Polygon

Select Draw>Polygon and your cursor will change to an up pointing arrow. Click where you want to start your polygon and a control point will be placed on the screen. Move your cursor where you want to place the next control point. Continue until the next to last point of your polygon. If you make a mistake, you can right-click on the last drawn point and delete it. To close it, double-click on the next to the last point. Once you close the polygon, you can still resize it by moving the control points (see Draw Menu).

For example, to draw a square, after placing the first three points, double-click on the last point and the polygon will automatically close. When closing the polygon, do not double-click on your starting point as this may create an odd-shaped polygon you can’t see, but will affect the use of the polygon.

Once drawn, right-clicking and shift-clicking allows you to save the polygon and move it. A right-click option unique to polygons is Create a BNA file from items within the polygon. This is used with the EDX GIS data that can be loaded into the tool and displayed on the screen, like roads, streets, etc. See the Databases chapter under EDX GIS for a description and use of this type of data. If you have one or more EDX GS layers displayed on the screen, selecting the Create...option prompts you for a file name and a save location. The next screen allows you to select the GIS layer within the boundary of the polygon from which to create a BNA file. This is useful for converting EDX GIS data for use in route studies.

Polyline

Selecting Draw>Polyline works the same as draw polygon except it never closes. A Polyline is most commonly used to draw routes on the screen for route studies.

Service Area Boundary

Selecting Draw>Service Area Boundary is similar to polygons except a Service Area Boundary can contain additional information. Once you’ve closed your service boundary, right-clicking the boundary line brings up the contextual menu with the standard items, plus options unique to service area boundaries.

• Set ID – allows you to associate a label with the service area boundary.

• Create exclusion boundary – allows you to draw another boundary which will be used to exclude

• Create inclusion boundary – creates another inclusion boundary, usually used within an exclusion boundary

• Import exclusion boundary – import a “.bna” file and use as an exclusion boundary

• Import inclusion boundary

  • import a “.bna” file and use as an inclusion boundary

• Unselect all graphics objects (available before Service Area Boundary is set)

Service area boundaries are used in the program to restrict Area study results and in the Add-on modules for various studies. See the manual section for the module you are using for more information on its use. You cannot have two separate service area polygons in the same file. The inclusion and exclusion boundaries are “nested” within your service area boundary. For example, you draw a service area boundary around your city, then you draw an exclusion boundary around the large park within the city, then another inclusion boundary for the small area in the park you have to cover.