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ARGUS User Manual

2D layers

The 2D mode uses Google Maps as the rendering backend. Switch to it by cycling the globe icon to 2d (see Map overview).

Basemap

The 2D view renders in satellite mode by default. Google Maps natively supports roadmap, satellite, hybrid, and terrain, but only satellite is wired up in the current tile UI — you can’t pick a different basemap without a code change. If you need a street-view-style render for planning, switch to 3d (Google Earth with roads clearly visible) or cesium3d with OSM Buildings on.

Drawing tools (what actually exists)

The toolbar exposes these drawing interactions in 2D:

  • Pan — default when no tool is active. Left-click + drag pans the map, scroll zooms.
  • Place Flag — drops a flag at the next click. Opens the flag panel for metadata. See Flags for the full 13-type list.
  • Polyline / route — draw a multi-segment line. Useful for annotating a path or logging a route walked on foot. Triggered by the New Route button in the tile header.
  • Polygon — draw any of the polygon types by clicking vertices, then close the shape. See Polygons. Triggered by right-clicking the map and picking “Draw [type]” from the context menu.

What’s not in the 2D drawing toolbar

These are often-requested tools that don’t exist in the current build:

  • Circle — no primitive circle tool. Workaround: draw a polygon with vertices approximating a circle, or use the circle shape in the polygon draft if you’re on the JSON side of polygon import.
  • Rectangle — same — no dedicated rectangle tool.
  • Search-grid auto-generator — the generator referenced in SAR planning is applied to a saved polygon via the drone-mission planner; the 2D map itself doesn’t have a one-click grid button.
  • Measurement (ruler / area) — 2D has no measurement tools. Switch to 3d or cesium3d where the four-mode measurement tool runs. Measurement is Cesium-only in the current build.

Overlays visible in 2D

The following overlays render in 2D identically to 3D:

  • Drones — live icon + heading, rotates with yaw, trail enabled when selected.
  • DJI docks — ground pin with dock model badge.
  • VMS cameras — FOV sector projected as a translucent triangle on the ground.
  • Polygons — all four types with their colours (see below).
  • Flags — every dropped flag renders as a coloured pin with its type icon.
  • Polyline routes — as drawn.

Overlays only in 3D modes

These overlays require 3d or cesium3d and are suppressed in 2D:

  • Panoptic feeds (CCTV, ADS-B flights, earthquakes, ACLED events, etc.) — see Panoptic.
  • Sensor fusion (coverage grid, detection heatmap, thermal mosaic) — see Sensor fusion.
  • Tactical hologram — applies only to Cesium 3D.
  • OSM Buildings — obviously 3D-only.

Right-click context menu in 2D

Right-clicking anywhere brings up:

  • Place Flag — opens the flag panel, pre-fills the click location.
  • Draw Geofence / No-fly / SAR — starts a polygon draft of the picked type with the first vertex at the click point.

There’s no “copy coordinates” entry in the current build. Workaround: drop a flag at the point — the flag detail shows the coordinates with a copy button.

Performance

2D is the lightest mode. On battery-powered laptops 2D gives you several more hours of runtime than cesium3d. For heavy planning sessions (drawing large polygons, scrubbing through flag history) stay in 2D and only switch to 3D when you need volumetric context.

Known limitations

  • Quota: Google Maps 2D is billed per map-load event. Your org admin can see monthly usage under Admin → Organisation → Usage. Heavy panning in very long operations can accumulate billable loads; prefer cesium3d if you’re in a region where Google Maps billing is a concern.
  • No vision filters on satellite tiles — the 12 CSS vision filters documented under Vision filters do apply in 2D, but Google Maps’s satellite imagery interacts with the CSS filters differently than Cesium’s rendering, so the look is less stylised.