Map Layers & Filters¶

The MeshMapper map interface offers various layers and filtering options to customize how data is visualized. This allows users to switch between different map styles, toggle specific data types, and drill down into the data based on time, power, or equipment.

Base Layers¶

You can switch between different underlying map styles using the Layer Control (stack icon) in the top-right corner of the map.

Standard: The default view. Best for general navigation and street names.
Topographic: Displays terrain features, elevation lines, and hill shading. Extremely useful for understanding line-of-sight (LOS) obstructions between repeaters.
Dark Mode: A high-contrast dark theme. Ideal for low-light viewing or when you want the coloured data points to stand out clearly.
Satellite: Aerial imagery. Useful for verifying physical locations, tree cover, and landmarks.

Note: Your selected base layer is saved in your browser and will be remembered the next time you visit.

Settings & Preferences¶

The Settings menu (gear icon in the navigation bar) provides global options for the interface:

Theme: Toggle between Light Mode and Dark Mode.
- Note: Switching to Dark Mode will automatically change the Base Layer to the "Dark Mode" map style.
Units: Switch between Metric (m/km) and Imperial (ft/mi). This setting applies to:
- Distance measurements on connection lines.
- Maximum range calculation.
- Leaderboard statistics.
- Advanced Search distance filters.
- Grid Size labels.
Grid Mode: Switch between Detailed and Simplified modes. Detailed mode disables repeater clustering and expands each ping into neighboring grid cells for smoother coverage. Simplified mode clusters repeaters at wide zoom levels and loads faster.
Grid Size: Select the physical size of coverage grid squares. Options range from 50m to 2km, with the default being 300m (Simplified) or 100m (Detailed). Click to open a dropdown and select the desired size. Changing this setting reloads the map. Labels adjust automatically when switching between Metric and Imperial units.
Info Panel: Switch between Sidebar and Popup mode for viewing ping details.
Hide Data from Missing Repeaters: When enabled, hides coverage grid squares that reference repeaters no longer present on the map, reducing visual noise from outdated or removed infrastructure.

Accessibility¶

Colour Vision: Choose a colour palette optimised for your vision type. The setting is found under Settings > Accessibility > Colour Vision. Available options:
- Default — Standard colours (unchanged).
- Protanopia (Red-blind) — Optimised for red-green colour vision deficiency.
- Deuteranopia (Green-blind) — Same palette as Protanopia (both are red-green CVD).
- Tritanopia (Blue-blind) — Optimised for blue-yellow colour vision deficiency.
- Achromatopsia (Monochrome) — Greyscale palette for total colour blindness.
Palettes are based on Wong 2011 colourblind-safe colours. When a palette is selected, all coverage grid squares, repeater markers, signal strength indicators, legend colours, summary stats, charts, and gradient layers (Effective Coverage, Signal Strength, Ping Age) update automatically. The setting is saved in your browser and persists across sessions.

Effective Coverage¶

Colour Spectrum: Toggle between Red → Green (default) and Red → Blue (full spectrum) for the Effective Coverage layer.
Min Sample Size: Set the minimum number of pings required in a grid square before it is displayed on the map (default: 1). Increasing this value filters out grid squares with limited data, giving a cleaner view of well-sampled areas.

Grid Transparency¶

Normal Opacity: Adjust the fill opacity of coverage grid squares (default: 60%).
Faded Opacity: Adjust the opacity of grid squares that are faded into the background, such as when the Repeater Neighbours layer is active (default: 15%).

Line Transparency¶

Line Opacity: Adjust the opacity of all lines drawn on the map — including repeater neighbour lines, repeater-to-grid-square lines, and ping-to-repeater lines (default: 100%).

Overlay Layers¶

These layers display the actual mesh network data. You can toggle them on or off individually to reduce clutter.

