# Map Controls & Tools

The **Controls** menu toggles two kinds of on-map helpers: the built-in MapLibre map controls, and the component panels that add tools like Measure and Bookmark. A check mark next to an item means it is currently shown.

![Controls menu](https://data.geolibre.app/images/geolibre-controls-menu.webp)

## Map controls

These are the standard MapLibre controls that sit in the map corners:

| Control | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Navigation** | Zoom in/out and a compass to reset bearing. |
| **Fullscreen** | Expand the map to fill the screen. |
| **Geolocate** | Center the map on your current location. |
| **Globe** | Switch between the flat map and a 3D globe projection. |
| **Terrain** | Toggle terrain (3D elevation) rendering. |
| **Scale** | Show a scale bar. |
| **Attribution** | Show data attributions. |
| **MapLibre logo** | Show or hide the MapLibre logo. |

## Component tools

These are interactive panels provided by the MapLibre components plugin:

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Search** | Search for places by name and fly to the result. |
| **Colorbar** | Display a continuous color scale for raster values. |
| **Legend** | Show a legend describing the layers on the map. |
| **HTML** | Display custom HTML content in an on-map panel. |
| **Measure** | Measure distances and areas interactively. |
| **Bookmark** | Save named map views and jump back to them. |
| **Minimap** | Show an overview map of the current extent. |
| **View State** | Read and edit the exact center, zoom, bearing, and pitch. |

The **Print Layout** composer lives under the [Project menu](projects.md#print).

!!! note "Control position"
    Plugin-backed controls can be positioned in any map corner. For plugins that support it, set the corner from the [Plugins menu](plugins.md) (top left, top right, bottom left, or bottom right).

## Camera, overlay, and recording tools

The Controls menu also carries tools that move the camera, drape live data over the map, or capture what you see:

| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Sun** | Simulate the sun's position and the day/night terminator for any date and time. |
| **Weather** | Overlay near-realtime **Clouds** (NASA satellite imagery, animated day by day) and **Precipitation** (RainViewer radar, animated over roughly the last two hours). |
| **Gridlines** | Draw a coordinate grid with edge labels, including a UTM easting/northing mode. |
| **Spinning Globe** | Slowly rotate the globe, optionally bounded to a region. |
| **Route Animation** | Animate a marker along a line layer with play/pause, speed, a trail, and camera follow. |
| **Flight Simulator** | Fly over terrain and 3D layers with continuous keyboard controls. |
| **Atmospheric Effects** | Render a deep-space backdrop, starfield, comets, and an atmospheric halo at low zoom. |
| **Directions** | Click the map to add waypoints and get a route. Waypoints are sent to the public OSRM demo server. |
| **Reverse Geocode** | Click the map to look up an address at those coordinates through the configured [geocoding provider](data-integrations.md#geocoding). |
| **Record Map Tour...** | Capture an animated keyframe tour to video, with per-keyframe recapture, hold and transition durations, and a saveable tour setup. |
| **Record Video...** | Record the map canvas, or a drawn bounding box, to a video file, optionally burning in on-map HTML, legend, and colorbar panels. |

!!! warning "Some tools call external services"
    Directions and Reverse Geocode send your coordinates to a third-party service — the OSRM demo server and your configured geocoding provider. Weather fetches overlay imagery from NASA and RainViewer. The rest of the table runs locally against tiles the map already fetches.

## Annotations and the Elements panel

The annotation tools draw on top of the map: **Text**, **Arrow**, **Rectangle highlight**, **Ellipse highlight**, **Freehand highlight**, **Pin marker**, **Sticky note**, and **Placed image**. Each has a color, and the stroked shapes (Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Freehand) also honor the line width. You can delete the last annotation or clear them all.

Annotations are saved with the project, and the **Elements** panel lists them so you can find and manage each one instead of hunting for it on the canvas. Most elements are anchored **At Point** — a geographic coordinate they move with. **Placed image** additionally offers **Pinned to Extent**, which stretches it across a bounding box so it scales with the view.

## Review comments

Comments are anchored notes for review and feedback, kept separate from annotations because they are a conversation rather than map decoration.

- Activate the comment tool from the **Comments** panel on the right sidebar, then click the map to drop a pin and write the note. GeoLibre asks for your name once and remembers it.
- Each pin opens a thread you can reply to, resolve, reopen, or delete.
- Filter the panel by **Open**, **Resolved**, or **All**. Resolved pins are hidden from the map while the Open filter is active.
- In a live [collaboration](../collaboration.md) session, adding, replying, resolving, and deleting all sync to the other participants.

Comments are stored in the `.geolibre.json` file, so they travel with a shared or saved project even when no session is running.

## GPS tracking

**Controls → GPS Tracking...** follows a live position on the map, records a track log, and can digitize new features straight from the feed. Pick one of two entries under **Position source**:

- **This device** — the browser or OS geolocation API. This is the default and needs no extra hardware.
- **NMEA receiver (serial or Bluetooth)** — an external GPS/GNSS receiver, for survey-grade or high-rate positions. Choose a baud rate and use **Connect serial** or **Connect Bluetooth**; the dialog then reports the device name and a running count of parsed sentences and fixes.

!!! note "NMEA needs a Chromium browser"
    Reading a receiver uses the Web Serial and Web Bluetooth APIs, which Chromium browsers such as Chrome and Edge provide but Firefox and Safari do not. Most Bluetooth GPS receivers speak *classic* Bluetooth rather than Bluetooth Low Energy: pair those in your operating system's settings and they appear here as a serial port. Use **Connect Bluetooth** only for Bluetooth Low Energy receivers.

**Controls → Field Collection...** is the related tool for capturing observations against a custom form. See [Features](../features.md#field-data-collection).

## Map navigation basics

- **Pan**: drag the map, or use the arrow keys while the map has focus.
- **Zoom**: scroll wheel, pinch, the navigation control, or the `+` / `-` keys.
- **Rotate**: hold the right mouse button and drag, use the compass, or `Shift` + `←` / `→`.
- **Tilt**: hold `Ctrl`/`Cmd` and drag to tilt the map into a perspective view, or `Shift` + `↑` / `↓`.
- **Reset the view**: press `N` for north up, `U` for a top-down view, or `R` to reset both pitch and bearing. See [the interface guide](interface.md#command-palette-and-keyboard-shortcuts) for the full shortcut list.
