# Default map/satellite view in personal preferences **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature Requests\ **Created:** [June 14, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146 "2019-06-14T11:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![karoopixie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/karoopixie/32/69882_2.png) [@karoopixie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/karoopixie)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/1 "2019-06-14T11:45:44Z")
The default map view is pretty useless in Africa, and I have to change every map to satellite view. This only sticks on the map tab of the Explore page, and if one has chosen the satellite view on a traditional project. Everywhere else the map defaults to map view even on a page refresh. Here is an example of what I see when I’m trying to find a point on map view: ![map1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/3/3087f30794a21e0bd90f2bf8c34001988c38b52c.jpeg) and on satellite view: ![sat1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/e/e087074231a940b7dedd58a502b9e9d292e5caa5.jpeg) Please may we have an option under our profile settings to have default satellite view on all maps on the site. Interestingly, satellite view loads faster than map view, which is another plus for this option on slow, rural bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![karoopixie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/karoopixie/32/69882_2.png) [@karoopixie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/karoopixie)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/2 "2019-06-14T13:39:51Z")
+1 vote for my own feature request (I have run out of votes). ---
**Author:** ![vynbos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vynbos/32/121_2.png) [@vynbos](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vynbos)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/3 "2019-06-14T15:01:20Z")
I’m all out of votes, but I’ll second this. I think you get an automatic vote if it’s your suggestion! I’d also like the map to always be zoomed to show just the obs. Often I find I’m getting the whole world view and have to scroll right in to the obs that are often all in a small corner of Southern Africa. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/4 "2019-06-14T22:09:40Z")
Me three. I always use satellite view. My camera doesn’t have GPS so I need to find That Place on the hiking trail. [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26861457](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26861457) And have to zoom from the world to Cape Town. For. Every. Observation. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 4:26am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/5 "2019-06-18T04:26:29Z")
> [@vynbos](#): > > I’m all out of votes, but I’ll second this. I think you get an automatic vote if it’s your suggestion! When you create a feature request, you also have to vote for it. Note that you can remove votes from other requests to free them up. As for the request itself, I’ll see if this is something we can do. > [@DianaStuder](#): > > My camera doesn’t have GPS so I need to find That Place on the hiking trail. Here’s a workflow for geotagging your photos from the field: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-photos/66](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-photos/66) I find it much easier than manually adding locations to observations. Also, note that you can “pin” locations in the web uploader: [https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials#add\_web](https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials#add_web) ---
**Author:** ![karoopixie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/karoopixie/32/69882_2.png) [@karoopixie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/karoopixie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 6:35am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/6 "2019-06-18T06:35:35Z")
Thanks, Tony! As a side note: if I have put the wrong locality on a bunch of photos (which is usually a result of the pinned locations search bouncing around (which is another thing I need to write a post about)), and want to batch edit them to the correct spot, my pinned locations are not available in the Batch Edit function, so I have to go searching on the map again and find the spot and rename it properly because the goog names are random and vague. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/7 "2019-06-18T20:05:10Z")
I am with the 50% on your poll who add location manually. We hike somewhere different each week, and I try to mark each plant I photograph ‘where I saw it’ for which satellite view helps. ---
**Author:** ![karoopixie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/karoopixie/32/69882_2.png) [@karoopixie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/karoopixie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/8 "2019-06-28T10:58:38Z")
Frabjous Friday :-D All my maps are satellite view!! Delirious with joy! Thank you @tiwane and devs 🤗 😀 ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/9 "2019-06-28T16:39:20Z")
Glad it’s working! Can’t take any credit, I was the middleman and did some testing, that’s all. I’ll close this. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/10 "2019-06-28T16:39:26Z")
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**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/11 "2019-06-28T17:16:20Z")
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**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/12 "2019-06-28T17:25:00Z")
I should probably explain how this works, or is supposed to work, as it’s a bit buggy at the moment. We’re working on fixing those issues. Basically, if you are on a page with a map - Explore, Upload, Observation detail, Identify, Taxon, etc - and choose Map or Satellite view on that page, that choice is now “sticky” throughout the rest of the site. So if I’m using the uploader and switch to satellite view, I should see all maps in satellite view on the rest of the site until I choose map view on another map. Then all maps will be shown in map view until I change it again. ---
**Author:** ![karoopixie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/karoopixie/32/69882_2.png) [@karoopixie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/karoopixie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/13 "2019-06-28T17:50:41Z")
Thank you for the explanation, Tony :-) ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/14 "2019-07-02T06:04:09Z")
OK, I think there are still a few things we need to clean up, but I’m going to close this now. If it’s not working as expected, please file a bug report. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/default-map-satellite-view-in-personal-preferences/4146/15 "2019-07-02T06:04:12Z")