3D Map View

📢 - INFO

The map is the centerpiece of StolWRX. It's a full 3D globe (Cesium) with real terrain, satellite imagery, VFR sectional charts, your flight tracks, your waypoints, and your geotagged photos — all on the same view.

The Globe

The map is a Cesium Ion 3D globe with real elevation data worldwide. You can tilt and rotate the camera to see terrain from any angle, which is especially useful when evaluating approaches to mountain strips or river bars.

Mouse & Touch Controls

Action	Desktop	Phone / tablet
Pan	Click and drag	One-finger drag
Zoom	Scroll wheel	Pinch
Tilt / rotate	Right-click and drag	Two-finger drag
Drop a new waypoint	Double-click on terrain	Double-tap on terrain
Select waypoint or photo	Click the marker	Tap the marker
Select a flight track	Click the colored line	Tap the colored line

📌 - TIP

Dropping a waypoint requires a paid plan. Double-clicking on the globe when you're on the free plan simply opens the upgrade prompt.

Basemap Layers

In the top-left corner of the map is a column of basemap buttons. Pick the background that suits the task at hand:

• Satellite — Cesium Ion high-resolution satellite imagery (default).
• Streets — OpenStreetMap with place names, roads, and labels. Great for locating a trailhead, ranger station, or road access to a strip.
• VFR Sectional — FAA VFR sectional charts (Esri-hosted MapServer). Shows airspace, airports, obstacles, and terrain shading in the familiar aeronautical style. US/CONUS only — zoom in for tiles to appear.
• Land Ownership — US BLM public-land surface-management agency overlay. Shades land by owner (BLM, USFS, State, Private, etc.) so you can see at a glance whether a strip is on public land.

VFR Sectional and Land Ownership are drawn on top of the satellite layer, so you still get terrain-correct shading underneath.

My Location

A LocateFixed icon (crosshair target) on the basemap column toggles live device GPS tracking. When active, StolWRX centers the map on your current position and follows you as you move. Tap again to stop. Requires browser location permission.

Flight Tracks

Every flight log you load is drawn as a colored 3D polyline draped over the terrain. StolWRX picks a distinct color per flight so you can tell tracks apart when several are loaded together.

• Selecting a flight — click or tap the track. The strip chart below will pin the playhead to that flight.
• Hover on the track — shows a small panel with speed, altitude, and time for the point under your cursor (see Flight Log Hover).
• Hiding tracks — in the flights panel, select rows and click the hide/show toggle. The tracks stay loaded but are not drawn.

Waypoints on the Map

Waypoints appear as pins on the globe. Hover (desktop) or tap (mobile) a pin to open the runway wheel HUD that lets you adjust runway length and heading or quickly open the full edit dialog. See Runway Wheel HUD.

You can drag a waypoint pin to reposition it. Dragging is locked when the waypoint edit dialog is open or when you're previewing a shared flight.

Track Photos on the Map

Geotagged photos attached to a flight appear as small camera icons along the flight track at the point closest to where they were taken.

• Hover a camera icon to see a thumbnail popup.
• Click the icon to open the full-size photo editor (add a description, replace the image, delete, or open the lightbox).
• Click the zoom icon in the editor to open the fullscreen Photo Lightbox and flip between photos with arrows.

Flight-Path Measure Tool

The Flight path measure tool (in the Tools dropdown) lets you measure distance along a flight track to a selected waypoint — useful for working out "how far until the strip?" while planning an approach. When active:

1. Pick a waypoint from the dropdown that pops up under the basemap column.
2. Hover a point on any flight track.
3. The map draws three colored lines from that point to the waypoint:
   • Blue — direct 3D distance
   • Green — horizontal (ground) distance
   • Red — vertical (altitude) separation

All values honour your m/ft unit preference.

Home Button

The Cesium Home button (globe icon on the top-right of the viewer) returns to a default view. If you have flights loaded, it frames all of them; if you have waypoints but no flights, it frames the waypoint set.

Shared-View Differences

When a flight is opened through a public share link (/shared/TOKEN), the map is read-only:

• No double-click to create waypoints.
• The runway wheel HUD is not shown for shared waypoints.
• Photo thumbnails and lightbox still work — the viewer can enjoy the photos but can't edit them.

See Public Shared View for more.