Layer Name	Description
BIDIR	Green grid squares showing confirmed two-way coverage (the sender heard a repeat AND the packet was also heard by at least one observer after being repeated).
TX	Orange grid squares where packets were sent but no confirmation was received (no repeat heard by the sender but the packet was repeated and heard by at least one observer).
RX	Purple grid squares where other repeated mesh traffic was heard by the meshmapper companion.
DISC / TRACE	Cyan grid squares showing Node Discovery and Trace packets.
DEAD	Grey grid squares where a repeater heard the ping, but it didn't route further (sender heard a repeat but no observer did).
DROP	Red grid squares showing failed pings (neither the sender nor any observers heard repeats of the packet).
Repeaters	The icons representing repeater nodes.
Repeater Coverage	When a repeater is clicked, this layer draws dashed blue lines to all locations where that repeater was heard. Useful for visualizing the effective footprint of a specific repeater.
Adv. Repeater Coverage	Similar to standard Repeater Coverage, but colour-codes the lines and grid squares based on the connection type (Green=BIDIR, Orange=TX, etc.) instead of using a uniform blue. Lines are labelled as In or Out to indicate whether the ping originated inside or outside the region boundary.
Repeater Neighbours	Draws lines between repeaters that have heard each other directly, with full support for multi-byte repeater identification. When enabled, coverage pings fade into the background to make the neighbour lines easier to trace. Lines older than 7 days are automatically hidden. - Green Dashed: Heard recently (≤ 3 days). - Orange Solid: Heard 4-7 days ago.
Effective Coverage	Filters the map to show only locations with confirmed reliable connectivity, removing noise and edge-case pings for a cleaner view of where the mesh truly delivers. Each ping type is given a numerical value (BIDIR being the highest and DROP being the lowest) and these values are averaged across each grid square.
Signal Strength	Colour-codes coverage grid squares by signal strength (SNR), making it easy to identify strong and weak zones across the map at a glance. ≤ -1 dB displays in red and ≥ 5 dB in green, with everything else in between.
Ping Age	Colour-codes grid squares based on how recently they were last pinged. Green indicates recent activity and red indicates stale coverage. The green and red age thresholds are adjustable from the Settings panel, making it easy to identify areas that may need remapping.
Noise Floor	A coverage mode that colour-codes grid squares by RF noise level. Green = quiet, Red = loud. Select it from the Coverage Mode section. See Noise Floor below for details.
Neighbor Zones	Small pins showing the location of nearby MeshMapper regions. Clicking them will take you to that map.
Neighbour Zone Boundaries	Draws a dashed outline showing the official boundary (polygon or radius) of each neighbouring region. Requires Neighbor Zones to be enabled — it will be automatically turned off when Neighbor Zones is disabled, and restored when it is re-enabled.
Region Boundary	A black outline showing the official area covered by the current map zone.

Noise Floor¶

The Noise Floor coverage mode visualizes the RF noise environment across the map by colour-coding grid squares. It helps identify areas with high interference versus quiet areas with clean signal conditions.

What It Shows¶

Every companion reports a noise floor reading (in dBm) with each ping it submits. The noise floor represents the level of background RF interference the radio is experiencing at that location. A reading closer to 0 dBm is "loud" (lots of interference), while a very negative value like -120 dBm is "quiet."

Because different radios and antennas report different absolute noise values, MeshMapper doesn't display the raw readings directly. Instead, it calculates a noise delta — how much louder or quieter a location is compared to that device's baseline.

How Calibration Works¶

MeshMapper automatically calibrates each companion's baseline:

After enough data has been collected (at least 5 readings), MeshMapper calculates the companion's 10th percentile noise floor — essentially the quietest conditions that companion typically experiences.
This becomes the companion's baseline.
Every data point is then scored as a delta (difference) from that baseline.
Every day a new calibration is done to update that companion's noise delta.

For example, if your companion's baseline is -110 dBm and you submit a reading of -90 dBm, the delta is +20 — meaning that location is 20 dB (100X) noisier than your device sees under typical quiet conditions.

This per-companion calibration ensures that readings from different hardware/setups are comparable on the same map. All readings for a single location are averaged and displayed accordingly.

