How to set an initial viewport in maps

You have created your map, but the viewport seems... off. In simple terms, the map is not showing the area you want to, as you wish to focus in a different area entirely, opt for a different zoom level, or both. In the following steps, we will guide you through the different options for setting and adjusting the initial viewport.

TIP: In a hurry? You might want to create a single-slide story to speed things up. You can learn more about this here.

1
The Auto option, which is the default setting, automatically sets the viewport to include every visible object, either marker or point.



TIP: Pitch is the amount of vertical rotation to apply to the map when it first loads, with zero creating a totally flat map. Increasing the value to anything larger than that that can create the illusion of a 3D perspective. Bearing is the direction the map would face upon initial load. Set to zero, the map will face north, while set to 180 it will face south, and so on.



2
If you wish to set a custom longitude, latitude and zoom, opt for the Centroid option.



TIP: A handy way to use this setting is by finding a point and using it as an "anchor". Do you want to set the map to focus on South Africa, for example? Find the coordinates of a city in South Africa, preferably located in the center of the region you wish to display, using sites like latlong.net, and enter them in the Latitude and Longitude boxes.



The Ζoom setting enables you to control the initial zoom level of your map, allowing further customization of the initial viewport.



Moreover, by choosing the Custom setting of the Resize by aspect ratio options, you can set a custom width and height that the aspect ratio will be based on.





3
Through the Bounds setting, you can specify a set of coordinates, creating a custom bounding box for the initial viewport.

4
If you want the whole world to display in the initial viewport regardless of points/markers or other settings, choose World.



5
Through the Viewport limits settings, you can set a maximum and minimum zoom level.



6
Moreover, you can restrict the viewport within a specific bounding box by enabling the Limit viewport bounds settings, and specifying the coordinates of the four "corners" of the box.