Quick Start
After installation, click the Desktop Icon or Start-Menu program entry to start the Time Mapper UHD. If you wish to maximize the program to fill the screen (recommended), then type the letters 'M' followed by 'A' on your keyboard. You can also maximize the program by clicking Menu Button - a standard 'hamburger' image to the top-right of the screen, and clicking the 'Maximize' button in the pop-up 'Controls-Panel'. You will notice that the program does not have the traditional ToolBar at the top of the program-window. This is done to save screen-space and make the map as big as possible, but don't worry: all the usual ToolBar controls are available in the 'Controls-Panel'. If the program is 'restored' - i.e. it is a floating window on your Desktop, you can move it by clicking-and-dragging the TimeBar (the program area full of small clocks) or the map-area. If the program is 'restored' you can also resize the window in the usual way by clicking-and-dragging the window edges or corners.
Location Details
The next thing to do is to configure the program by entering your location details. Click the 'Settings' button in the pop-up 'Controls-Panel', or type 'SM' on your keyboard. The Settings Menu will appear as a floating window. It has a number of tab-pages that are used for program configuration: for now, go to the 'User' tab-page, and enter values for 'My Name/Callsign', 'My Altitude', 'My Latitude', and 'My Longitude'. If you don't have a Callsign, use a single-word name. If you are not sure of your position details, you can get them by entering your address into Google Maps, and right-clicking your house. Don't worry about too much accuracy: this is a world map so we only need a decimal latitude/longitude value with 2 decimal points. The Altitude value is used when calculating satellite azimuth and elevation. You may also like to change the values for your preferred Time, Date, and Distance Units in the panel below. Don't worry about anything else for now: just close the Settings Menu by clicking the cross in the top-right corner, and the values will be saved automatically. The map will then reload with the new data that you have entered.
Base Map
Lets select a new Base Map. There are 25 different ones to choose from. In the 'Controls-Panel' click 'Maps', or type the keyboard-shortcut 'MM'. (By the way, for all keyboard shortcuts, you need to type both characters within a 5-second period.)
The 'Maps Menu' will open as a new floating window that shows 25 thumbnails of the available base maps. Click whichever you like, or type a two-digit number between '01' and '25'. The 'Maps Menu' will disappear, and the map and its associated values will load on the main program window. Notice how the color of the clocks in the 'Time Bar' (the region above the map) and the background of the 'Data Bar' (the region below the map) have changed as well.
Map Layers
The Base Map can have a number of layers displayed over it. There are 60 layers available, and many have different options available. To see which layers are currently on display, lets show the Map Legend by typing the shortcut 'IB'. The 'Info Bar' will display to the left of the program window. Look on the top line to see the current page of the Info Bar: IB. You can change the width of the Info Bar by typing 'W1' to 'W5'. Type 'W0' to hide it, or click 'InfoBar' in the 'Controls-Panel'.
Returning to the Map Legend: typing 'IB' will show it in the Info Bar. The map layers that are currently on display will be listed in their order of plotting. The ones at the back of the order will be listed first, and the layers that are plotted on top will be shown at the bottom of the Map Legend list.
For now, close the Info Bar by typing 'IB'. You could also click the 'InfoBar' button in the 'Controls-Panel'. Note how the map re-sizes itself when the Info Bar shows or hides. Now, lets show the Layers Menu, by typing 'LM', or by clicking the 'Layers' button in the 'Controls-Panel'. The Layers Menu shows all of the available map layers, and provides controls to enable and configure them. The 60 layers are split into Classes. The Classes are listed in the top-left panel. Click any one to show it's Layers in the panel underneath. The checked boxes are those layers that are currently being plotted on the map. To change the visibility of a layer, just click the box to add or remove a check-mark. Click a Leyer Name, next to the checkbox to get the Layer Description, and show the controls for adjusting its settings. For now, change the visibility of one layer, then click the cross in the top-right corner to save the new layer value, close the Layers Menu, and rebuild the map with the new layer showing.
Layer Groups
There are many ways to view all the different layers. We can use the Layers Menu to turn them on and off indivdually, and set their Styles, but sometimes it is useful to open a number of layers, and save them in a group, so we can quickly come back to them. For this, we have the 'Layer-Groups' window. See its Help Page to learn how to use it.