Walking Your Warehouse in 3D
Walk mode in Helm Warehouse Mapping drops you into the 3D map at eye level so you can walk the aisles, ride the stairs and lifts between floors and read the location plates as a picker would. This guide covers starting a walk, the controls and getting back out.
What Walk Mode Is For
Plans are abstract. Standing in an aisle is not. Walk mode gives you a first-person view of the map, constrained to the floor a person could actually walk, which makes it the quickest way to sense-check aisle widths, show a new starter where things are, or spot the bay whose codes never got assigned.
Example: before committing to a redesign, the operations manager duplicates the live map, narrows two aisles on the copy and drops into walk mode. Standing between the racks makes it obvious that a reach truck would not turn into the end bays, which the 2D plan did not show at a glance.
Starting a Walk
The round yellow figure in the bottom-right corner of the map, captioned Drag to walk, is your way in. It is available in both 2D and 3D. It hides while something is selected, so click empty floor first if you cannot see it.
Drag the figure onto the 2D plan. While you drag, everything you cannot stand on turns red: racking, pillars, benches, walls, no-go areas and storage blocks. The clear aisles stay as they are.
Watch the marker under your cursor. A yellow figure in a green ring means a valid spot; a red ring with a ban symbol means you cannot drop there.
Release over a clear aisle. The view switches to 3D and descends from overhead to eye level at that spot, facing down the longest clear run.
To abandon a drag, drop the figure back on its own badge, which reads Cancel while you drag.
If you grab the figure while already in 3D, the view returns to 2D so you can aim, then drops you in on release.
Getting Around
You cannot walk through racking, walls, pillars, storage blocks or no-go areas. Doorways are open. If you walk into a rack face you slide along it rather than stopping dead.
A hint at the bottom of the view shows the current controls: for example "Drag to look · W A S D to walk · click a spot to go".
Stairs & Lifts
Walk up to a staircase or a lift. When you are within a few metres, a button appears at the bottom of the view reading Take the stairs to Mezzanine or Take the lift to First floor (with your level names). Click it, or click the stairs or lift itself, and the view fades through a short caption and drops you in on the other floor.
Stairs take you to the level at the other end of the flight. A lift takes you to the next level it serves. Stairs and lifts are only offered where the map has them connecting the current level to another, so a mezzanine with no stair on the plan cannot be reached on foot.
Reading Locations
Every assigned location shows its plate on the beam. Click anywhere on a bay face to open the same details popup as the orbit view: code, zone, quantity, SKUs and pick counts where Helm supplies them. Close it with the X or Esc and carry on walking. See Viewing Your Warehouse in 3D.
Leaving Walk Mode
Click Exit walk at the top right to return to the overhead 3D view.
Press Esc. If the mouse was locked for free look, the first Esc releases it and a second one leaves walk mode.
Click 2D in the header to go straight back to the plan.
Best Practices
Assign Codes First
Walking an aisle with plates on every beam is a genuinely useful check. Walking one with bare beams is just a nice picture. Assign your Helm codes before you use walk mode for anything serious.
Use It on a Copy for Redesigns
Duplicate the live map, make the change on the copy and walk it. You get the eye-level check without anyone editing the map the team relies on.
FAQ
I dropped the figure and nothing happened.
The drop was on something you cannot stand on: racking, a wall, a no-go area or outside the floor. Look for the green ring before you release.
Clicking does not lock the mouse.
Some browsers and embedded pages block mouse locking. Drag to look and W A S D to walk always work.
I cannot see the walk figure.
It hides while anything is selected. Click empty floor or press Esc to clear the selection.
Can other people see me walking?
No. Walk mode is a view on your screen only.
If walk mode stutters badly, close other browser tabs and turn off Stock in the 3D toggles; if it still struggles, contact Helm support with your device details.
Was this helpful?
Still need help? Share an idea