Zoom In

Click to zoom the map in by one scale increment.

Zoom Out

Click to zoom the map out by one scale increment.

Zoom to BC

Click to zoom the map out to the extent of BC.

Previous Zoom

Click to zoom to the previous map extent.

Next Zoom

Click to zoom to the next map extent.

Zoom / Pan

Allows the mouse to be used to zoom and pan the map.

• To zoom in, double-click the mouse.
• To pan, press the mouse and drag.
• To zoom to an extent, hold Shift and drag the mouse.

Zoom to AOI

Click to zoom the map to the current AOI geometry.

Draw Rectangle

Draw a rectangle by clicking the mouse to set a corner and dragging out the extent. The rectangle is added as an AOI geometry.

Draw Polygon

Draws a polygon.

• Click the mouse to create vertices.
• Double-click to complete the shape and add it as an AOI geometry.
• To draw using stream digitizing, hold Shift, click and drag the mouse.
• To zoom in and out while drawing use the mouse wheel.
• To pan while drawing hold Ctrl, click and drag the mouse.

Draw Line

Draws a line (linear path).

• Click the mouse to create vertices.
• Double-click to complete the shape and add it as an AOI geometry.
• To draw using stream digitizing, hold Shift, click and drag the mouse.
• To zoom in and out while drawing use the mouse wheel.
• To pan while drawing hold Ctrl, click and drag the mouse.

Draw Circle

Draws a circle.

• Click and drag the mouse to place the centre of the circle and define its radius.

Edit AOI

Edits AOI geometries by adding, moving or deleting vertices.

• Click on an AOI geometry to edit it. The edit geometry highlights. Vertex handles appear when the mouse is hovered over segments.
• To move a vertex, hover over the vertex and drag the vertex handle with the mouse.
• To add a vertex, hover over an edge and drag the tentative vertex handle.
• To delete a vertex, hover over it and press Delete.
• To stop editing and keep the modified geometry, click anywhere other than an edge of the geometry.

Clear AOI

Click to clear all AOI geometries.

Undo Change

Click to undo a change to the AOI geometry.

Redo Change

Click to redo a change to the AOI geometry.

Import AOI

Click to display a dialog to import geometries from a variety of spatial formats. The data format is auto-detected from the file type or data content.

Import geometry data in the following ways:

Tab: From File

• Click Choose File to choose a file to upload.

Tab: From Data

• Enter data into the text text area, or paste data using [CTRL] + V.
  The data projection (coordinate system) is auto-detected. If the coordinate system is UTM, the UTM Zone must be provided on the Choose Projection dialog. Choose the zone from a list, or by uploading a PRJ file.
• Click Details... to show the format, coordinate system and number and size of features read.
• Click Import to import the data.
• Otherwise click Cancel to close the dialog.

Export AOI

Click to display a dialog to export geometries in a variety of spatial formats. Geometry is exported in the geographic coordinate system (WGS84).

• Edit the Description if needed (it is used in some but not all formats)
• Choose the Format to use for export. Available formats are:
  • KML - Keyhole Markup Language, as used in Google Earth
  • GPX - GPS Exchange format
  • GeoJSON - Javascript notation
  • Well-Known Text - WKT, a widely-used text geometry format
  • Simple Text - a text listing of the geometry coordinates
  • GeoMark - the URL of a BC Government GeoMark created for the geometry
• Click Export to display the exported geometry in the selected format in the Data Text textbox.

Markup Tools

Click to display a toolbar to create Markup on the map.

Measurement Tools

Click to display the Measure toolbar. This provides tools to measure area and distance.

Identify Features

Click a point on the map to Identify features at that point.

• Choose from the drop-down to identify all visible layers, or only a specific layer.
• Click on the map to perform the Identify query.
• Identify queries may take some time to process.
• Drag the map to pan it, and use the mouse wheel to zoom.

Identified features are shown in the sidepanel.

• Click to expand features to show attribute names and values.
• Hover over a feature title to highlight it on the map.
• Click a feature title to zoom to it.

Save / Load Session

Click to display a dialog to save and load map sessions. Sessions are stored in *.session files.

Note: When a session is loaded it replaces ALL user data layers which may be present.

Tab: Save

• Edit the session file name if desired.
• Click Save to save the session to a *.session file.

Tab: Load

• Click Choose File to select a *.session file.
• Click Load to load the session.
  Sessions contain the following data:
  • Base Map
  • Map Extent
  • Layer List settings
  • Imported Layers
  • AOI geometry
  • Markup

Print Map

Click to display the Print dialog.

• Enter the printing parameters:
  • Title - title to appear on the printed map.
  • Notes - notes to display on the printed map.
  • Layout - page layout for the map. This parameter is currently fixed
• To print the map, click Print.
• To cancel a print request, click Cancel.

Map Legend

Click to display the Legend panel. The Legend displays style symbology for visible layers.

Layers

Click to display the Layers panel. It displays the active Overlays and Layers.

Overlays

An Overlay has a number of related layers within it.

• Click / to hide and show the overlay layers.
• Click the checkbox to control visibility of the overlay.
• [Control]-Click or [Shift]-Click the checkbox to control the visibility of all layers within the overlay.
• Click the Overlay name to display the Overlay panel:
  • Drag the slider to change the opacity of the overlay.

Layers

A Layer is a styled feature class displayed on an overlay.

• Click the checkbox to control layer visibility.
• If the layer name is in italics the map scale is not in the defined scale range for the layer, and the layer is not displayed on the map. Zoom in or out to see the layer.

Add Layer

Click to display a panel to add a map layer from a local data file. The layer title and styling can be specified. The new layer is displayed on the map positioned above the existing map layers.

