Creating Features

Using the Create Data Bar, you can create features by digitising a geometry of the required type.

     Note: You can also perform other functions such as adding points to existing geometries (see Surveying Tools and Points), or digitizing from a GPS device (see Working with GPS).

Before digitizing any feature, select a feature class by clicking in the Create Data bar.

     Note: Your most recently selected feature classes will appear at the top of the drop down and will persist across sessions.

Additional options are displayed in the Context Bar.

ClosedCreate a Point

     Note: See Surveying Tools and Points for how to create points using other existing features such as along a line or on a defined vector.

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select a feature class by clicking .

  3. Click to select a point type geometry.

  4. Click within the map to create the new point geometry.

ClosedCreate a Line

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select a feature class by clicking .

  3. Click to select a line type geometry.

  4. Click within the map to create the first vertex of the line.

  5. Continue clicking to define the line, and finish digitising by double-clicking or selecting from the Context bar.

ClosedCreate a Polygon

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select a feature class by clicking .

  3. Click to select a polygon type geometry.

  4. Click within the map to create the first vertex of the polygon.

  5. Continue clicking to define the polygon, and finish digitising by double-clicking or selecting from the Context bar.

ClosedCreate a Circular Line

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select a feature class by clicking .

  3. Click to select a circular line type geometry.

  4. Click on 3 points within the map to define the perimeter of the circular line geometry.

Creating Holes

Creating a hole removes a defined region of a polygon.

ClosedCreate a Hole

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select an existing polygon.

  3. Click .

  4. Digitize the hole within the polygon.

  5. Finish digitising by double-clicking or selecting from the Context bar.

Creating from Union

Creating from union creates a new feature of a specified class from two or more features that touch or intersect.

ClosedCreate from Union

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select two or more touching or intersecting features.

  3. Select a feature class by clicking .

  4. Click .

    A new feature with the selected class is created on top of the existing feature and any existing features remain in the layer below.

Create a New Group Feature

If you have a class in your data that has no geometry but is made up of references to other member features, you can create a non-geometric feature using Create New Group Feature.

ClosedCreate New Group Feature

  1. Select one or more member feature which will make up the group feature

  2. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  3. Select the non-geometric class in which to create the group feature by clicking .

  4. Click the Create New Group icon .

     Note: You can select the group feature by selecting one of the members and navigating the composes attribute back to the group feature, or by running a search on the group class.

Creating Features using Manual Traverse

Point features, or vertexes of a line or polygon, are created relative to a baseline using distance and bearing.

ClosedCreate using Manual Traverse

  1. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  2. Select a feature class by clicking .

  3. Click and select either Create Points, Create Line, or Create Polygon.

  4. Digitise a baseline.

  5. Select an Entry Type of Distance & Bearing to set the angle of deviation and distance, or Relative Distance to enter an offset and distance.

    If no height is specified it will be interpolated from the baseline.

  6. To add entries, click .

    To delete an entry, select it and click .

  7. To adjust the baseline click Redefine Baseline, then click Continue and digitise the baseline.

  8. Click Accept to finish creating points or vertexes.

Creating Secondary Geometries

To create a secondary geometry, click on the primary geometry to bring up the feature selection list and click on the unset secondary geometry in the list.

This allows you to then digitise the new secondary geometry for the selected feature in the same way you would any other geometry.

Create Multi-Part Geometries

Multi-part geometries (a single feature made up of a series of outer rings) can be created in 1Edit.

ClosedAdd additional Parts

  1. Select the feature that will form the start of your multi-part geometry

  2. Open the Create Data bar by clicking .

  3. Click to create a separate part on the selected geometry

  4. Digitise a new polygon to form the new polygon

The Vertices Tab on Attribute browser has an indicator to show which part is selected if the type is a multi-part geometry.