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Measure distance and area

You can use the Measure tool to measure distances and areas. To use one of these tools, open the Measure dialog and then use the appropriate tool.

To open the Measure dialog

  1. In the Toolbar, click the Measure icon . If the Measure icon is not visible, then the Measure tool is not available for this application.
  2. This opens the Measure element dialog.



    See the instructions below depending on whether you want to measure a line or to measure area. You can also use the point option to find the x,y coordinates of a location on the map.
  3. After measuring, you can close the Measure dialog by clicking on its Close icon in the upper right, or by clicking any other tool in the Tools element (Zoom in, Zoom out, Pan, etc.)

To measure a line

  1. In the Measure dialog, click the Line icon . The Line icon is outlined to show it is the active type.
  2. Move the cursor to the first point of the line you want to measure, and click the left mouse button. As you move the mouse from this location, you will see the line stretching to the current position. The measure dialog will also begin to display distance.
  3. Move the cursor to the second point of the line. If you only want to measure one straight-line segment, double-click at this location. Otherwise click once with the left mouse button.
  4. If measuring a line with multiple segments (polyline), continue clicking at vertices to add segments. The length of the previous segment is shown in the Segment display in the Measure dialog. The Total Length displays the sum of segments added so far.
  5. At any point during the measuring, you can change the units for measuring distance by using the drop-down list in the measure dialog. You can also change units after completing the measurement.
  6. At the last vertex, double-click to end the line. The Total Length displays the length of the line, including all segments if multiple ones were drawn. You can change the units drop-down list to see the same line expressed with different units.
  7. To draw a new line, simply click on the map to start the new line. This erases the previous line.
  8. To erase the line from the map, click any of the measure type icons in the Measure dialog. If you click any other tool in the Tools element, this will close the Measure dialog, and any line or polygon will also be erased.

To measure area

  1. In the Measure dialog, click the Polygon icon . The Polygon icon is outlined to show it is the active type, and the dialog changes to show information on measuring polygons.
  2. Set the units for measuring distance. For polygons, the measured area displays in the Area Units, and the perimeter displays in the Distance Units.
  3. Click the left mouse button at the first point in the polygon. As you move the mouse from this location, you will see the line stretching to the current position.
  4. Click the second point of the polygon. The first segment draws, and the polygon now stretches to the current position from the last point as well as to the initial point. When you click the third point, the measure dialog displays the perimeter and area of the polygon based on the vertices added. The total is updated as you add more vertices.
  5. Continue adding points (vertices) of the polygon. New vertices add segments connecting to the previous vertex.
  6. At the last vertex in the polygon, double-click the mouse. You do not need to click at the original point again. Read the Area and Perimeter from the Measure dialog. You can change the Distance Units to see the same polygon expressed with different units.
  7. To draw a new polygon, simply click on the map to start the new polygon. This erases the previous polygon.
  8. To erase the polygon from the map, click any of the measure type icons in the Measure dialog. If you click any other tool in the Tools element, this will close the Measure dialog, and any line or polygon will also be erased.

To find X,Y coordinates

The Measure dialog also allows finding the X,Y coordinates at a point where you click on the map.

  1. In the Measure dialog, click on the point symbol .
  2. Click on the map. The coordinates at the location you clicked will be displayed in the Measure dialog.

The units and projection (spatial reference) of the coordinates will be based on the map used in the web application.