The Data Manager file is a text file that you create. It uses a simple syntax to tell Earth Plot which objects you want to track. By default, Earth Plot looks for a file named datamgr.txt in your Documents folder.
Windows example:
C:\Users\username\Documents\datamgr.txt
Mac OS example:
/Users/username/Documents/datamgr.txt
The Earth Plot Console window will allow you to specify a different path and file name.
The file can be created using any text editor that can save plain text files. I will explain the syntax using examples.
I get object data from CelesTrak.org. CelesTrak provides data in different formats. Earth Plot supports TLE (3LE and 2LE) and CSV formats. If I download the Space Stations file then my Data Manager file could be as simple as:
C:\Users\username\Downloads\stations.tle
If I also download the Weather file then my Data Manager File would be:
C:\Users\username\Downloads\stations.tle C:\Users\username\Downloads\weather.tle
Earth Plot will load and track all the satellites from those two files. Since both files are in the same directory we can simplify the Data Manager file to:
C:\Users\username\Downloads {
stations.tle
weather.tle
}
The above syntax does not mean additional files must also be in the same directory. We can still load objects from a file in a different directory or even on a different drive:
C:\Users\username\Downloads {
stations.tle
weather.tle
}
D:\more\objects.csv
The real benefit of the Data Manager file is when you want to load specific objects from a file. For example, if I want to load only the NOAA weather satellites from the weather file I can do the following:
C:\Users\username\Downloads {
stations.tle
weather.tle {
noaa*
}
}
D:\more\objects.csv
The above is using the asterisk (*) wild card to indicate any number of characters. This means any object with a name that begins with "noaa" will be loaded. There is also a question mark (?) wild card that is used to indicate any single character.
Using wild cards is optional and are only used with object names. You can also specify objects by their NORAD catalog number. Support for catalog numbers using Alpha-5 syntax was added to the 2025-04-22 release.
If I only want to load the International Space Station from the stations file then I would do the following:
C:\Users\username\Downloads {
stations.tle {
25544
}
weather.tle {
noaa*
}
}
D:\more\objects.csv
The included world.dat file contains the data used for drawing the coastlines on the map.
You can use the Earth Plot Console to tell Earth Plot to use a different file.
Only one object can be selected. Select an object by left clicking on or near its point. The object closest to where you click will be selected.
Press [Tab] to select the next object and [Shift] [Tab] to select the prior object. Object order is determined by the loading order listed in the Data Manager file.
The Information Panel displays information about the selected object.
Press [I] to show and hide the Information Panel and [Shift] [I] to change its position in the window. Positions are Top, Right, Bottom, and Left.
Use the Console to change colors and font.
The Orbital Path shows the path to be taken by the selected object.
Press [P] to show and hide the Orbital Path.
Use the Console to change color and number of orbits.
Objects are labeled using the optional title from the object data file. If a title is not provided then the catalog number is used.
Press [L] to cycle through the following label choices.
Use the Console to change color and font.
Earth Plot defaults to the Equirectangular map projection but offers several other map projections.
Press [M] to cycle forward through the map projections and [Shift] [M] to cycle backwards.
The following is a list of supported map projections.
