Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management Internet Mapping Help and Tutorial System

General Map Instructions #3: Turning Layers On And Off, Make Layers Active

Hopefully you've had a chance to take a look at the introduction to GIS Concepts section where we discussed layers.

Because there are often many layers available for a map, map layers are organized into related folders. When you initially open the map, some folders may be open and some may be closed. Likewise, some layers may be turned on while others may be turned off by default.

To open a closed folder, click on it. A list of all layers contained within the folder will be shown. Similarly, you can click on an open folder to close it. Notice that opening and closing folders doesn't turn layers on or off; it simply helps you stay organized. Next to the folder icon you will see a small grey and white rectangle. Clicking on the grey and white rectangle turns off all layers in the folder. It doesn't matter if a folder is open or closed when you do this.

You can turn an individual layer on or off by clicking on the adjacent checkbox and then clicking on the Refresh Map button. A layer is 'on' (displayed on the map) when there is a check in its checkbox. Some layers are only available at certain scales. Layers that are unavailable at a given scale are shown with a red asterisk next to the layer name. Clicking the red asterisk next to the name of an unavailable layer zooms you to the closest scale at which the layer is available.

A layer is made 'Active' by clicking on the icon adjacent to a layer name. A black icon denotes the active layer, and its name is displayed in the area below the map window. You can only have one active layer.

What the does this mean? It means that the spotlight is on this layer. In other words, this is our way of telling the computer that this is the layer in which we are interested. How is this relevant, you ask?

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