The Control Window

The control window is the primary means for controlling the display of the earth. It is a very flexible and powerful tool to enable you to access and set viewing options for the built-in EarthBrowser datasets as well as your own datasets.

 Collapse/Restore

The control window can be collapsed into any of the four corners or along the window side by clicking the collapse/restore button. This allows the control window to still provide some functionality while making it less obstructive.

Time Control

At the top of the control window you will see a ruler that shows the current time range that is viewable for the currently selected datasets. You can set the exact time with the Current Time arrow along the time ruler. To start or stop the animation of time based data, just push the Play/Pause button on the right hand side of the ruler. You can control the speed of the animation with they small red slider directly below the Play/Pause button.

EarthBrowser and Personal Data Tabs

The EarthBrowser tab shows the standard EarthBrowser Datasets, the Personal Data tab displays your Personal Datasets that you can create and customize.

Elevation Zoom

You can control the camera elevation easily with the zoom slider on the left hand side of the controls window. Using the wheel on your mouse button is perhaps the easiest and most intuitive way to zoom however. Dragging the wheel forward will zoom you in and backward will zoom out. Double-clicking on the earth will zoom in and also center your camera on the location you clicked. Holding down the Shift key on your keyboard and double-clicking will zoom the camera out and center it on the clicked location.

Dataset Items

Each Dataset or Placemark item can have its settings controlled with a dataset item. The visibility checkbox is used to set the visibility of a dataset. A time range selector icon will show up to the left of a dataset if it contains items that have time information included. Turning on the time range for a dataset will add that range to the main timeline visible in the time control at the top of the window. If a dataset contains sub-items, they can be revealed or hidden by clicking on the reveal arrow next to the visibility checkbox.

 Google Map Window

Clicking this Icon will open the Maps Window. The center of the map window is synchronized with the globe and they will pan and zoom together.

 New Placemark

Clicking this button will add a new placemark at the current location and open a Placemark Window to edit your placemark settings.

 Trash

Drag items from your Personal Data into the trash to delete it. Clicking on the trash icon will show the Trash Window which allows you to inspect and empty it.