Draw Field Tool

Modified on 2024/06/20 20:26 by Adam — Categorized as: Uncategorized

The Draw Field tool is used for drawing out polygons on the map in order to calculate acreage and borders. Once one or more borders are drawn and closed, the different maps and forms can be generated from the right hand panel.

After the Area of Interest has been located on the map, click on the Drawing tool in the left hand panel.

Once this tool is selected you can start marking out the shape of the desired border by left clicking on the map to place points (nodes) on the map.

Keep left clicking to place nodes on the map wherever a change in direction is needed.

If you misplace a node, right clicking anywhere on the map and the program will delete the last placed node. It is possible to Keep right clicking to continue deleting placed nodes.

Once the entire border is drawn you can complete your boundary by either clicking on the starting node or double clicking to place the last node. The rest of the border will then fill in automatically.

Once the boundary is closed, it will highlight in blue. This means that it is the actively selected border. You can view the Current Acres for the selected border in the right hand Draw Field panel. This number can be adjusted by up to 20% with the adjust acres tool.

Just put the desired acreage amount in the blank and press adjust. The border will expand or contract to make up for the difference on the map.

Shift the entire mapped boundary¶

When it is blue (actively selected) there are a few modifications that can be done.

Nudge the border 1 pixel at a time in any direction with the arrow keys on your keyboard.

OR...

Nudge the border any direction 5 pixels at a time by holding the shift key and then using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Clear Individual Drawings or All Drawings from the Map¶

Delete only the actively selected (blue highlighted) border by either:

pressing the Delete or Del key on the keyboard.

Use the delete key to clear one border from the map at a time.

or clicking on the Delete Selected link in the right drawing panel.

The Delete all of the drawings on the map. Click the Delete All Link

or the Trashcan icon underneath the Drawing option in the left panel.

Modify the drawn border¶

With the draw field tool you can modify the nodes of any drawn border.

Left click, hold, and drag on a node to move it to a new position.

Right click on a node to delete it from the border.

You can also delete a node by left clicking and dragging another node over top of it.

Left click inside the border to actively select it, then right click on a open spot on the field that is not an existing node to place a new node that connects with the existing border. This is an easy way to modify or add a new section to a border.

Exclusions¶

You may run into a field where you need to exclude or subtract an interior portion from the selected acreage. This is easily done with the draw field tool.

First use a drawing tool to create a border then make sure to select the Draw Field tool.

Click inside the border to actively select it. (will turn blue)

Now start left clicking to draw where you want the area subtracted from the border.

The excluded acres can be adjusted with the Adjust Acres tool by using a negative number at this step of the process.

Notice the negative Current Acres listed in the Draw Field panel to the right immediately after completing the exclusion.

Type in a specific acreage (must be negative) in the adjust acres box and click Adjust. Note that the adjustment number must be within 10% of the current acres.

The map boundary will be adjusted and the Current Acres will update.

Click back inside the non-excluded border to actively select it and verify it was done correctly.

The excluded part will not be highlighted in blue indicating that it is not part of the selection.

Selecting the Excluded area¶

In some cases you may want to show the amount of acres that is being excluded. Using the Smart Select drawing tool this can be accomplished.

Simply switch the tool to Smart Select

Then left click once inside the excluded area.

The Current acres will reflect the excluded acres in the draw field panel.

Show the total acreage as well as individual acreage of a property's parcels or fields. ¶

In many instances you may want to show the entire property's acreage as well as each individual parcel.

First zoom to your area of interest.

Note: The order of operations is important on how the acres are shown on the map in the end.

The next step is to designate the interior borders. If the yellow FSA boundaries are correct, use the Smart Select tool and click in each boundary individually.

or...

If the FSA borders are not correct, then the draw field tool should be used to draw out each individual border that a separate acreage is wanted Tip: using the Snap feature will help make sure that your borders don't have gaps between them if 2 fields directly border each other.

Once all of the individual borders are drawn out, Use the Draw Field tool again to create a bounding border that encompasses all of the other borders. (indicated as the black border in the example)

Then simply click on the FSA map to show the breakout of field borders and acreages. The total acres will be located near the middle of the border.