The map

The map is the main view in WEXWatch. It opens centred on the Huntly and SH1B corridor at a zoom level that shows the whole working area, with the layer controls on one side and issue details on the other.

Basemaps

Only one basemap is shown at a time. They are grouped by supplier.

LINZ (Land Information New Zealand):

• LINZ Aerial — aerial imagery. This is the default, and the most useful backdrop for identifying kerbs, drains, seals and fence lines.
• LINZ Topographic — the standard topographic map.
• LINZ Topo Lite — a lighter topographic style, easier to read when you have overlays or a lot of pins on top.

Google:

• Google Roadmap — street map, best for street names and addresses.
• Google Satellite — satellite imagery, sometimes a different capture date from the LINZ aerial.
• Google Terrain — shaded relief, useful for understanding slope and drainage.

Comparing two imagery layers is a practical way to date a change: if a feature appears in one aerial capture and not the other, you have narrowed down when it happened.

A basemap that the deployment has no API key for is shown but cannot be selected, with a note naming the missing key. That is a configuration matter for whoever runs the deployment, not something you can fix from the browser.

Overlays

Overlays draw on top of whichever basemap is selected, and more than one can be on at once.

• LINZ Primary Parcels — property boundaries from the LINZ Data Service, drawn as outlines. Use it to judge whether an issue sits inside the road reserve or on private land. Parcel boundaries are a cadastral record, not a survey of what is physically on the ground, so treat them as indicative.
• Issues / pins — your project's issues. Turning it off temporarily clears the map so you can look at the underlying imagery.

Issue pins

Each issue is a circle on the map with the issue name beneath it, coloured by its status:

That means a glance at the map tells you where the outstanding work is. The same colours, with a count for each status, are listed under Legend in the layer panel and on the filter chips in the All issues list.

Pins for issues you have queued but not yet saved are drawn smaller and in a pale grey, so you can see at a glance which observations are still drafts.

The selected pin is ringed in white so you do not lose it while panning. It is a ring rather than a filled circle, so the pin's status colour stays readable while it is selected.

Selecting an issue

Clicking a pin selects it. Two things happen: a small summary popup opens on the map, and the issue details panel switches to that issue.

The popup is a quick read rather than the full record. It shows the issue name, the issue type, the date recorded on site if one is set, a short preview of the description or latest note, the NZTM coordinates, and a button that opens Street View at the pin.

For the complete record — the photo, every field, the ownership and the conversation — use the issue details panel.

Navigating

• Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and use the zoom buttons on the map.
• A metric scale bar is shown on the map. It updates as you zoom, so you can judge distances directly, which is important when a defect is described as being a certain number of metres from a feature.
• Attribution for the current basemap is shown in a compact control on the map. It expands when you click it.
• The address search in the header moves the map to a matched address and marks the point. See Working with issues for how to use it alongside the issue list.
• The Go to on map action in the All issues list flies the map to that issue, which is quicker than hunting for a pin.

Small screens

On a phone or a narrow window the side panels collapse behind toggles so the map keeps the full width. Open the layer controls or the issue details panel when you need them and close them again to get the map back. On large screens the issue details panel can be dragged wider or narrower, and the width is remembered.

When a basemap will not load

If a Google basemap cannot be reached — usually a key, billing or API restriction problem in the underlying Google project — WEXWatch switches back to a LINZ basemap and shows a short notice rather than leaving you with an empty canvas. See Troubleshooting for what to check.