Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management Internet Mapping Help and Tutorial System

Specific Functions #4: Measuring Distance, Measuring Area

Perhaps you want to measure the distance of a short kayak trip. You can measure distance on maps using the Measure tool.

After you have made the tool active, click on the desired start location. The latitude and longitude coordinates of your starting point are automatically registered in the information panel. By adding another node you complete one line, and the position of the second node and the distance between the two nodes are given.

If you are interested in the length of a line with multiple stops (more nodes), simply keep adding nodes. The measure distance tool gives you not only the map coordinates and the distance between stops, but also the entire distance or length of your line.

If you make a mistake and wish to erase the points, click the Clear Points button found in the information panel.

In this example you can see that three stops were added. Once you have drawn the route, you can even print the map.

The Measure Area tool lets you calculate the area inside a polygon.

By selecting the Measure Area button you are able to define the vertices (corners) of a polygon by clicking on the map. The Measure Area tool requires that you specify a minimum of three vertices before the area can be calculated. The Measure Area tool allows you produce an accurate estimation of any polygon's area, as you are able to add as many vertices as you deem necessary to represent the area to be calculated. The calculated area is returned in the Information Panel with a record of the all the vertices' coordinates.

To clear the points use the Clear Points button in the Information Panel.

<< Back | Next >>