Skip to content

Adding Annotations


Mapstore lets you enrich the map with special features which expose additional information, mark particular position on the map and so on. Those features make up the so called Annotations layers.

Starting from a new map or an already existing one:

  • Click on the Burger menu button from the main menu bar.
  • Click on the Annotations option from the list .

The annotation panel will open.

Creating a New Annotation

In order to add a new annotation:

  • Click on , a new form will appear.

  • Type a Title (required) and a Description (optional).

  • Click on the geometry icon to define the annotation geometry and position. You have to select the annotation type first, then to draw it on the map.

  • Select, for example, the Polygon type.

  • Click on the map to define the polygon vertices.

You can also insert new vertices, or edit existing ones, through the coordinates editor using Decimal or Aeronautical formats.

New vertices can be also added using the button and typing the latitude and longitude values (see the picture below).

Invalid vertices are notified with a red exclamation point icon.

  • Click the Style tab of the annotation viewer (optional) to manage the annotation style (see the next paragraph).

  • Click on Zoom to zoom to the geometry of the annotation.

  • Click on Delete to delete the geometry of the annotation.

  • Click on Save to save the geometry information.

  • Click on Save on the main form to save annotation information.

The annotations layer will be added to the TOC and the annotation will be visible in the annotations list as in the figure below.

Styling Annotations

Based on which type of annotation was chosen, MapStore allows you to customize the annotation style through a powerful editor. It is accessible from the Style tab of the annotation viewer. During the style editing a preview placed on top of the styler form shows a preview of the edited style.

Marker

MapStore provides two types of Marker annotations, so you have to choose what type do you prefer using the Type combo box (Marker is the default):

  • Marker types can be customized through the following editor:

Choose the Shape, Color and Icon that best fit your needs.

  • Symbol types can have different Shape and Size, a Fill color with a customizable Opacity level (%), a Stroke of different types (continuous, dashed, etc) and customizable Color, Opacity and Width. Only few symbols are provided by default in MapStore but a custom list of symbols can be configured.

Polyline

Polyline annotations can be styled using the following editor:

You can customize the Stroke in order to consider the Line/Dash type (continuous, dashed, dotted, etc), Color, Opacity and Width. You can also have styled Start/End Points: enable the StartPoint Style/EndPoint Style panel using the corresponding check box, the editor will be the same used for Marker/Symbol annotations.

Polygon

With polygonal annotations changing the style means choose the Shape and the size the Size of the polygon, its Fill color (with custom Opacity), the type of the Stroke (continuous, dashed, dotted, etc), its Color, Opacity and Width. See the example below to better understand these options.

Text

Text annotations are a bit different from the geometric ones. They display a formatted text on a given point of the map. The style editor lets you customize the text Font (Family, Size, Style, Weight) and the Alignment (left, center or right). You can also choose the text Fill color and its Opacity, the Stroke type, its Color, Opacity and Width. Take a look at the following example.

Circle

Circle annotations can have custom Fill color (with custom Opacity), Stroke type (continuous, dashed, dotted, etc) with custom Color, Opacity and Width. The Center can be also customized through the same editor described for Marker annotations. See the example below.

Click on to apply the style.

Managing Annotations

You can manage anytime your annotations through the Annotation Viewer. Click on some annotation to display it.

  • You can edit your annotations by clicking the geometry card from list of geometries of the annotation. It allows you to change the geometry and/or the information related to the annotations. See the gif below to better understand how:

  • The button allow the map to zoom on the annotation.

  • The button allow the user to show/hide the annotation on the map.

  • Annotations can be also download in json format and reused in other maps. Using button you will be able to export your annotation in the Annotation.json file and download it.

From the main panel of the Annotations tool you can also download/upload annotations to/from a json file.

  • Click on to download a file with all the existing annotations.

  • Click on to upload annotations from a valid json file.