Viewport

The default center, zoom, bearing, and pitch a map opens at, plus optional bookmarks for saved views.

basic

The viewport is the part of the world a map shows when a user opens it. Center, zoom, bearing, pitch. Set the default to whatever's useful for a first-time viewer.

Setting the default viewport

In the map builder:

  1. Pan and zoom to the view you want as the default.
  2. (Optional) Tilt and rotate; the current 3D bearing and pitch are part of the saved viewport.
  3. Click Use current view as default in the viewport panel.
  4. Save the map.

The next time anyone opens this map, the default is what they see.

Bookmarks

A bookmark is a saved viewport with a name. The map can carry as many as you want. Viewers see them in the bookmark dropdown (if the bookmark widget is enabled on the consuming web app) or in the bookmark list on the detail page.

Common patterns:

  • One bookmark per project site.
  • "Overview" and "Detail" bookmarks for the same map.
  • A bookmark per neighborhood for a city-wide map.

To create one:

  1. Pan / zoom to the view.
  2. Click Add bookmark.
  3. Name it.
  4. Save the map.

Scoping to a geo boundary

Sometimes "default viewport" really means "open zoomed to this polygon". The viewport panel has a Bind to geo boundary action that takes a Geo boundary item; on open, the map computes the fit-bounds for that polygon. Useful when the polygon's extent changes over time (annexation, redistricting): you don't have to remember to update the map.

Maximum and minimum zoom

The map can constrain how far in / out users can zoom:

  • Minimum zoom prevents zooming out below a certain level (common: don't let users see the world, since this map's data only covers your county).
  • Maximum zoom caps the zoom-in (the basemap goes blurry beyond a certain zoom anyway).

Notes

  • Bearing and pitch are 3D rotation. Default is bearing 0 (north up) and pitch 0 (top-down). Bearing != 0 is a "rotated north" map; pitch != 0 is an oblique view.
  • Bookmark order in the dropdown matches the order in the viewport panel; drag to reorder.
  • Per-user "last viewed" is separate from the map's default viewport. Browsers remember where each user left off; the default is the first-visit experience.