3D World Atlas - Help

1. Use of menus and menubar

1.1. Main menu

The main menu is displayed when "3D World Atlas" starts up. Choose one of the five maps, one of the six geographical topics, or one of the countries from the drop down list.

1.2. Functions menu
The functions menu is located at the top of the screen and is always available. Here, you find the following functions:

File
Print: prints the current map, or, in the case of a country or topic page,the current text and images.
Exit: quits "3D World Atlas". You can also quit the program by clicking the small cross at the top right of the screen.

Edit
Copy: copies the current map, or, in the case of a country or topic page,the current text and images. These can be pasted into other suitable applications.
Select all: selects all of the current text and images that is open in a window.

View
Show/hide globe control : toggles the globe control window (only the currently open map)
Show/hide locator: toggles the find location window (only the currently open map)
Show/hide measure tool: : toggles the measure tool window (only the currently open map)
Main menu: goes to the main menu.
Status bar: toggles the status bar.

Bookmarks
Add bookmark: saves a view of a map. You can give the view a name in the dialogue window. To open it again, click on the listing under the 'Bookmark' menu.
Delete bookmark: deletes a saved bookmark.

User labels
Add: add your own label to the map. Choose the icon and position on the map. Click on the map to add the new label to the location. In the dialogue you can name the new label.
View: shows all the user labels. Choose the label with a mouseclick. Then click OK. The map will centre on the chosen location. Click on 'edit' or 'delete' to work with the label.

Help
"About Atlas" : opens this window.

2. Using the globe

The maps in "3D World Atlas" are projected as a globe. These can be zoomed in or out, moved up and down, or turned by using the mouse, on screen controls, or keyboard commands. With the location finder you can display any place or physical feature.

2.1 Navigation

- Moving the globe from north to south and from east to west..

- Continuous zoom to the minimum distance from the surface..

The short pauses during a zoom sequence are necessitated by data loading..

2.2. Globe control

Navigation can be done by using the mouse, keyboard commands or onscreen globe control. The globe control is in four sections: control, display options, legend and location finder. These four sections can be accessed via the symbols at the top of the globe control window.

In the bottom part of the globe control, you can access all the globes, all topics, and all country information. Click on one of the five small globes, to change map. The options are: General map, Satellite map, Physical map, Bio-climatic map, and earth by night.

A. Control:

- The mini-globe can be moved in any direction you choose. The main globe will follow the direction of the min-globe, and reposition itself.

- Turning the globe: click on the little arrows to the right of the mini-globe, to turn the globe north, south east or west,. The inner arrows turn the globe continually, while the outer arrows turn it in small steps.

B. Display options:

- With the help of the yellow arrows, you can move the globe right to left and up and down.. A mouseclick on the word centre or the cross in the middle of the yellow arrows will centre the globe again.

- Checking the boxes underneath the control globe enables you to choose which geographical features to display on the current globe.:
Shadow - toggles a 3D shadow effect on the globe
Grid - toggles the latitude and longitude grid on/off
Labels - toggles all labels on/off.
Underneath you find all of the checkboxes for geographical features

Note that labels are visible only when the correct zoom level is reached. So, for example, a small town name will not be visible from a long way away.

C. Legend:

The legend button opens the legend for the current map.

D. Location finder:
Clicking the icon at the top right of the window opens the location finder dialogue box (see below 2.4.).

2.3. Control with the mouse

Rotating the globe
Drag the mouse over the globe with the left button pressed. The more you drag, the faster the speed of rotation.

Zoom in and out
To zoom in hold down the ctrl key and drag the mouse. To zoom out hold down the alt key and drag the mouse.

Move the globe
Drag the mouse over the globe with the right button pressed.

Moving the mouse over the map displays the latitude and longitude coordinates in the status bar to the bottom right.

Click on the "flag" symbol in the top right of the globe control window. Or choose the option 'view locator' from the 'View' menu in the menubar.

Click with the left mouse button on the map to display information about a location. You can click on a place or a landmass. As well as the standard information, there is more information available by clicking on
the small blue arrow.

2.6. Printing maps

Warning:
The maps in "3D World Atlas" are copyright protected. (Choose 'About Atlas to check on copyright holders). You may copy the maps for private use, but they may not be distributed..

At the end of most topics pages, there are links to sample locations on the map.

To copy maps choose first select the text you wish to copy, then choose 'Copy' from the 'Edit' menu on the menubar, or press ctrl+C. The text will be copied to the clipboard. The text is now available to be pasted into other applications.

Warning:
The text and images in "3D World Atlas" are copyright protected. (Choose 'About Atlas to check on copyright holders). You may copy the maps for private use, but they may not be distributed..

"3D World Atlas" contains data and information about all the countries of the world.

Choose a country or territory from the dropdown menu on the home page, or in the globe control window.

Please note that dependent territories are listed at the end of the main country list.

In the information window of a country you see an overview of the country facts and figures. Further information is divided into sections, which are accessed using the menu to the left of the window.

Clicking on the 'map' button centres the globe on the current country.

3D World Atlas

Copyright © 2002 Xamba Software Ltd and Systhema in der United Soft Media Verlag GmbH . All rights reserved.

Maps, geographical data, topic texts

Copyright © 2002 Planetary Visions Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geographical data

Copyright © 2002 Europa Technologies Ltd.

Additional data for France, Germany, UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain are reproduced by permission of SABE in co-operation with MEGRIN

Country information

Copyright © 2002 Dorling Kindersley and licensors. All rights reserved.

3D globe Software

Copyright © 2002 RBAG software

Credits

Production

Philip Smith and Patrick Gibbins, Xamba Software LTD

Interface-Design

Johannes Greiner (USM), Philip Smith

Text authors

Philip Eales, Dr Simon Tapper

Editorial

Olaf Schmidt (USM), Hannah Powell-Smith

Software Development

Rinat Bagoutdinov, Roman Katargin, Vladimir Trifinenkov

Earthquake data

CNSS Worldwide Earthquake Catalog. In kind cooperation with members networks of the Council of the National Seismic System (CNSS) and the Northern California Earthquake Data Centre (NCEDC).

Topic texts

Additional text and images by GeoGrafx.