How to Overlay a Scanned, Historical, or Fantasy Map on the Globe

Step-by-step guide

1. 1

   Add the overlay from the Image menu

   Select the slide where the overlay should appear and frame the map roughly where your image belongs. In the Quick-Add toolbar, open the arrow next to Image and choose Map overlay. A file picker opens; choose a PNG, JPEG, or WebP image. Very large images are scaled down so the longest side is 4096 pixels. The overlay is created on the selected slide and fitted to what is on screen, keeping the image's proportions.

2. 2

   Line it up by dragging

   The toolbar is replaced by a bar titled Line up your map, with Drag selected. The overlay shows handles: drag inside it to move it, drag a corner to stretch it, and drag the top handle to turn it. Hold Shift while turning to snap in 15 degree steps. The Opacity slider on the bar (10 to 100 percent) lets you see the real map through your image while you work, and holding Space shows the map underneath without the overlay. Click Done, or press Enter, when it sits right. Cancel or Esc backs out; cancelling a brand new overlay removes it.

3. 3

   Or match points on both maps

   For a map that is rotated, skewed, or hard to judge by eye, click Match points. The image appears beside the map. Click a place you recognise on your image, then click the same place on the real map. Two points are enough to move, scale, and turn it, and a third fixes any stretch. More points, spread far apart, average out small clicking errors. Undo point removes the last pair, and the Show on real map switch hides the overlay on the real map while you click so you can see what is underneath.

4. 4

   Use Fit for world maps and fantasy maps

   Open Fit on the bar for three choices. Fit to this view spreads the image over what is on screen now, then you fine-tune it. Whole world places a world map drawn edge to edge, from 180 degrees west to 180 degrees east, and needs no dragging. Not a real place is for fantasy and game maps: it hides the base map behind your image, and pins and routes still work on it. Choose Fit to this view again after Whole world if you want to place that map by hand.

5. 5

   Set opacity, labels, and background

   Click the overlay on the map to open its settings. On the Style tab, Placement shows Lined up on the map or Whole world, and its Adjust button reopens the line-up bar. Opacity sets how solid the overlay is when it plays; it starts at 90 percent. Map labels chooses Hidden under it or On top, so place names either vanish behind the image or stay readable over it. With Not a real place on, a Background color field appears. Replace image swaps in a new file and keeps the placement, which is handy for a cleaner scan.

6. 6

   Choose how it appears and leaves

   The overlay fades in on its slide by default, and you can change when it appears and disappears on the Timing tab like any element. If you pick a slide in Disappears at, a Goes out section offers three exits: Dissolve into the map fades across the whole camera move into that last slide so the old map melts into today's, Fade is a quick fade out, and Cut removes it in a single frame. With no end slide it stays to the end of the animation.

7. 7

   Preview the move

   Add a second slide with a different framing, such as a wider shot or a tilted view, and use Play Preview. The overlay stays attached to the ground as the camera moves. A Dissolve exit turns this into a then-and-now reveal of a place.