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Back to WinCan VX DDMS User Guide
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Introduction
There are quite a number of editing tools available in WinCan Map for manually moving lines, polygons and points which can be combined with other features like the snapping tool already described in Snapping Objects in WinCan Map.
Not all of these tools will be described here, but a few of the more commonly used ones will be described and also when and how we would normally use them.
Throughout this page, terms like Tools/Edit - Move Point or Home/Select - Point will be used. The naming convention being used here is Ribbon/Panel - Button so this tells you which ribbon, which button panel and which button name is being referred to at all times.
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Home/WinCan - Shift
This tool allows the user to drag a point across the screen to a new location:
Maybe a connector node needs to be realigned with a junction or connection observation codes, so we might use the ‘Shift’ tool and combine it with ‘Snap to: WinCan Observations’ so that it looks to the required code in 3 dimensions.
Possibly we have a section linear asset which is a simple straight line (see the section ‘Rotate Scale' tool for how to do this when the shape is complex) that does not quite meet the node at one or both ends, we can use this tool to pull the point at the end of the line and again combine it with the snapping tool to pull it to the right place.
This tool should be extremely fast and dynamic to use and the user should be confident in using it without error or hesitation:
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The Home/WinCan - Shift tool.
To use this tool:
Select the layer of the point that you wish to move.
Use the ‘Point’ tool in the ‘Home/Select’ ribbon to select the point that needs to be moved.
If required (usually), select a snapping layer for the object that you wish to snap to and a snapping style of point or line.
Click on the ‘Shift’ tool and select the object and while holding down the left mouse button drag the point to the new location. As you drag it you will see some red markers on screen which show you where you are moving from and where the object will drop when the left mouse button is released.
Release the left mouse button to re-plot the object as required.
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Tools/Edit - Edit Shape
The ‘Edit Shape’ tool allows a linear or polygon shape to be modified into any new shape as required. This can be useful for functions like:
Bending a kerb around a corner (which would be initially drawn as a straight line when the end node points are plotted).
Re-shaping a pond outline.
Adding a bend to a pipe at a ‘line deviates’ observation code.
Edits like this can be made free hand or are often used in conjunction with a good background layer tile or a Topo survey file when doing things like aligning a curve to a corner:
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Tools/Edit - Edit Shape tool.
| Info |
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Info - it is not possible to draw true curves in GIS data like you can in CAD applications. While you can use the tools in WinCan Map like ‘Draw Circle’, the result will look great until you zoom in really close or inspect the geometry of the circle and you will see that it’s actually a lot of very short straight lines in a round shape. This is perfectly normal in GIS applications for both line and polygon layer types, and means that if you want to plot an object around a curve, you just have to click as many points as you feel is appropriate to make the best approximation of the real shape of the object. |
To use the tool:
Select the layer of the linear or polygon item that you wish to edit the shape of.
Use the ‘Point’ tool in the ‘Home/Select’ ribbon to select the item that needs to be edited.
If required (not normally in this case), select a snapping layer for the object that you wish to snap to and a snapping style of point or line.
Click on the ‘Tools/Edit - Edit Shape’ tool.
Click on one end of the line that you wish to edit or a corner of the polygon.
Pause for a moment and see that the line now shows some very small green points at the ends and maybe along its length. These are the individual points that make up the line shape. In the case of a straight line, there will only be 2 points, one at each end.
From here you can grab a point and drag it to a new location, or you can click on a straight line part and then create new vertices or points at multiple new locations.
The edit mode with the green lines and data points will remain open until you right-click on the work space and select one of the options like ‘End Edit’ or ‘Cancel Edit’. The ‘End Edit’ option will confirm the new shape
In the ‘Home’ ribbon there is a button under the WinCan button called ‘Reset Transformations’. If you select a line which has been edited to a complex shape and then use this tool, it will be returned to a straight line as it was before you started editing:
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Home/WinCan - WinCan/Reset Transformations tool.
These techniques are best described with a screen recording:
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Using the Shift, Edit Shape and Reset Transformation tools.
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Home/WinCan - Rotate Scale
The Rotate Scale option allows you to rotate a linear item about one end as a fixed point and scale it at the same time so that it retains is proportional shape. If used carefully, it is possible to rotate & scale a section or surface linear item, and then snap the (now detached) node back to the end of the, like this:
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Using the Rotate Scale tool with subsequent node snapping.
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Snap Pipes to Nodes in WinCan VX
It is normal after importing GIS data into a WinCan VX HADDMS project that the node coordinates change. There is no shame in this and it is a fact of life that no matter how many times we measure the GPS coordinates of a point on the ground, we will never get the same results twice.
The result of this is that after importing GIS node coordinates, the ends of the linear continuous items will no longer be attached to the point items.
It is recommended to run this tool immediately after importing GIS data because it will fix these issues automatically for the entire project. It will use the Rotate Scale tool described in the previous section to maintain the scaled geometry of a linear object as much as is reasonable possible.
See this example, where the nodes are no longer connected to the linear assets as a direct result of importing new coordinates. It does not matter how far they have moved. It can be many metres or just a few millimetres, the effect is the same, but it also works in all three X, Y and Z dimensions:
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Continuous items not connected to point items.
The control for reconnecting these objects is not in WinCan Map, it is in WinCan VX. The result of this is that WinCan Map does not need to be running in order for this to work. This is because with very large projects with a lot of edits, this process may take some time to complete due to the complex geometry calculations that may be needed.
This function is only available to users logged into WinCan VX as Admin, and can be found in the Admin ribbon bar in WinCan VX:
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The next video.
It may be necessary to ‘Reinitialise’ the WinCan Map project or ‘Refresh’ the WinCan VX project after executing the tool.
Notice that the tool stretches and rotates continuous items that have a complex geometry, so any pre-defined shape is retained as truly as possible. This does not remove the need for fine tuning id necessary.
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