Editing¶

Creating features¶

Edit › Create draws new points, lines and polygons into the layer selected in Contents: click each vertex and double-click to finish (Esc cancels). Delete (Del) removes the selected features. Edit attributes in the attribute table (Ctrl+T): double-click a cell to change it. Edit › Fields (and Data › Fields) adds and deletes fields and calculates a field from an expression; Calculate Geometry fills a field with each feature's area, length or coordinates. Every edit is one undo step.

Modifying features¶

The Edit tab's Edit button turns editing on or off for the map; with it off, the map is read-only. The Editing pane (Settings, Templates, Status, Modify) holds the rest:

• Modify: move the selected features by metres east and north, rotate them, scale them, merge them (polygons are unioned), explode multipart features, split a line where you click, and flip line direction. Edit › Tools lists every editing tool.
• Feature templates: named default values for new features, made from a selected feature; the Create tool uses the chosen template.
• Snapping: new vertices snap to nearby vertices, edges and line ends (magenta marker).
• Elevation: new features get a z value, constant or sampled from a raster surface.
• Ground to grid: a scale factor and rotation applied to entered distances and directions (Move, and edit.traverse, which draws a line or polygon from distances and bearings).
• Topology: rules (must not overlap, must not have gaps, must not self-intersect, must not have dangles, must be covered by); Validate lists the errors, and clicking one zooms to it.
• Status: features added, changed and deleted per layer since the last save.

Data design¶

The Data tab's Data Design pane keeps attributes valid, on every edit (creating, pasting, attribute edits, Calculate Field):

• Domains: coded values (code=description) or a numeric range for a field.
• Subtypes: an integer field's codes, each with a name and default values for new features; the layer is symbolized by subtype.
• Attribute rules: calculations (a field set from an expression on every insert and update) and constraints (a SQL condition every feature must meet).
• Contingent values: the combinations of values allowed across fields.
• Archiving: keeps every edit with its time; restore the layer as it was minutes ago.
• Relationships: link two layers by key fields; Related Data selects the rows related to the selection.

Clipboard and pop-ups¶

Copy (Ctrl+C) and Cut (Ctrl+X) take the selected features. Paste (Ctrl+V) adds them to the layer selected in Contents, matching fields by name; Paste Special adds them as a new layer. Copied features also go on the system clipboard as GeoJSON, so they can be pasted into another RustGIS window or a text editor, and GeoJSON copied elsewhere pastes into RustGIS. Copy Path copies the selected layer's data source path.

Pop-ups (Map › Navigate) choose what a click with Explore identifies: the topmost feature, every visible layer's feature (step through them with ‹ ›), only selectable layers, only the layer selected in Contents, or nothing.