Map Toolbox

The Map Tools button opens a toolbox and options menu where the user can select different geospatial analysis tools. Click on the Map Tools button to open the toolbox  menu and select a tool of interest.

Pan

The pan tool button allows a user to move around in the map window.  When the cursor is in the map window, click and hold down the left mouse button or click on your touchpad and drag the window in the direction you want to move it.

Zoom

To zoom in to an area of interest, click the Zoom icon then click on an area of the map to zoom in by a preset amount.

Alternately, zooming and map recentering can be accomplished by left-clicking on the map using a mouse and holding down the mouse button while dragging to define a polygon shape to zoom in to.   A similar function can be carried out on a touchpad by clicking then dragging to create the polygon shape to zoom and recenter the map.

To toggle between previous zoom levels see the “Go to Previous Extent” tool and/or the “Go to Next Extent” tool sections.

Go to Previous Extent

The Go to Previous Extent button will take the map window view back to a previously zoomed in level.  To return to a previous spatial extent or level of zoom on the map, click on the Go to Previous Extent icon.

Go to Next Extent

The Go to Next Extent button will change the map window view to the next zoomed in level. To move to the next spatial extent or level of zoom on the map, click on the Go to Next Extent icon.

Zoom to Extent of All Project Layers

The Zoom to Extent of All Project Layers button will zoom the map to the spatial extent of all the Geospatial/User/Project Layers combined. If there are no Geospatial/User/Project Layers specified the Zoom to Extent of All Layers Tool will not zoom the map.

To zoom to the spatial extent of all the map layers, click on the Zoom to Extent of All Project Layers icon.

Identify

The Identify Features from Visible Layers icon allows a user to quickly query any user-defined layer that is visible or active to get more information about its features.

By clicking on the Identify Features from Visible Layers icon, then clicking on a Geospatial/User/Project Layer, the user can get information about the feature from a pop-up box displaying the name of the layer and associated attribute information.

The Zoom command in the pop-up box will zoom to the extent of the feature if the map is not already at that spatial scale.

The Select All command will select the entire layer. See the “Unselect All Features in All Layers” section for a deselection of features option.

Select Attribute/Location

The Select by Attribute and/or Location tool button allows a user to select layers to query, build a query by attribute and through selection or relationship to other layers.  Click the Select by Attribute and/or Location icon to display the query builder pop-up window where you can first select a Geospatial/User/Project Layer of the map to query. Use the drop-down menu to choose the layer of interest. A checkbox allows selection of visible layers only. After layer selection, a query can be built through definition in the Attribute pane and/or in the Spatial Location pane moving between panes using the Next and Previous buttons at the bottom of the window.

The query builder can recall a previous query through use of the Load an Existing Query dropdown menu. The previous query can be re-run as is or modified under the Attribute and/or Spatial Location panes.

Attributes

In the Attribute pane, the attribute of interest used in the query is selected using the drop down window. Click Add to Query to add the selected attribute to the SQL-type Query box in the center of the Query Builder pop-up window.

Logical and arithmetic operations including And, Or, and/or Like can be added to the new query by clicking on them. Attribute Values are added by clicking in the Value: box and typing in a value. The drop-down menu below allows selection of a sample value taken from the attributes table of the query layer. The Clear button can be used to remove the query.

Location

In the Spatial Location pane, a spatial query can be built between the originally selected layer and another geometry using relationships such as: intersects, within a distance of, touches the boundary of, within, etc. Spatial queries can also be built from selections by specifying a buffer radius and geometry type for the buffer.

Unselect All

Click the Unselect All Features in All Layers icon deselect previously selected objects.

Clear

The Clear All Graphics from Map icon removes graphics that were previously added to the map and clears and/or closes tools and pop-up boxes that are no longer needed such as use of the Measure tool, from adding Placemarks, or other operations.

Placemarks

Registered account users can use the Placemarks icon to select from and add three types of placemarks: point, line, and polygon.

Note: you must be logged in to use this feature

Add Placemark

To add a placemark to the map, click on the Placemarks tool button. Select the type of placemark to add: point, line, polygon. Click on the map window in the location where you want the placemark to appear. For point placemarks, double click the location where you want the placemark to appear to set the point and open the Placemark Editor pop-up menu.

For line and polygon placemarks, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to achieve the line length needed (click and hold and drag on a touchpad), or click and hold down the button, drag, and repeat to delineate the polygon shape and size needed. Double click on the completed placemark graphic to open the Placemark Editor pop-up window to edit information about the placemark. The latitude and longitude of the placemark will be appear automatically.

Edit

There are three tabs in the Placemarks Editor pop-up window, General, Symbol, and File.

General

Under the General tab, a title and description, location, and elevation can be added as needed. Once the placemark is saved, eRAMS will populate the Location and Elevation categories of General information. Coordinates can also be modified. For point placemarks the Edit Shape quicklink will highlight the point. On line and polygon placemarks, the Edit Shape quicklink will highlight vertex points that can be moved to modify the shape. The Zoom quicklink will zoom to a preset spatial extent.

Symbol

Under the Symbol tab, placemark symbology can be edited by using the using the Symbol Style slider bars to change the placemark Opacity, Size, and Hatch Size.  For point placemarks, different symbols can be selected.For line and polygon placemarks, color can be changed by clicking on the color swatch. For line placemarks, Solid, Dash, DashDot, and Dot lines can be specified from the drop-down menu.  For polygons, fill can be modified by selecting Solid, Lines, or Symbols from the drop-down menu. Border Style can also be changed, by using the sliders for Border Size and Opacity and by clicking on the color swatch to change the color. Click Save to apply your edits or Remove to remove the placemark.

Files

Once the placemark is saved you can add supplemental file data under the Files tab. To access information about an existing placemark, click on the icon on the map, or the icon/layer name under the Placemarks pane next to the map window. A pop-up window from the placemark will provide general information, click Edit to open the Placemark Editor pop-up window.

Map Layout

Create a basic map layout suitable for printing. Click on the Create Map Layout tool button to open a Print editor pop-up window where information including a map Title, Created By:, and Date: can be added.

To create a custom Legend, use the pre-populated drop-down boxes to select layers to display in the legend from. To select more than one layer, hold down the Shift key when clicking on adjacent layers of interest and the CTRL key when selecting non-adjacent layers.

Click Next and select a map Template to use then click Print Preview to preview the map layout. If satisfactory, click Print. Close the pop-up browser window when done or if further edits need to be made, close the browser then click Previous in the Print editor pop-up window.

Toggle Legend

Use the Toggle Legend icon to hide or show a Layer Legends pop-up window displaying the active Geospatial/Project/User layers.

The contents of the window can be rolled up using the crossed arrows button in the Layer Legends heading bar. The pop-up window can be made transparent when the mouse is moved away from by clicking the lightbulb icon in the Layer Legends heading bar. The window can also be docked below the map or returned to the map window by clicking the down/up arrow in the Layer Legends heading bar. Click the x in the corner of the Layer Legends pop-up window to close it.