The Basics Part 2 (Video)

This is video 103, which is the second part of the three video set titled The Basics. In this video, we're going to learn about map navigation. We'll be focusing mostly on these buttons over here on the right side of the map, so let's get started. The most common of these buttons that you'll use the most is the Home button. When you click here, it takes you to a predetermined initial view of your city or of your system. This initial view can be set up in the map properties section, which is described in video 230. The button below is the Zoom Window button. When you click here, you're going to draw a box that you will zoom in to. I drag. I let go, and it zooms me into that area. Let's do that again. I click the Zoom Window button. I move the mouse to one corner of a window area that I want to zoom to. I press and hold the mouse button. I drag the mouse to the other corner, and then I let go another way. To zoom in and out is to simply use the plus and minus buttons. I click minus to zoom out, and I click plus to zoom in. Another way to zoom out, which is probably used more commonly, is to simply scroll the mouse wheel. Here I'm scrolling my mouse wheel backwards or forward. If you're using a touch screen device like a tablet or phone, you can zoom in by pressing two fingers on the screen and swiping them apart. To zoom, out swipe your fingers together to pan the map, press and hold the mouse button drag it in any direction and let go. You can do the same thing by simply swiping one finger across the screen on a tablet .When you zoom in using your mouse scroll wheel or the pinch zoom technique, you'll notice that the map only zooms in so far this is because the Google backdrop layers have limits on how far you can zoom in. If you want to zoom in closer, use the plus button over on the right side. You don't get to see any aerial photography, but it does get you in close enough to distinguish one feature from another. One nice thing about using Google as our base map data is that we have street view in many areas. Click and drag the orange pegman out onto the map and drop him on a street this will display street level imagery taken by the Google cars. You can click and drag to pan the imagery. Click the left arrow at the top when you're done to return to the map. If your tablet or phone is GPS-enabled, click the GPS button to show your location on the map. The small symbol represents your location, and the larger yellow circle represents the uncertainty in this position. Sometimes the yellow circle can be very large indicating you have a weak GPS signal. If your GPS isn't working or if you have any questions about anything else we went across, use the Help menu. This has some techniques on troubleshooting GPS connectivity.