Bring Your Data to Life: Visualizing Data in Global Mapper

Global Mapper® is a comprehensive GIS application built to make mapping and analysis workflows more efficient for users of all levels of expertise. A key part of any GIS project is data visualization — transforming raw spatial information into visuals that tell a story. With features like terrain shaders, a powerful 3D Viewer, and animation tools, Global Mapper makes visualizing and sharing spatial data easier than ever. Explore how these built-in visualization tools make Global Mapper one of the most versatile GIS viewers.

Enhancing Terrain and Lidar Visualization:

When viewing elevations or other continuous GIS data as a raster, the way it’s visualized makes a difference. While an RGB shader is a familiar way to view this gridded data, a more complete picture often emerges when visualizing it by other attributes. In Global Mapper, Shader Options allow users to control how their data is rendered—going beyond the standard rainbow color ramp to include color-blind accessible options like Plasma or Magma, as well as visualizations based on intensity, NDVI values, or slope. Switching between shaders is simple, empowering users to explore their data from multiple perspectives. For even greater flexibility, custom shaders can be created directly from the Viewer toolbar to highlight specific value ranges or match branding.

Visualization options can be refined even further using the Lidar/Terrain Display Controls, opened from the lidar toolbar. Revamped in version 26.2, this tool provides an intuitive interface for adjusting shaders and refining how elevation or other values are displayed with a built-in slider that defines the shader’s display range. With Global Mapper Pro, a histogram accompanies the slider to show the distribution of lidar points by elevation or the selected value. The Point Filters section allows users to filter point cloud data by attributes such as elevation, classification, or intensity—temporarily hiding points from display without removing them from the dataset. 

Animating Change Over Time

The world is constantly changing — and your GIS visualizations should reflect that. The Animate Layers button, introduced in version 26.2, opens a floating pane that makes it easy to build, preview, and manage animations directly within your workspace. With this tool, users can display layers sequentially to create dynamic visualizations such as timelapses or animated simulations. Whether you’re showing predicted water-level rise, solar shadow movement, or the path of a moving vessel, the Animation Tool brings your spatial data to life.

A built-in slider allows users to manually step through time series data for precise control, while the ability to record and export animations as videos makes sharing results effortless. Users can even create and manage multiple animations within a single project, offering flexibility for complex datasets. By turning temporal or sequential data into compelling visuals, the Animation Tool in Global Mapper transforms data into motion, helping users communicate patterns, processes, and predictions through clear and engaging visual outputs.

Exploring Data in Three Dimensions

Seeing something from multiple perspectives is always valuable, especially when working with three-dimensional data such as terrain grids, point clouds, and 3D models. Global Mapper’s 3D Viewer supports the same broad range of data formats as the main workspace, allowing users to seamlessly switch between 2D and 3D environments for a deeper understanding of elevation, scale, and spatial relationships.

Set the Stage: Use a Skybox

Global Mapper’s 3D Viewer offers several skybox options—including settings like Sunny Day, Sunset, and Full Moon—to enhance the visual quality of your 3D models. These backgrounds not only make your scenes more visually appealing but can also help certain colors and features stand out. 

For users who want full creative control, the skybox can be completely customized. You can swap out the built-in skyboxes for a solid background color or even upload your own custom textured skybox using image files(.bmp, .jpg, and .png). 

To set a solid background color:

1. Open the 3D Viewer Configuration menu and select the Environment tab
2. From the skybox dropdown, choose None (Solid Background)
3. Select a background color of choice

To create a custom textured skybox:

1. Navigate to your Global Mapper installation directory: C:\Program Files\GlobalMapperXX_64bit\SkyboxTextures
2. Create a new folder inside the SkyboxTextures directory.
3. Add six image files named: Back, Front, Up, Down, Right, and Left
4. Restart Global Mapper to load your new skybox, which will appear in the Skybox dropdown menu

The 3D Viewer is an invaluable tool for workflows such as site planning, flood simulations, infrastructure modeling, or simply visualizing a 3D CAD model in context. It helps users interpret vertical features, assess visibility, and explore terrain details with precision. 

3D Fly Through

For a more immersive experience, the 3D Viewer also supports walkthroughs and flythroughs, enabling users to navigate through their 3D scenes by creating a path or using an existing line feature. Users can record and export these paths as high-quality .mp4 videos making it easy to share visualizations and communicate spatial insights clearly. To learn more about creating a 3D fly-through in Global Mapper, check out this tutorial.

From customizable shaders and lidar display filtering to dynamic animations and immersive 3D visualizations, Global Mapper offers a complete suite of tools to help users see their data in new ways. Each feature—whether used for analysis, presentation, or exploration—enhances how geospatial information can be understood.

As both an advanced GIS viewer and an all-in-one mapping platform, Global Mapper makes it easy to transform complex spatial datasets into meaningful visual stories. Explore how these visualization tools ensure that your GIS data doesn’t just inform—it inspires.