1.Open the Draw & Measure toolbar.
2.Activate Snap to Point by clicking the Snap to Point tool.
White and orange dots will appear on your map. See Snap to point for more information.
3.Click the Shape tool.
The Shape Information popup opens in the top right of the workspace.
4.Zoom into the map so that you can see the shape and snapping points clearly. See To zoom in and out.
5.Click the snapping point on the map where you want to start drawing around the shape.
6.Move the mouse cursor to the next point and click once more. You will notice that as you move the mouse cursor, a line is drawn between the current mouse location and the previous point.
As you draw around the shape, the Shape Information popup will show you the accumulated lengths of the lines you have drawn, the length of the line you are drawing and the positive and negative angle of the current line with regard to the previous line.
7.Repeat step 6 for each point of the shape until the whole of the shape has been drawn except for the last line.
If you make a mistake and want to move back a step, press Backspace on your keyboard. The last segment drawn will be deleted.
8.Finish the shape either by double-clicking on the first point of the shape or by clicking the Shape tool on the Draw & Measure toolbar.
Your shape has been created and the Shape tool is turned off. The Shape Information popup will now display the perimeter and area of the shape. If you delete the Shape Information popup for any reason you can retrieve it by left clicking once back on the relevant shape.
9.To change the appearance of your shape, double-click it. This will bring up the Shape Properties box. Please refer to Shape Properties for further help.
Tip If you are drawing around a large area with many white points, you can click the first point, then hold down the space bar and click the last point. This automatically selects all the points in between two white points. The line 'snaps' to the nearest map feature or digital data point automatically. However, if there is an orange point in-between, you will not be able to snap to the line, as there is a change in the map feature. In this case you must click the nearest white point before the orange point, then click the orange point and then the final white point. Snap to point is only available on a Detail map. |
See also
To see the measurements of shapes and lines
To annotate a map with a text box showing measurements
To label objects with a text box