Add a layer in either of the following ways:

• Click the 'From File' button to choose a file to upload
• Click 'From Geormark' to paste a Geomark URL or ID into the text area using CtrlV

The data projection (coordinate system) is auto-detected. If the coordinate system is UTM, the UTM Zone must be provided on the Choose Projection dialog. Choose the zone from a list, or by uploading a PRJ file.

Title

Enter a title to use for the layer.

Style

Choose a colour to use for styling the layer.

• Click Details... to show the format, coordinate system and number and size of features read
• Click Add to add the data as a new layer
• Otherwise click Cancel to close the dialog

 

 Selection Toolbar

Click to display the Selection toolbar.

The selection set can contain features from multiple layers.

Choose the current selection layer from the layer dropdown. The layer must be visible at the current scale to be selected from.

Zoom to Selection

Click to zoom to the current selection.

Select by Box

Click and drag a box to add features from the current selection layer to the current selection.

Select by Polygon

Click out a polygon to add features from the current selection layer to the current selection. Double-clicking closes the polygon and queries the selection layer for features.

Unselect by box

Click and drag a box to unselect features.

Unselect All

Click to unselect all features in the current selection.

 Bookmark

Click to display the Bookmarks panel. Bookmarks are named extents which can be zoomed to. Bookmarks are saved in browser local storage.

• Enter a new name and click  to add a Boomark..
• Hover over a Bookmark entry to see its extent.
• Click a Bookmark entry to zoom to it.
• Click   to delete a Bookmark

 

 COGO

Click to display a panel to enter, display and edit geometry in COGO(Coordinate Geometry format. The starting point must be entered in UTM format (easting, northing, zone)

  Geometry Calculator

Click to display a panel to perform geometry calculations on geometries. The display shows the Primary and Secondary AOI geometries attached.

• Hover over a geometry to highlight.
• Click a geometry to zoom to it.
• Click  to set a geometry as the Primary
• Click  to delete a geometry

Memory Save

Click to save the primary geometry to memory

Memory recall

Click to recall geometry from memory as a new geometry

Memory Clear

Click to clear the geometry memory

Union

Click to compute the geometry union of all geometries. The geometric union merges all geometries into a single geometry. The resulting geometry can be edited or have other calculations performed on it.

Intersect

Click to compute the geometry intersection of all geometries. The intersection is a geometry representing the common areas or lines of all the input geometries. The resulting can be edited or have other calculations performed on it.

Subtract

Click to subtract the secondary geometries from the primary geometry. The result is geometry which contains all the areas/lines/points which occur in the primary geometry but not in the second geometries. The resulting geometry can be edited or have other calculations performed on it.

Buffer

• Enter the buffer distance (in meters). The distance can be either positive or negative.
• Click  to replace the geometry with the computed buffer.

Simplify

Reduces the number of vertices in a geometry while maintaining the approximate shape of the original geometry. Uses the Douglas-Peucker simplification algorithm, which requires a distance tolerance to control how many vertices are eliminated.

Computes a buffer polygon around the primary geometry to a specified distance. If the buffer distance is positive, the buffer expands (dilates) the geometry. If the buffer is negative, it contracts (erodes) it.

• Enter a simplification distance tolerance (in meters).
• Click to replace the geometry with the simplified version

Validate Topology

Click to check if the primary geometry is topologically correct. This detect if polygons contain self-intersections or overlaps. If a topology error is found, and indicator is displayed showing the location of the error.

Close Polygon

Click to close a linestring and form a polygon

Clean Polygon

Click to clean a polygon geometry. This ensures that the geometry is a topologically correct polygon.

• Dangling linework n closed and trimmed
• Self-intersections are removed
• Partially contained holes are excised

 

Coordinate Display

Displays the mouse location in the current coordinate format.

• Click   to show all coordinate formats.
• Click a format to make it the current display.
• Click   to show only the current format.

 Coordinate Lock

Click to lock or unlock the Coordinate Display. When locked, you can click on a location in the map and the coordinate value will remain static until you click again in the map display.

 Graticule Control

Click to display or hide the graticule.

Base Map Chooser

The control in the lower right corner of the map determines the display of the base map.

• Click to show all available base maps.
• Click a base map to make it the one displayed.
• Click to show only the current base map.

Concepts

AOI Geometry
A geometry (polygon, line or point) which delimits an Area of Interest shape used for querying or editing.

Coordinate System
(Also called Projection) The spatial reference system in which geometry or feature coordinates are represented. Supported Coordinate Systems include:

• Geographic - may be Lat,Lon or Lon,Lat, in either Decimal degrees (DD) or Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) can be used.
  DD Example: 49.5, -125.4
  DM Example: 49 30', -125 20'
  DMS Example: 49 30' 45", -125 20' 30"
• BC-Albers - uses X Y
  Example: 1047118 495805
• UTM - uses X Y and Zone number
  Example: 329751 5483095 zone 10

Data Format
A way to encode spatial data in computer files. Supported data formats are:

• KML (*.KML) - Keyhole Markup Language, used in Google Earth.
• GPX (*.GPX) - GPS Exchange format.
• GeoJSON (*.JSON) - Geometry expressed in Javascript notation.
• Well-Known Text (*.WKT) - a simple standard geometry format.
• Simple Text (*.TXT) - a text listing of the geometry coordinates.
• GeoMark - the URL or ID of a BC Government GeoMark.
  Example: http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/geomark/geomarks/gm-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0000bc
  Example: gm-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0000bc
• Shapefile (*.SHP) - the ESRI shapefile format

Layer
A set of features with a common business definition. Features in a layer have attributes with the same set of names, but possibly different values. Layers have an associated style which specifies how features are displayed on the map. Layer display may be scale-dependent, so that they only appear in a certain scale range.