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Basemaps, 3D and Street View
Change what sits under the network: road maps, satellite imagery, topographic and terrain maps, night lights and fire data, photorealistic 3D, and Street View at ground level.
Choose a Basemap
Watch the Video: Changing Basemaps (0:42)
- Open the basemap selector in the top bar (on narrower screens, under Map tools).
- Choose a basemap from the list. The network layers stay on top.
- Use Basemap Opacity at the bottom of the list to fade the basemap so the network stands out. Opacity is not available for the Google basemap.
| Basemap | Best for |
|---|---|
| Google Basemap (default) | Everyday use: roads, places and labels, with Google's own Map and Satellite views |
| Open Street Map | Detailed open street mapping |
| OpenTopoMap | Topographic mapping with contours and relief |
| ESRI | A clean general reference map |
| ESRI Satellite | Satellite and aerial imagery |
| ESRI World Topo | Topographic detail: terrain, land cover and features |
| ESRI Terrain | Shaded relief, to read slope and landform |
| ESRI Ocean | Seafloor and coastal context, for offshore wind and cables |
| NASA Night | Night-time lights, a proxy for population and demand |
| EOX Sentinel-2 | Cloud-free Sentinel-2 satellite imagery |
| CARTO Dark Matter | A dark background that makes network layers stand out |
| NASA FIRMS | Active fire data, for bushfire and wildfire risk around assets |
| NSW Six Maps | New South Wales Government imagery |
Google Map, Satellite and Terrain
With the Google basemap, use Google's map type control on the map to switch between Map and Satellite. Under Map you can switch on Terrain to add shaded relief and contours; under Satellite you can show or hide labels.
Labels and Borders
With a Google basemap, Labels & Borders at the bottom of the basemap list lets you hide or show basemap labels (places, roads, points of interest, transit, water, countries, states and neighbourhoods) and country and state borders. Hiding labels gives a cleaner map for screenshots and presentations.
Map Style: Default, Light and Dark
Watch the Video: Enabling Dark Mode (0:42)
The map style toggle cycles between Default, Light (grey) and Dark. Hover over it to see the current style and the next one. To switch the whole app between light and dark, choose Switch to Dark Theme or Switch to Light Theme in the user menu.
Photorealistic 3D
Photorealistic 3D shows Google's 3D model of buildings, terrain and vegetation with the network drawn on top. Use it to understand the landform around a site, line routes over hills, and what surrounds a substation.
- Choose the round 3D button on the map.
- Drag to pan, and use the 3D controls or your mouse to tilt and rotate the view.
- Use the Hybrid / Satellite button to switch between imagery with and without labels. Google's 3D maps only support these two modes.
- Click an asset to see its details, such as name, voltage, type, capacity, owner and status.
- Choose 2D to go back to the flat map.
Street View
Street View lets you look at overhead lines, poles and substations from the road, which is often the quickest way to check what is actually on the ground.
- On the 2D Google basemap, drag the Street View figure (pegman) from the map controls onto the map. Roads with Street View imagery are highlighted in blue.
- Drop it on a highlighted road near the asset.
- Drag to look around and click along the road to move.
- Use the back arrow or close button to return to the map.
Street View coverage is Google's and varies by country and road.
Other Map Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Locate me | Centres the map on your current location (2D only, with your browser's permission) |
| Overview inset | A small overview map in the corner showing where you are; shown on desktop in 2D when zoomed in |
| Coordinates and zoom | The pointer position and zoom level in the map footer, with a Copy button |
| Full screen | Google's full-screen button expands the map to fill the screen |
| Scale bar | Shows distance at the current zoom |
Weather Layers
Weather layers, such as temperature, rainfall, wind and cloud, load from the sidebar like any other layer. Combine them with the terrain and satellite basemaps to understand site conditions.
Plans
Advanced basemaps that reveal elevation, terrain and land features, photorealistic 3D and Street View are included with Analyst and above.
