There's a clearing in the forest

In this exercise we are going to learn to use  the main drawing tools, save and edit data, label objects and features and create some map styles as we go.

First up we are going to head for a clearing in Crystal Forest, where a number of wind turbines are located.

Navigate to a clearing in the forest
Navigate to a clearing in the forest

So first of all let’s get the relevant OS tile (NT66NE) and navigate to Crystal Forest, which happens to be right at the centre of the tile.

  1. Start Map Maker and/or  clear the existing project
  2. Hit SPACE to call up the Project Manager
  3. Navigate  to the  TIF tile located in Public > Map Data > 10k_raster
  4. Remember to select for .tif files and then scroll to nt66ne.tif
  5. When you’ve added the layer, close the project manager
  6. If you are zoomed in close, zoom out the tile extent and zoom so that the middle 3 km squares are more or less centred and you can see the extent of the wind farm

Now we are going to load in some ready made markers, which should indicate the locations of 25 turbines.  If you cannot find the ready made marker file, don’t panic – it easy enough to create the markers yourself.

  1. Select from the  menu Edit > Markers > Load points as markers
  2. Look for the file Turbines.dra
  3. No luck?  Place markers on the map yourself.
  4. The markers merely identify the 12 outer turbines.
  5. To create markers, simply hold the cursor pointer tool over the spot and press the letter M (don’t click!) and keep going until you’ve got the 12.
  6. If you make a mistake, its CTRL+E and the select the bottom of the marker.  In the Dialogue choose the Actions tab and delete. You can clear all the markers in Edit > Markers > Clear markers or  save the markers Edit > Markers > Save markers (watch out as they will become a layer.)

If everything is looking like it should, move on to the next session.

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