There are three base map styles. You choose which ones are available, and then switch between the enabled ones directly from the flight menu without opening settings.
WhereSettings›Maps›Map styles
Topo
On or offDefault: On
The full outdoor topographic map with terrain shading, contours and labels.
The everyday choice for cross country.
Dark
On or offDefault: Off
A dark variant of the same map.
Enable it for evening flights and for pages where you want your track and the task to stand out over a quiet background.
None
On or offDefault: Off
A plain background with no map data at all.
Enable it when you want maximum contrast for task geometry, or to save battery and data on a familiar site.
Note
At least one style must stay enabled. The app will not let you turn off the last one.
Fig. 11.1Map settings. Enabled styles become the choices in the in flight Base map menu.
North up / Circling north / Heading upDefault: North up
North up keeps the map fixed with north at the top. Heading up rotates the map so your direction of travel is always up. Circling north keeps heading up while cruising but locks to north while you circle.
North up if you think in terms of the map and the terrain. Heading up if you think in terms of what is in front of you. Circling north is the compromise: rotation where it helps, stability where rotation would make you dizzy.
Tip
Circling north is the setting most competition pilots settle on. A map spinning under you at four turns a minute is genuinely hard to read.
Draws your projected glide ahead of you, showing how far you can reach on the current performance.
Leave it on. It is the fastest way to answer whether you can make the next ridge or the landing field.
Glide line color
The color of that line. A white outline is always kept for contrast.
Change it if it disappears into the terrain colors where you fly.
Optimized line color
A colorDefault: Purple
The color of the optimized route line drawn through a task, on both the flight map and the task study map.
Pick whichever stands out against the airspace colors you see most.
Show shortest line
On or offDefault: Off
Draws the straight shortest line from your position to the active target, alongside the optimized line. On a wide cylinder the two can point noticeably apart, because the optimized line already leans toward the leg after it. It stays hidden while both point the same way, so a second line always means there is a real choice to make.
Turn it on when you want to see the cheapest way to tag the zone, for example when you are low and only need to touch the rim.
Shortest line color
The color of that line. The Flight Radar tile points along it with a second arrow in the same color, labeled with the straight distance. The target arrow next to it counts down the distance to the optimized crossing, so the two numbers answer different questions.
Keep it clearly different from the optimized line color, otherwise the two are hard to tell apart in the air.
Caution
The glide line is only as honest as your glider setup. If it looks optimistic, correct the glide ratio in Gliders rather than distrusting the line.
Auto zoom changes the map scale for you as the situation changes, so you are not pinching the screen while flying.
Auto zoom to target
On or offDefault: On
Adjusts the zoom automatically when you have a target such as a waypoint or a start cylinder, keeping both you and it in view.
Leave it on for task flying. Turn it off if you prefer a fixed scale you always recognize.
Auto zoom range
Two ends of a rangeDefault: Zoom 11.5 to 15.5
The lowest and highest zoom auto zoom is allowed to use.
Narrow it if the map moves more than you like. Widen the upper end if you want it to zoom right in on a close turnpoint.
Thermalling zoom limit
A zoom levelDefault: 21
How far in the map may zoom while you are circling.
Raise it if you use the map to place your climbs precisely, lower it if you lose the sense of where you are in a long climb.
Note
You can toggle auto zoom in the air with an Auto zoom control tile or a remote control button, without opening settings.
Draws a compass rose fixed to north around your position, with a red dot marking your heading.
Useful with heading up orientation, where the map itself no longer tells you where north is.
Thermal maps are a seasonal overlay showing where lift has historically been found. The app carries four seasons: January, April, July and October.
WhereSettings›Maps›Thermal maps
Enable thermal maps
On or offDefault: Off
Shows the thermal overlay on the flight map and on replays.
Turn it on when flying somewhere new, where local knowledge of the usual triggers is exactly what you lack.
Thermal overlay opacity
0 to 100 percentDefault: 50 percent
How strongly the overlay is drawn over the base map.
Lower it if the overlay hides the terrain you are trying to read.
Automatic season
On or offDefault: On
Picks the seasonal map from the current month.
Leave it on unless you are studying a different time of year.
Season
January / April / July / OctoberDefault: July
The season used when automatic season is off.
Caution
Thermal maps are history, not forecast. They tell you where lift often is, not where it is today. Treat them as local knowledge from a stranger.
Note
Thermal layers can be included in a downloaded offline region, so they work with no signal for the areas and seasons you downloaded. See Offline maps.
Two settings decide where map tiles come from. They are covered in full in Offline maps.
Use mobile data for maps
On or offDefault: On
Allows tile loading over a mobile connection rather than only on Wi-Fi.
Turn it off when roaming or on a small data plan.
Download maps
Opens the offline maps page, where you select regions on a world map and save them to the phone.
Tip
The most reliable setup for flying abroad: download the region you will fly, then turn mobile data for maps off. The map then costs nothing and never stalls waiting for tiles.