To start digitizing the points, select a point layer (e. g. buildings) in the Create Features panel. It is advisable to make sure that the Point tool is marked in Construction Tools (lower part). Then place the cursor on the center of a house and click to mark a point. The process is repeated until all the buildings are digitized (Figure 13). To make it easier to work with small objects, zoom tools are used and for large images the panning tool can be used, increasing versatility during the process. Besides using the mouse, it is possible to use the arrow keys of the keyboard, which allow greater precision in movement. It is recommended that you periodically go to the Editor > Save Edits toolbar to save your changes.
You can also create new points by entering the XY coordinates. In this case, select a point layer (e. g. hydrant_points) in the Create Features panel; do not forget to mark “Point” in Construction Tools. Then position yourself anywhere on the map, right click and select Absolute X, Y… (Figure 14). A window opens where you can enter the XY values (e. g. X = 691491; Y = 9532534 for the first point, X = 691735; Y = 9532696 for the second point). The entry is accepted by pressing the “Enter” key.
Coordinates can be entered in different formats such as meters, decimal degrees, MGRS (Military Grid Reference System), UTM, etc. To change the format, the Absolute X, Y window opens as explained above and click on a pop-up icon in the upper right corner. A list of options opens where you can select the format. The UTM format is entered as shown in Figure 15 (e. g. secure_sites: 17M 691523 9532468,17M 691684 9532576,17M 691889 9532681,17M 691437 9532615). Press the “Enter” key to enter each of the required points. Finally, you must save the edition using the Editor bar (Editor > Save Edits).
To correct the spatial location of a point, first select the layer to be modified (shapefile) in the Create Features panel. Then click on the Editor bar in the symbol (= Edit Tool). To change the location of a point or delete it, select the required point with a click (this becomes light blue). It is now possible to drag it to a new location (see Figure 16) or delete it by pressing “Delete” on the keyboard.
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