Reading the Colours¶

Grid squares are colour-coded on a gradient from green to red:

Colour	Meaning
Green	Quiet — at or near the companion's baseline noise level.
Yellow	Moderate — some elevated noise above baseline.
Red	Loud — significantly above baseline, indicating high interference.

A Noise Floor legend appears in the bottom-right of the map when this mode is active, showing the gradient scale from Quiet to Loud.

Like the other coverage modes, Noise Floor fully supports the colour vision accessibility options, so all colour blindness palettes apply to noise grid squares and the legend.

Tip

To enable, select Noise Floor from the Coverage Mode section in the Layer Control (stack icon) in the top-right corner of the map.

Legacy Data Layer¶

Regions with imported historical data will have a Legacy layer available. This layer displays data points uploaded via CSV but does not show connection lines or contribute to repeater statistics due to the lack of verifiable repeater association. See Data Upload for more details.

Map Tools¶

Line of Sight¶

The Line of Sight tool is available from the map toolbar and allows you to check terrain clearance between any number of points on the map. Click to place two (or more) points (or click directly on repeaters) and MeshMapper will fetch the elevation profile and show whether the path is clear or obstructed. When a repeater is selected as one of the endpoints, you can adjust its elevation above ground for more accurate results.

View in 3D (Beta)¶

Region maps can be viewed in 3D. Available from the Map Mode section of the Layer Control, this opens a 3D globe view centered on the current map position with coverage data overlaid on terrain. This feature is currently in beta.

Packet Analyzer¶

The Packet Analyzer provides a real-time view of raw MeshCore packets flowing through the region's MQTT observers. It is accessible from the map toolbar. The analyzer can be opened in a new tab for a full-screen experience using the pop-out button.

The Live Visualization mode (accessed via the "Visualize Live" button in the analyzer) draws animated lines on the map showing how packets are moving through the region's repeaters in real time.

The search functionality combines quick lookups with powerful filtering options.

Advanced Search¶

Clicking the Options button (tune icon) next to the search bar opens the Advanced Search panel.

Quick Time: Filter data by age (Last 30 Days, 90 Days, 1 Year, or All Time).
Tx Power: Filter by transmit power (0.3W, 0.6W, 1.0W).
Ext. Ant.: Toggle to show only data points collected with an external antenna.
Display Only Repeaters With Incorrect Time: Toggle to filter the map to only show repeaters whose embedded clock is off by more than 120 seconds. Useful for identifying repeaters that need their time set correctly.
User: Filter pings by the username of the wardriver (if enabled for the region).
Repeater Name / ID: Search for specific repeaters by name or the first 2 characters of its Public ID.
Ping contains repeater name or ID: Find pings that routed through or were heard from a specific repeater by its name or ID. This filter automatically excludes pings associated with duplicate repeater IDs or known collisions and displays a warning message when this occurs.
SNR Range: Filter pings based on Signal-to-Noise Ratio (Min/Max).
Distance Range: Filter pings based on distance from the heard repeater (Min/Max meters).
Date Range: Specify a custom start and end date for the data.

Coverage Only Mode¶

For users on older hardware, mobile devices with limited resources, or slow internet connections, MeshMapper offers a Coverage Only Mode.

How it works: Instead of loading thousands of individual data points and rendering them in the browser (which can be CPU intensive), this mode loads pre-rendered image tiles from the server.
Performance: This significantly reduces memory usage and load times, making the map usable on almost any device regardless of processing power.
Limitations:
- No interactivity: You cannot click on grid squares to see pings or repeater paths.
- No filtering: Advanced filters (Time, Power, User) are disabled.
- Simplified View: Only the coverage grid is shown; repeaters and lines are hidden.
How to access:
- A "Switch to Coverage Only" button will appear on the loading screen.

Private Repeaters¶

Operators can opt-out of location sharing by appending the "no entry" emoji (🚫) to the end of their repeater's name.

Map: The Name, Location, and ID are removed from the map and the Repeaters layer.
Pings: Coverage pings are kept and visible in the grid layers, but the repeater details are masked.
Leaderboards: The name is replaced with "(private repeater)", but stats are still calculated.