Create Area/ Polygon Features

At any time that the Digitizer Tool is active, you have the option to create new area features simple by right-clicking and selecting the Create Area/ Polygon Features menu to access the options below. These options are also available from the top-level digitizer menu.

Under the Create Area/Polygon Features and Create Line Features right-click popup menus there are options to create Arc, Circular, Elliptical, Rectangular, and Square area and line features.

For all of these shape types (except the rectangular/ square option where the coordinates are manually entered), click and hold the left mouse button at the center of the feature, then drag it until it is of the desired shape.

For Circular/ Elliptical features and Arcs, the default shape follows a circle and holding down the SHIFT key while dragging will result in an ellipse.

For Rectangular/ Square features, the default shape is a rectangle and holding down the SHIFT key will force the dragged shape to be square. Hold down the 'T' key when left clicking to start the shape, the start point will be treated as the top left corner of the feature rather than the center of the shape feature.

Once the shape is finished, release the left mouse button and the Modify Feature Info dialog will appear allowing you to setup the label, classification, drawing style, and attribution for the new feature. See Editing Feature Attributes and Drawing Styles for more details.

After the shape is created, the Digitizer Tool will remain in the selected shape creation mode.  Left click to start drawing a new shape, right-click to choose a different mode, or press ESC to return to the main Digitizer tool.

For automated digitizing, see Create Area Features from Equal Values.

The following options are available: 

• Create Area Feature
• Create Range Ring(s)\ Ellipse(s)
• Create New Line with Dist/ Bearing/ COGO Input
• Create Grid
• Create Coverage Area (Concave Hull) for Selected/ Loaded Features
• Create Buffers Around Selected Feature(s)
• Create New Features from Selected Lines

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• Create Arc Area
• Create Circular/ Elliptical Area
• Create Rectangular/ Square Area
• Create Rotated Rectangular Area (3 Point Draw)
• Create Rectangular/ Square Area (specify Coordinates)
• Create Square Areas of Fixed Ground Area