[Guide] Onboard scanner guide (from Grismar's EVE Wiki)

As many of you asking about on-board scanner I am posting this information on the forum.
Original info can be found in the Grismar's EVE Wiki : Here

So - Scanning Guide !
The directional scanner is one of the most powerful tools available to the pod pilot. But its freeform operation and somewhat technical nature can be confusing. This article explains how to use the directional scanner, what to use it for and covers some related topics.

Somewhat related to scanning are the articles on AdvancedBookmarking and ScanProbes. And once you're familiar with the directional scanner, you may want to read CombatScanning. The built-in on-board scanner is also covered in ScanProbes.

Scanner vs. overview

The overview is a fixed part of the interface when you're out in space, always in the top right corner, though it can be collapsed (hotkey Tab by default). You can change what it shows by modifying the settings for it and you can sort its contents by clicking on the headings of the columns. Modify the settings by clicking the arrow icon above the list.

The scanner is closed by default and can be opened with the 'scanner' button on the HUD, left of the round center display (hotkey Ctrl+F11 by default). The scanner window combines the system scanner, directional scanner and moon analysis. This article covers the directional scanner.

To cut it short: the scanner is what you use if the overview can't tell you what is around you. You can configure the overview to show everything in your immediate vicinity (also called your grid) and all globally available distant objects that you can warp to, like belts, planets, stations, gates and more. The directional scanner can show almost anything the overview can, but up to its maximum range (about 14.35 AU). However, the directional scanner won't show you npc's, whereas the overview will.

The overview is like a 360° scan of your surroundings. It shows you live, up to date information about objects, like their distance, speed, etc. The directional scanner gives you a directed view instead of just 'all around you' and the information in it is merely a snapshot, with no data like speed and data like distance only for stationary objects.

The map browser and the scanner

In the bottom part of the map browser (hotkey F11 by default), the solar system view, you can see your current position as a red circle. It also shows you your field of view (FoV, grey area) and the current scanning field (green area). Your FoV is the part of space you can see on the screen, as you turn the camera around your ship and it's always the same angle, about 100°.

The scanning field display changes as you move the 'angle' slider on the scanner window. The range isn't displayed. Also, remember that the solar system view is a 2D representation of a 3D world. It doesn't show whether your scanner is pointing up or down.

The directional scanner tab

If you check the use overview settings box, the scanner will only display items that would show on your overview if you were near them. Leaving it unchecked will make the scanner display anything it can see, but might make it really slow, if there is a lot to be scanned.

The controls allow you to set a range, between 1km and 2,147,483,647km. If you enter a larger number, it will default to the maximum. The maximum comes down to 14.35 AU. You can use Google to convert between km and AUleaving this site. For quick reference, 5 AU is roughly 750,000,000 km (750M km).

You can also set an angle using the slider. See below for a detailed explanation of range and angle. Setting a new angle causes the scanner to scan automatically. To rescan after setting a range, you have to click the 'scan' button, it is not automatic.

The bottom area of the window will display the scan results. Remember that you are always looking at a snapshot, not live data. You can scan as often as you like, but it is not a continuous view, nothing will show up if you don't tell it to scan again.

Range and angle
The directional scanner will only detect objects that fall within the set range. Only objects within the scanning field are detected. Note that the angle applies in all directions, you will be scanning a cone-shaped area, with your ship at its tip.


A 360° scan means you are scanning everything around you. 180° covers everything 'in front of you', but remember that the camera controls the direction of the scanning field. It does not matter what direction your ship is facing or flying into, only what direction you point the camera at. You will notice that the scanning field in the map browser display will follow your camera movements to reflect this.

In the image above, you can see how 4 scans of 60°, slightly apart, cover almost all of the area covered by a 90° scan (and some extra on the outside). So, when you go from 90° to 60° and you've had some practice pointing the camera, you should be able to decide in which part of the 90° cone the target is within 4 scans. Since the horizontal field of view (of your screen in EVE) is about 100° and the vertical is about 75°, scanning 90° scans almost everything you see on screen.


Take a close look at this image to get a feel for how much of the world around you you can see on screen (the brownish areas, 100° from side to side and 75° from top to bottom). You are represented by the small blueish circle in the center. The green areas show what part of the world around you is scanned at specific angles. Note that the increase in range is not automatic, it only serves to make this image more legible. You have to set the range manually to increase or decrease it.

Uses of the directional scanner

The scanner has many uses. Here's a few ideas:

* check if there is a POS at a moon before warping over;
* detect enemies warping to you before you get a visual on them;
* check for a gatecamp from a safe distance;
* find objects left at safespots.

Examples of use

Checking for POS
If you're looking to scan some moons, but want to avoid warping to moons that already have (armed) towers, you want to check for POS first. Warp to a planet that has the moons your are interested in. Set your scanner to use overview settings. Make sure your overview is set to show moons (Celestial) and Control Towers (Structures).

Make a 360° scan at a range that includes all the moons. You can see all the moons on your overview, so you can also tell what range you should be scanning. All the moons should show up in the results, as well as any Control Towers. If there's no Control Towers, all of the moons are free.

If there are, you can either keep reducing the range of the scanner to exclude one moon at the time, waiting for a Control Tower to disappear from the results along with its moon, or you can point your scanner at individual moons and scan them. Hold down the Alt key to show the icons of all the moons in space and turn your camera to overlap your ship's square icon with a moon icon, to make a very narrow (5°) scan of just that moon.

Finding a safespot
Let's say you know your enemy has a safespot, somewhere in the system but you have no clue where it is. To save on probes, use the scanner. Use the map browser (F11) solar system view (at the bottom) to select a number of locations to scan from, trying to cover the entire system. Remember, the scanner only has 14.35 AU max range. In some of the smaller systems that may actually be enough to cover all of the system from the sun. But in other systems, you will need to scan from several locations, just to cover the planets there.

In very large systems, your enemy may have warped from one planet to another, creating a safespot inbetween. If the planets are more than 28.7 (2 * 14.35) AU apart, there will be spots that can't be scanned from either planet. You will need to make your own halfway bookmark to scan those areas, or scan during warp.

Set your scanner to use overview settings and make sure your overview would show whatever you are trying to find, for instance the type of ship you think the enemy has at his safespot, or containers. Turn off most of the other objects at first, to prevent clutter and speed up scanning. Set the scanner to 360° and max range and scan until you pick up a signal.

From the same location, repeat the scan at 180°. If the object no longer shows, it's apparently behind you, so turn the camera completely around and scan again, you should pick up its signal again. Now set the scanner to 90° and if you don't see the object on the scan, try scanning somewhat to the left, right, top or bottom of your previous scanning direction. Once you pick it up, repeat this procedure at 60°, then 30°, etc.

Now you know exactly in what direction the object is. But you won't know the range. You can find that by decreasing the scanning range until the item no longer shows. A quick way to do this is to keep halving the distance until it no longer shows. If it doesn't show, add half of your last step to the range and keep doing that until the item shows up again. For instance: it shows at 8000km and 4000km, but it won't show at 2000km. You try 3000km, but it still doesn't show. Same at 3500km but at 3750, it shows up again. You now know it must be somewhere between 3500 and 3750 km from you.


Now that you've established where the item is, you can use the proper probes ( 3AU Snoop ) to warp to it, or you can even try your luck and bookmark close to it. If the object is very far, say several AU, it is actually a good strategy to try to warp past it in a slow warping ship, like an industrial and create a bookmark midwarp when you are close. You can scan while you are warping, 360° at a close range and create the bookmark as soon as the target shows up. Then warp to the bookmark and continue from there.