All layers in a map are listed to the left of the map in the legend. The legend shows the layer name and the symbol used to draw each layer. The check box next to each layer indicates whether it is currently turned on or off in the map, that is, whether it is currently drawn on the map or not.

The order in which the layers are listed in the legend is also important. The layers at the top of the legend are drawn on top of those below it. Layers that form the background of your map are listed at the bottom of the legend. To change the order a layer is drawn in, drag the layer up or down in the legend. The Move Layer choice on a layer's right-click menu gives options for moving the layer.

You can change the width of the legend by dragging the border between the legend and the map either left or right. This is useful if you want to increase the width of the legend so that you can see long layer names.

You can turn the legend off by clicking the View menu and unchecking the Legend choice.  You must Refresh Map to view your changes.

Overview Map: Toggles the overview map off and on.

Zoom In: Select this tool and draw a box around your area of interest to zoom most quickly.  For slower zooming simply select the tool and click on the map.

Zoom Out: Draw a box with this tool to control zoom distance.  A tiny box will zoom out a great distance.  A large box will zoom out a small distance.  For slower zooming simply select the tool and click on the map.

Zoom to Full Extent: Zooms to the full view of the map.  This may or may not be the original view.

Zoom to Active Layer: Click a layer in the legend to make it active. Click the Zoom to Active Layer button to see the extent of the active layer.

Zoom to Last View: Zooms to the previous view.  Use this instead of the 'Back' button on your browser.

Pan: Drag the map to move to adjacent areas.

Pan Up: Pans the view in the north direction

Pan Down: Pans the view in the south direction.

Pan Left: Pans the view in the west direction.

Pan Right: Pans the view in the east direction.

Identify: The Identify tool allows you to get attribute information about a feature by clicking on it. Select and then click on a feature to get basic information.  The information returned will be from the active layer.  Results from the Identify tool appears in the lower panel of the HTML Viewer.

1. Click a layer in the legend to make it active.

2. Click the Identify button.

3. Click a feature on the map.

4. The results of the Identify are shown in the Identify Results dialog box.

5. If more than one feature is found, the features are listed in the Features panel. Click each feature to see its Identify results.

Query: This tool opens a dialog box at the bottom of the map where you can type in a query or use the query builder interface.  The Query Builder queries features based on their attribute values. Numeric or text are acceptable search strings. You must use single quotes around values that are text strings.

You can calculate statistics on the results of your query by clicking the Statistics button. If a feature is found a new map will be drawn that is zoomed into the feature and the selected features will be displayed in yellow.

The Query Builder generates a simple set of statistics. On the Select a field to get statistics dialog, you can click the Use Query Results? check box to only calculate statistics on the selected records.

The results of a query can be saved to a text file using the Save Results button. In the Save dialog box, type the name of the file with a .txt extension.

1. Click a layer in the legend to make it active.

2. Click the Query Builder button.

3. Click a field to query.

4. Click an operator to be used in the expression.

5. Click a sample value or type a value for the expression.

6. Verify that the query expression is correct.

7. Click Execute.

8. Click a field in the Display Field dropdown to only show one field in the lower panel. The results are in the lower panel.

9. Click one or many results from the lower panel.

10. Click Highlight to make the selected feature highlighted on the map.

11. Click Pan or Zoom to pan or zoom to the selected feature.

12. Click Statistics.

13. Click a field to be used for statistics and click OK. The statistics are shown in a separate dialog box. Click OK to close this dialog box.

14. Click the Save button.

15. Type a name for the text file and click Save.

Find: Click the button and type in a search string to get a list of all the features in the active layer that match.  Use the asterisk as a wildcard.  Results from the Find tool appears in the lower panel of the HTML Viewer.

1. Click the Find button.

2. Type any part of a word you want to find.

3. Click the layer or layers you would like to search.

4. Click Find to execute the search.

5. Click one or many results in the right panel to select them.

6. Click Pan To to pan the view to the selected feature.

7. Click Zoom To to zoom the view to the selected feature.

8. Click Close when you are done finding features.

Measure: Measure distances on the map.  Click the button to define the first point and then click again to define the second point. Repeat for each segment.  The segment and total measures appear in the upper left corner of the map.  Select another tool to end measuring.

Units: Click the button and select a new distance unit.  This will affect the scalebar, measuring, and buffering.  The default value is feet.

Buffer: Create a buffer around a feature.  Select a feature and then click the buffer button.  Enter a distance for the buffer and a layer that you want to highlight features from and then click "Buffer".  A new map will be returned that shows the buffer and features that fell within it.  Buffering may take some time depending on the layer you choose to highlight and your buffer distance.  Check the "Display Attributes" checkbox prior to buffering to get a list of features that fall within the buffer.

Select by Rectangle: Select an object by clicking once or drawing a rectangle within it.  All objects in the active layer that are touched by the rectangle will be selected.

Select by Line or Polygon:  Select an object by choosing points and then creating a line or a polygon.  All objects in the active layer touched by the line or polygon will be selected.  Wait for a red dot to appear before choosing the next point.

Clear Selection: Clears selected features and returns a fresh map.

Print: Click this button, enter a title for your map, and click "Create Print Page".  A new browser window will appear with a map layout.  Use the print button on your browser to complete the print operation. 

Transparency: If implemented, click this button, enter the amount of transparency you would like to apply to the target, and click "Transparency".  The map view will refresh, and the active layer will have the transparency you specified. 

Copyright 2003-2009.
For problems or questions regarding this website contact peter.j.marsala@wmich.edu.
Last updated: May 13, 2009.