The objective behind adopting Orion Maps was to deliver modern, interactive topology visualizations for management and technical teams—serving both as a real-time operational view and a network design reference. While it replaces legacy tools like Network Atlas, it currently falls short in several critical areas:
1. Scalability and Navigation
- Orion Maps become increasingly cluttered and unreadable when adding 40+ nodes, largely due to thick connection lines and limited layout control.
- Zoom, pan, and center controls feel unintuitive, making large maps difficult to explore and position effectively.
- Recommendation: Enhanced map interaction controls for better usability.
2. Export Limitations
- There is no direct export to Visio or PDF, which is vital for sharing maps in project documentation or design reviews.
- Existing export options (e.g. PNG or JPEG) often fail in large deployments, producing low-resolution snapshots with illegible node names when zoomed.
- Recommendation: Add vector export support (PDF/Visio/SVG) and multi-page export logic for large maps.
3. Connection Link Metadata
- Connection lines only display speed or utilization, whereas interface-level details like interface names, description, or VLAN info are critical in design scenarios.
- Tools like Network Topology Mapper expose this data upfront in the diagram.
- Recommendation: Enable customizable link labels, allowing users to choose which metrics (interface name, status, IP, etc.) appear on the map.
