Working with Drawing Tools

The drawing tools let you work directly on the Map to refine and enhance the area you are looking at. There are two sets of drawing tools:

• Shape Tools
• Line Tool
• Annotation Tool

Each is described in the sections that follow.

Enhancing Searches with the Shape Tools

The shape tools allow you to draw a circle, rectangle, or polygon around an area on the Map and then search within that shape. Once you draw the shape, it is added to the My Search panel and becomes part of you search. When a shape or shapes have been added to the My Search panel, all search results will be restricted to data within the shape(s). In some cases this may differ from your selected My Region County. Additionally, when shapes are drawn on the Map the search attributes for City and Zip Code are disabled so that they do not interfere with your shape-driven search.

Common Uses for the Shape Tools

• One common use for the shape tool would is to draw a circle with a mile radius around a property and then search within the radius for similar properties.
• You can also use the drawing tools in conjunction with the Points of Interest tool. Set the Points of Interest view to “Education” to display schools on the Map and then draw a circle around a desirable school to quickly find all listed properties within a five mile radius of the school.
• The free-form line tool is a great way to measure distances. Say you are curious about how close a property is to a school or a set of train tracks. Draw a line between the two using the tool and you’ll see the exact distance when the line is selected.

To Draw a Shape

1. Find the location on the Map you would like to work with or zoom in to the preferred region.
2. On the Drawing Tools toolbar, click the type of shape you would like to draw. TIP: If you don’t see the toolbar, make sure you are in Road, Hybrid, or Aerial view. The drawing tools do not appear in the birdseye view.
3. Click the spot on the Map where you’d like to draw the shape once (don’t hold the mouse button down).
4. Move your mouse up, down, to the right, or to the left to draw the shape.
5. Click once to end the shape for a circle or square. If you are drawing a polygon or free-form line or shape, single click for each point and then double click when the shape is complete.

Note: You can draw up to five shapes on the Map at one time. All the shapes will become the focus of the search in the search grid. Shapes cannot be larger than 44 acres or five miles.

Working with Shapes

Understanding the Shape Dialog Box

You can work with a shape on the Map by single-clicking it. This opens the shape dialog box:

The shape dialog box shows the position points of the shape (the gray dots), the number of square feet in the shape itself, and the total number of square feet in all shapes on the Map at that time. For example, in the image above the circle has a Shape Area of 2.983 square miles. There is also a square and polygon on the Map, so the Total Area of all three shapes is 9.271 square miles.

TIP: You can click in the white text box to rename the search. This is recommended if you will be saving the shape as part of a search in the My Search pane (see Saving a Shape Search below).

Moving the Shape

Once you’ve drawn the shape you can select it on the Map to drag it to a different location. Make sure the red frame appears around the shape before you drag it (otherwise you will end up resizing it).

Resizing the Shape

To resize the shape, single click on the shape and then click any one of its connection points and drag it to resize.

Saving a Shape Search

You can also name the shape and save it as a saved search or form for future use. The shape will appear at the top of the My Search pane with the default name or your shape name, if you have added one. The following is a circle shape for a search for properties within five miles of an elementary school:

Save your search or form as you normally would (see Saving a Form or Search for details). The shape will be saved as part of the search and will appear when you search for properties using the saved search or form in the future.

Deleting Shapes

• Click the Delete Shape button on the hover box that appears when the shape is selected OR
• Click Clear All Shapes in the Drawing Tools toolbar OR
• Clear all items on the Map using the Clear All button at the bottom of the Map Toolbar.

Adding Notes to the Map with the Annotation Tool

The Annotation tool lets you add notes to the Map that will appear when you print the Map out for yourself or for a client:

To Add an Annotation

1. Find the area of the Map you’d like to add a note to and zoom in to the preferred region.
2. On the Drawing Tools toolbar, click the Annotation Tool.
3. Click the location on the Map where you would like the note to appear.
4. The Add Annotation box opens.
5. Type the text of your annotation in the box.
6. Click Apply. The formatted annotation appear on the Map.

To Delete an Annotation

To delete an annotation, select the annotation box on the Map and click Delete on the hover box.