3D Terrain and Sunlight

Tilt the map to see mountains in relief, and see where sun and shade fall at any time of day.

Both are switches in the layer panel. Tap the layers icon at the end of the bottom bar, then turn on 3D Terrain or Sunlight at the top of Layers. Glassing remembers them between launches.

3D Terrain

Turn on 3D Terrain and the map tilts so mountains stand in relief. Drag two fingers up or down to tilt it more or less. Turn the switch off and the map lays flat again.

The map tilts only as far as keeps ground at the top of the screen, about 54° with the iPhone upright, so the sky never shows. Zoomed out to a wide region, it lies flat; zoom back in and it tilts up again to the tilt you chose.

Trails, contours, layers, and your saved waypoints, routes, and tracks are drawn on the terrain. A ridge in front hides what is behind it, the way it would from where you are looking. Your location fades instead of disappearing, and the ring around a selected pin shows through faintly. If a line seems to stop partway up a slope, the ridge may be hiding it: turn the map to look from another side.

3D works offline in a downloaded map, which carries the terrain.

Sunlight

Turn on Sunlight to shade the ground the sun doesn't reach. A bar appears beside the location button. Drag along it to change the time of day; it runs from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, with sunrise and sunset marked. Tap the calendar button to pick another day. Times are in your phone's time zone.

Near sunrise and sunset, the light on the slopes turns gold and then rose, and the last light stays on the peaks after the valleys are in shade. Sunlight works on the flat map and in 3D.

Tap the wind button on the bar to show Thermals: how the air moves on a calm, clear day, climbing sunny slopes and draining down shaded ones. Real wind, weather, and clouds are not included.

To get the bar out of the way, tap the ✕ at its end or swipe down on it. It becomes a round button above the location button; tap that to bring the bar back. Sunlight stays on either way.

See Maps and layers for the other layers, and Sources and limits for where the terrain comes from.

Need help? Email support.