Measuring, drawing and sharing

#Measuring

In Measure, choose Distance or Area and click on the map to add points. The panel shows the distance (or the perimeter) and the area as you go, and the map writes each side's length at its middle and the total — a line's at its end, an area's in its middle. Undo point takes the last point back. Double-click the last point, or press Finish, to keep the measurement and start the next one in the same mode. Escape cancels the measurement you are drawing and keeps the tool; a second Escape closes it.

• Type a distance. After the first point, type a distance in Distance (m or km) — for example 120 or 1.2 km — and press Enter: the next point is placed exactly that far. Add a Bearing (°), clockwise from north, to fix its direction; without one, the point goes towards the pointer on the map, and a dotted line shows where it will land. Enter in an empty field finishes the measurement.
• Measure a feature. Choose Measure a feature and click a line, an area or a point on the map — a feature of a layer, of your own layers, or a shape of a drawing. A line gives its length, an area its area and perimeter (holes left out of the area), a point its coordinates in the coordinate system shown at the bottom of the map.
• Several measurements. Every finished measurement joins the Measurements list with its value. Untick one to leave it out of the total, or remove it with ×. Point at a row and its measurement stands out on the map.
• Total. Under the list, the total of the Checked measurements or of All of them. Lengths and areas are added up separately: distances and measured lines under Lengths, areas under Areas; an area's perimeter is not counted as a length. The map shows what the total holds: the measurements in it are drawn strong and filled, the ones left out are faded.

Measurements are not saved. They stay on the map while you use other tools, until you press Clear (which removes them all), choose Clear graphics from the map's right-click menu, or close the app. Closing the tool (its ×, or Escape) keeps them. They are made on the Earth's surface (geodesic, on the WGS 84 ellipsoid) — a measured feature the same way as a drawn line, and a typed distance measures back to exactly what was typed — and the units follow the size: metres then kilometres, square metres then hectares then square kilometres.

#Drawing

Draw puts your own shapes and notes over the map — to mark a place, sketch a route, or annotate a sheet before printing.

• Choose a tool: Point, Line, Area, Freehand, Rectangle, Circle, Arrow or Text. For lines, areas and arrows, click each corner and double-click the last one, or press Finish shape; an arrow's head goes on its last point. Escape cancels a shape you have started and keeps the tool; a second Escape closes it.
• Drag a Rectangle from one corner to the opposite one — hold Shift to keep it square — and a Circle from its centre outwards: its radius is shown beside the pointer as you drag. Both are kept as areas, so they are filled, printed and saved like any other area.
• Pick a Colour, a Width (or a Size for text) and, if you like, a Label for the next shape.
• Edit lets you pick a shape up: drag its points, drag a midpoint to add one, and press Delete to remove a point or the shape. A circle has two handles: drag its centre to move it, or the handle on its edge to change its size (the radius is shown as you drag). A rectangle has its four corners: drag one and the opposite corner stays put, so it stays a rectangle — hold Shift to keep it square. Drag the picked-up shape itself to move it whole; Escape puts the shape down, and with none picked up closes the tool. Undo and Clear work on the drawing in progress.

#Saving and sharing a drawing

Signed in, Save drawing keeps it under a name. Choose Who can open it:

• Restricted — you, and the people you add by name;
• Everyone in this app — every member who can open the app (visitors of a public app, who are not signed in, never see it);
• Anyone with the link — whoever has the link.

Share on a saved drawing lets you add people by name as Viewer or Editor, change the general access, and Copy link. An editor can continue the drawing; only its author can share or delete it. Shared drawings appear in the others' Saved drawings, each with an eye to Show or Hide it on the map.

#Bookmarks

Bookmarks → Save current view keeps the view, the layers that are on and the basemap under a name — for you, or Shared with everyone in the app. Click a bookmark to go back to it.

#Compare

Compare puts a divider across the map that you drag with the mouse (or the arrow keys):

• Reveal a layer — the chosen layer, or a whole folder, is shown on one side of the divider only: an orthophoto against the basemap, a new survey against the old.
• Two layers — one layer on the left of the divider and another on the right, for example the imagery of two dates. Swap sides exchanges them.

Stop comparing ends it.

#Sharing a view

Share → Copy link copies a link to the map at the place and zoom you are looking at. The person who opens it needs access to the app like anyone else (a public app opens for anyone). The link carries the place, not the layers you had on — to share a set of layers, save a shared bookmark.