of labels, so all five switches act the same on them. Streets has no neighborhood labels, so that switch changes nothing there. Satellite has no labels at all. The picture shows Classic and Satellite at the same spot with every switch on, and the satellite half has no text. To name places on satellite imagery, add Text elements or pins.