Get Started
Welcome to Terria Platforms!
Let's dive into how to get started using Terria Platforms.
The Get Started guide will include:
Landing page and what you need to do to start exploring.
Home page - main sections, tabs and tools
Steps to get started
Landing page
Includes descriptions of Disclaimers and the Quick access guides.
Disclaimers and acknowledgments
Most of Terria platforms would have an opening disclaimer and/or acknowledgment through which the product owner (organisation owning & governing the platform) communicates main terms of use, asking the users to agreeing before proceeding any further. Simply click 'I agree' to continue. Here are some examples.
'Let's get you started' quick access guide
This is either the first (in case Disclaimer doesn't exist) or second landing page message popup. It usually includes a list of steps users can take, depending on their level of comfort navigating the map. This access guide is aimed mainly at first or second time users. You can:
Home page
This section maps out for you all sections, tabs and tools accessible from the Home page and their basic role. Details on how to interact with each are presented in following pages of the Guide. When you arrive at home page, you'll see a map of Australia (or other regions) with a default base map and no data added.
Name and branding
Each platform includes data relevant to the audience of a specific organisation or individual. The name and branding are located at the top-left corner of the home page. It may include one or more logos in case the platform is a collaboration between a number of organisations.
Search for locations
Explore map data
Once you click Explore map data, you can access the default list of data relevant for the platform you're accessing. Catalogues range from a couple of datasets to tens of thousands, depending on the product owner and scope of the platform.
Note that it may not be immediately obvious if selected spatial data has loaded onto the map if it doesn't cover a large part of Australia. To locate loaded data on the map, go to the Data Workbench (positioned on the left hand side of the page), and click the ideal Zoom link for your desired data set. From here you can also click About this data to get more information about selected dataset. Another way to improve the visualisation of the selected data is by using the opacity slider in the same section as About this data.
Upload
You can add other data to the map than default catalogue data sets. They can upload a local file or a url. More information on how to Upload data can be found here.
Workbench
Upon landing, no data is added to the map by default, hence the message is "Your workbench is empty". More information about Workbench can be found here.
The image of Australia or other region is a default base map and does not contain any real time satellite imagery or other datasets. To clarify, a message at the bottom left corner of the map indicates that no data is on the map: "No map data enabled".
Login
Authentication and authorisation of users is a Digital Twin feature and allows role based access to non-public datasets.
About
The About tab opens a page introducing the aim of the platform, it's product owner, partners; Terms of use; how to contribute data, provide feedback and acknowledgments of data and software licenses used.
Map settings
Map settings include functions like selecting 2D or 3D view, showing terrain, base maps, timeline and image optimisation slider. More details about map settings can be found here.
Share / Print
Share / Print tab allows you to copy the map view as an url and share. It also allows previewing and printing the current map view, including metadata and legends.
Story
Helps you create and share stories using the data on the map.
Tools
On the right hand side of home page, you'll find a selection of tools:
Gyroscope - only in 3D mode
Zoom
Location - centre map to current location
Compare - map split
Pedestrian mode - only in 3D mode
Measuring tool
Scene editor - only in 3D mode in Terria Digital Twins
More details on each tool can be found here.
Feedback button
Continuing on the right hand side of the Home page, you'll find the Feedback button to send messages to platform maintainers.
Help button
Last button on right hand side is the question mark indicating help.
Lat Lon / Elevation / Zoom
Depending on where you clicked on the map, you can see the marker's location, elevation and zoom level.
Brand and attributions
Final section of the home page includes logos of TerriaJS and Cesium ION (the provider of the Cesium World Terrain), and links to Data Attribution, Disclaimers, Basemap attributions and licensing terms of use.
Steps to get started
Step 1: Explore data
Click on Explore map data button under Search for locations on your home page. You'll be presented with a catalogue structure for browsing or searching specific data sets. They range from a couple to thousands depending on the platform.
Step 2: Customise map settings
Click on Map settings button and toggle between 2D and 3D and experiment with different base maps, depending on which data you're adding (e.g. for buildings 3D view is needed, for dark points a white base map works best, for thin lines, a dark base map would be a better contrast etc.).
Step 3: Share
Once you added layers and adjusted the settings for best visualisation including zoom levels, you can share the map view as an url.
Step 4: Create a story
You can create simple animations using the Story functionality by adding different data layers, changing the zoom levels etc. at different stages of the Story. Once completed, Stories can be shared following the steps under Share / Print feature.
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