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2D Map

The 2D map is a full-screen interactive map that plots live ham radio spots and activations on a flat projection. It's the fastest way to scan activity in your region or anywhere in the world.

Getting Around the Map​

The map works the way you'd expect from any modern mapping app:

  1. Pan -- Drag to move around the map.
  2. Zoom -- Pinch on mobile or scroll on desktop to zoom in and out. You can also use the zoom buttons on the map controls pill at the bottom of the view.
  3. Recenter -- Tap the target icon on the map controls pill to jump back to your station location.
  4. Tap a marker -- On a hover device, tapping a spot marker opens the detail modal directly. On touch devices, the first tap raises a popup with the spot's label and a see details link so you can read what you tapped before committing to the full modal.

The map is locked to a north-up orientation -- rotation is disabled to keep the view consistent.

[SCREENSHOT: 2D map with activity markers and a spot detail popup]

What the Map Shows​

In the Activity tab, the map renders POTA (Parks on the Air) activations as individual park markers. Marker color reflects the activation's status — default activator, hunted (contacted), attempted, or marked for retry.

The same MapView component is reused elsewhere in the app to plot your logged QSOs (in the Logbook tab and folder detail views) with great-circle arc lines from your station to each contact, with visited DXCC countries highlighted and US state boundaries drawn for geographic context. Those views are covered in their own sections of the docs.

Marker Clustering​

When you're zoomed out to a wide view, Hamtrax groups nearby spots into clusters. Each cluster displays a number showing how many spots it contains.

  • Zoom in to break clusters apart and see individual markers.
  • Tap a cluster to zoom into that area and expand it.

As you zoom in further, clusters dissolve into individual spot markers that you can tap for details.

tip

If you're looking for activity in a specific area, zoom in first. Clustering keeps the map clean at wide zoom levels, but the spots are all still there once you get closer.

Day/Night Overlay​

The map displays a real-time day/night shadow showing where it's currently dark around the world. The boundary between light and dark marks the gray line -- the twilight zone where HF propagation is often enhanced.

[SCREENSHOT: 2D map showing day/night terminator overlay]

info

The gray line is the band between 84 and 96 degrees of angular distance from the subsolar point. It updates every minute as the Earth rotates.

Filtering Spots​

You can narrow down what appears on the map using the activity filters:

  1. Open the Activity tab — POTA is the active dataset.
  2. Use the band and mode filters in the panel to refine further.

Map Tile Layer​

Hamtrax uses a dark-themed custom map style at low zoom levels, designed for comfortable viewing during long sessions and to make the colored activity markers stand out. The map is built on MapLibre GL and renders country and regional boundaries for geographic context.

When you zoom in past a threshold, the map crossfades to a stock OpenStreetMap raster layer that provides street-level detail. The transition is smooth, and the zoom indicator on the map controls pill shows you how far through the zoom range you are.

tip

The dark map style is optimized for the Hamtrax color system. Spot markers, clusters, and the day/night overlay are all tuned to be clearly visible against the dark background.

Map Controls Pill​

A floating pill at the bottom-center of the map gives you quick access to the most common map actions:

  • Recenter -- Jump the view back to your station location. The button is disabled when you're already centered.
  • Zoom in / Zoom out -- Step the zoom level up or down one increment at a time. A small indicator between the buttons shows where you are in the zoom range.

The pill floats over the map and stays out of the way of markers and popups.

Connection Lines​

QSO Arcs (Logbook map)​

When viewing your logged QSOs on the map (in the Logbook tab and folder detail views), Hamtrax draws great-circle arc lines between your station and each contact's location. These lines show the signal path of each QSO. Tap any line to see the contact details. Your station location is resolved from the QSO's stored coordinates or from the associated POTA park reference.

User Location Marker​

Your station location is always visible on the map as a pulsing dot. The location is resolved from your preferences (device GPS, manual coordinates, or callsign-based lookup).

Visited Countries (Logbook map)​

When the map is rendering your logged QSOs, countries you've worked (from your DXCC list) are highlighted with a subtle fill and outline overlay. US state boundaries are also displayed for additional geographic context.

Activation Setup Mode​

Before you start a POTA activation, a Select a Park hint pill animates above the map until you pick one. The park-selector and frequency inputs each show a soft shimmering perimeter that fades once you fill them in -- a visual cue pointing you to the next field.

Activation Map Mode​

During a POTA activation, the map enters activation mode. A fixed park anchor pin marks your activation park's location as a reference point. The map also shows markers for stations that have spotted you (spotter markers), stations you've logged that have a known grid square (hunter markers), and stations that are both (spotter+logged markers). Each category has a distinct color. Hovering a spotter marker raises a popup showing that station's callsign.

POTA Detail Spotter Map​

When you open a live POTA activation from the Hunting view, the embedded map inside the detail modal draws arcs from the activator's park out to every spotter that reported them. The listener spread becomes obvious at a glance — you can see whether a station is being heard locally, regionally, or across continents without scanning the spotter list.