New Line Features

Create Line Features (Vertex Mode)

After selecting the Create Line Feature (Vertex Mode) button, proceed to draw a new line feature with the mouse. To draw the feature, left click to drop a vertex. To finish the line feature, right click at the desired location of the last vertex. To cancel, press the Escape key. Note that while drawing the line in Vertex Mode, the Snapping feature can be used to help align the line with existing features.

Create Line Features (Vertex Mode) may also be used to create features in the 3D viewer by snapping to existing vertices or terrain. For more information see Create New Feature in 3D with Vertex and Terrain Snapping.

Create Line Features (Trace Mode)

A line can also be drawn using the Create New Line/Area Feature (Trace Mode) popup menu option. To draw the feature, simple press the left button to start the line/area, then trace the path to draw using the mouse while keeping the left button pressed. To finish the feature, release the left button. To cancel, press the Escape key or just release the left button and press Cancel on the dialog that appears. If using a digitizing table select this mode, then press down the pen to start, trace the path, then release it to end. If the drawn path is nearly closed, the user will be asked whether to create a closed area feature from the path or just keep it as a line feature.

Once the line is completed, the Modify Feature Info dialog will appear allowing the user to setup the label, classification, drawing style, and attribution for the line. The length of the line feature will be added as a default attribute. The units for the length measurement can be modified on the General tab of the Configuration dialog. See Editing Feature Attributes and Drawing Styles for more details.

Once creating the line is completed, the Digitizer Tool will remain in the line creation mode, so you can simply start left-clicking to draw another line, or right-click to choose a different mode.

You can also create new line features from selected area features by selecting one or more areas, then right-clicking and selecting the Advanced Feature Creation Options -> Create New Line Feature(s) from Selected Area Feature(s) menu command. This will create a single closed line feature from each selected area feature.