A vehicle control and interface system described herein assists an operator of an aerial vehicle with the operation of an aerial vehicle, including navigating during flight. The system can generate a graphical user interface (GUI) through which an operator can specify navigation instructions (e.g., using finger gestures on a touch screen interface). In one example of controlling aerial vehicle navigation using a finger gesture, an operator swipes three fingers simultaneously upwards on a touchpad to increase the vertical speed of the aerial vehicle. The system can update the GUI to show, via a digital avatar of the aerial vehicle, the changing orientation of the aerial vehicle in substantially real time. The GUI may depict representations of the aerial vehicle's environment absent of objects at the surface of the earth or natural features at the earth's surface (e.g., rivers, canyons, mountains, etc.) to reduce a mental strain taken by an operator when using the GUI.