Who can use this feature
The owner and editor of a project with an essentials or above subscription
So you've added or uploaded a dataset into your project, what next? It's time to get information from these images!
The basic tools
Along the top menu bar of your project you will see icons giving you access to draw points, lines, polygons, rectangles, circles, and text. You can also enact these tools by using their keyboard shortcut (e.g. p for point, y for polygon).
For a more extensive listing of keyboard shortcuts, click here.
Start labeling
Click the tool of your choice
Move your mouse over the map and click to start drawing / digitizing
As you draw, the features will appear on the map, and in the table of contents as a layer. Features will continue to nest under that layer until another tool is selected.
Easily change the name of your layer or features by clicking on the name in the table of contents.
Editing features and layers
Delete features and layers - use the select tool (shortcut key 'v') to select features on your map or in the table of contents, then click 'delete' on your keyboard
Delete vertices in a line or polygon - select the feature and hover over the vertex until the 'hand' appears. Hold 'alt' on your keyboard while clicking on the vertex.
Move features - hover over a selected feature until the mouse changes to a 'hand'. Click and drag it to a new location.
Union polygon features - Select two or more features in a single layer. From the top menu bar, click to union these features together. This will remove any overlapping areas and create a single feature.
Professional and enterprise subscriptions only.Intersect polygon features - Select two or more overlapping features in a single layer. From the top menu bar, click click the pull down option next to the union button to access and click the intersect tool. This will return overlapping areas and remove non-overlapping polygon components.
Professional and enterprise subscriptions only.
Changing layer style
Customize your map with great colors and style! Simply click on the icon next to the layer name in the table of contents to open up the style bar.
Snapping
It's super important to avoid gaps and overlaps when we are digitizing! Not only do they not look great, but they cause errors in map measurements.
Snapping is the technique we use to overcome these digitizing challenges. By default, snapping is turned on in a project.
If you find that your lines and polygons are snapping when you don't want them to, it's simple to turn off.
Deselect all layers
Click the down arrow next to your project name at the top of your project
Click 'snap to feature'. This will toggle snapping on or off.
Snapping is enabled/disabled at the project level and will therefore apply to all features and layers in that project.
Click here to learn more about snapping.
Top tips
Click and hold the shift key while drawing polygons and lines to go into freehand mode. This is fabulous for reducing mouse clicking and works particularly well if you have a stylus.
To add more features into a layer that you previously created, first click on the tool, then select the layer in the table of contents that you want to add into.
If you make a mistake, no worries! Simply use ctrl+z to undo.
And if you undo something by mistake, use ctrl+shift+z to redo (i.e. undo the undo!)