Maps (usage)

If you are connected to a surveillance system that supports Milestone Federated Architecture, you can only add maps from the surveillance system server you logged in to.

Maps (explained)

With a map, you get a physical overview of your surveillance system. You can instantly see which cameras are placed where, and in what direction they are pointing. You can use maps for navigation. Maps can be grouped into hierarchies, so you can drill down through hot zones, from large perspectives to detailed perspectives, for example, from city level to street level, or from building level to room level.

A map position does not display live video, a map is always a still image.

Maps may contain elements representing cameras, microphones, and similar technology. You can view recorded video from cameras in a preview window when you move your mouse over a camera icon on the map. The status information in playback mode is not based on recorded data, but retrieved from the elements' current status, as displayed in live mode.

Map of roads and 3 cameras placed facing different directions. Part of a map with a camera placed on it.

Map with camera elements and hot zone

Maps do not have to be geographical maps, although they often are. Depending on your organization's needs, photos and other kinds of image files can also be used as maps.

Maps are not the same as a smart map. For more information, see Differences between maps and smart maps (explained).

How elements interact with maps

You can use map elements to interact with the actual devices in the following ways:

Map overview window (explained)

The Map overview window provides you with an overview of the map hierarchy set up in the XProtect Smart Client. To open the Map overview window, right-click the map and select Map overview or click the icon on the map title bar.

A plus sign (+) next to a map indicates that the map could have one or more sub-maps attached to it as hot zones. Clicking a map in the Map overview immediately displays the selected map in the view.

Content in the Map overview may take some time to load if you are connected to a very large surveillance system with many maps.

If you are connected to a surveillance system that supports Milestone Federated Architecture, you can only add maps from the surveillance system server you logged in to. Milestone Federated Architecture is a system setup with related but physically separate surveillance systems. Such a setup can be relevant for, for example, chains of shops with many separate—but related—surveillance systems.

See the XProtect Comparison Chart on https://www.milestonesys.com/products/software/xprotect-comparison/ for information about which surveillance systems support Milestone Federated Architecture.

Send cameras from a map to a floating window

To view all the cameras (a maximum of 25 in one view) on a map simultaneously in a floating window:

  1. In live or playback mode, select the map that contains the cameras you want to view in a floating window.
  2. At the top of the map title bar, click the Send all cameras to floating window icon: Button for floating window. The icon has 4 gray squares. Under the squares is a gray camera..

The floating window displays a maximum of 25 cameras in the view.

If you have more than 25 cameras on a map, when you click this button, it will not always be the same cameras you see.

View recorded video from cameras on a map

You can view recorded video from cameras in a preview window when you move your mouse over a camera icon on the map. The status information in playback mode is retrieved from the camera's current live status.

  • You can use digital zoom and PTZ controls from the camera preview if the camera supports this. In the preview window, either click the More button and select digital zoom or use the PTZ (see PTZ images (explained)) controls that appear. If you have PTZ presets set up for a particular camera, you can activate the preset by selecting the preset in the preview
  • To view all the cameras (a maximum of 25 in one view) on a map simultaneously in a floating window, click the Send all cameras to floating window icon at the top of the map title bar: Button for floating window. The icon has 4 gray squares. Under the squares is a gray camera.

If you have more than 25 cameras on a map, when you click this button it will not always be the same cameras you see.

View status details

Status details are available for cameras (for example, resolution, image size, and bit-rate) and servers (for example, CPU usage, memory, network usage).

  • To display status details, right-click the required element and select Status details. Status details are displayed in a separate, floating window

If you see an error message saying that the event server has insufficient access permissions to the recording servers, you will not be able to view status details from recording servers. The error message relates to the Event Server service, which handles map-related communication on the surveillance system. The Event Server service is managed on the surveillance system server. Contact your system administrator, who will be able to handle the issue.

Zoom and auto maximize

If the map is larger than the view area in the XProtect Smart Client, or if you have zoomed in on the map, you can pan the map to see otherwise hidden areas. Click the map anywhere outside of added elements, and the map centers on the clicked spot. Pan the map by clicking and dragging the map in any direction.

  • To use the zoom function on a map, right-click the map and select Zoom in or Zoom out as required. Or use the Zoom to standard size function to zoom back to normal size

Alternatively, use your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom; scroll up to zoom in, scroll down to zoom out.

If Auto maximize map is enabled and your map position in the view is part of a view with several view positions, the map is automatically maximized to full screen after a period of time as defined in setup mode in the Properties pane. To revert to the original view, double-click the map anywhere outside of any added elements.