Tools

This page lists Top of the South Maps tools and gives brief instructions of how to use them.

For known issues with the main application please see our issues section

Quick links

Navigation Shortcuts

You can use the following shortcuts while the pan tool is active

Zoom in - Shift + Left Click (drag)
Zoom out - Shift + Ctrl + Left Click (drag)
Pan to – Shift + Double Left Click
Zoom in a level – Double Left Click
Zoom out a level – Ctrl + Double Left Click

Zoom

Click on the + to Zoom in
Click the - to Zoom out
Alternatively, use the shortcut: Shift + Left Click (drag)

Reset

Click on the house button to reset map to the default extent

My Location

On a Mobile Device with GPS turned on, Click this button to add a blue dot to your map, showing your location
Note:
- if used on a desktop, the location defaults to a best guess location based on your IP address. This may be outside NZ if you're on a "cloud" based server, and may just show a grey screen.

Info Tool

Click on a feature on the map to view information about the feature. Many features have links to other websites
If you click on a property, the results will default to Property Boundaries
- Click the down arrow to choose other items

Search

Enter an address or keyword in the search box
Select a feature from the list and the map will zoom to the selected item
You can also search for place names, roads, rivers, reserves, places of interest, mountain bike tracks, walking tracks, National Parks and people interred in Council Cemeteries

Change Basemap

Click on the above button to get selection of Basemaps (backgrounds) to choose from

Click on an image to change the Basemap
The topography map shows at small scales, and zooming in will turn on the contours

Add Layers

Click the above button to get a selection of more Layers that can be added to your map, including your own layers
Click ADD next to one of the layers to add it to the map
Click DETAILS to open a new page with more details about the layer

Click Type to limit the type of layer included in the list

Click Relevance to sort the layers in the list according to the categories

Click File to drag and drop a file, or browse to a variety of file types
- A Shapefile (.zip, ZIP archive containing all shapefile files)
- A CSV file (.csv, with address or latitude, longitude and comma, semi-colon or tab delimited)
- A GPX file (.gpx, GPS Exchange Format)
- A GeoJSON file (.geo.json or .geojson)
- A maximum of 1000 features is allowed

Legend

Shows symbols used for each layer when it is visible on the map
- Layer needs to be turned on
- Layers are scale dependent

Layer List

List of groups containing individual Layers that can be turned on and off, also includes legends
- Tick or untick the box to turn default Layers in the group on or off
- Additional Layers may be available, which are not automatically drawn on the map, such as dog exercise areas - these can be turned on.
- Layers are set to appear at specific scales depending on their content. Layer names will be grey if the map is not at the appropriate scale to show the layer. Zoom in or out to change scale, name will turn to black when features are visible.

Top level options
- To turn all Layers on or off at the top level, hold down CTRL key, then click in the box.
- Alternatively, use the dropdown for more options

Group level options
- Click the triangle to expand a single group to see the individual Layers

To turn all Layers on or off within a group, hold down CTRL key, then click in the box.
Click the ellipses for more options
- Zoom to – zooms to all Layers in the group
- Transparency – change the transparency of the group
- Move Up or Down – move the whole group up or down the list
- Description – opens a new page describing what the group contains

Individual Layer option
- Click triangle to see symbols
- Click the ellipses for more options
  - Enable Pop-up – does not currently do anything
  - Description – opens a new page with more details about the layer

Measure

To measure Distance
- Click on the Distance tool
- Click a start and end point on the map to generate a line. You can click multiple times. Double click to finish drawing the line and calculate the length
- The length of the line will display on the map in metres and will also appear on your printed map

To measure an Area
- Click on the Area tool
- Click a start point and continue to click on the map to draw an area
- Double click to finish drawing the area
- The area will display on the map in metres squared, and will also appear on your printed map

Print

Enable Popups on your browser
Fill in the map title
Select the Layout
- A4 Landscape
- A4 Portrait
- A3 Landscape
- A3 Portrait
Select output format - either PDF, JPG or PNG
Advanced options

Select the Quality
- We recommend low quality as the high quality option takes longer to create
Choose a Map scale/extent option if you don’t want the default
Layout metadata
- Author and Copyright do not display on the map
The legend is only available for PDFs
- Untick the Include legend box if you don’t want to include a map legend on the PDF

Click on Print
- A PDF, JPG or PNG will be created. Click on it to open the file, then print or save as required.

More Tools

Click to show more tools: Results Panel, Share, Data Download, Coordinates, Google Streetview and Draw Tools.

More Tools > Results panel

Shows results from the Info Tool, or Search results
If multiple items are selected on map, use dropdown arrow to select from list

If multiple items in one Layer are selected, click on Bold heading to get more detail

Click on Summary button to go back to list

Click on Magnifying Glass to zoom to item

Click on x to clear all results.

More Tools > Share

Click appropriate icon to share site

More Tools > Data Download

Check out our Data Download page for instructions

More Tools > Coordinates

Coordinates shows x and y locations on the map, in your chosen Projection/Coordinate System.

Click Identify and then click on the map to show labelled Coordinates in NZTM. You can also select the coordinates inside the text field and copy paste them to another program

Click Stop to Stop labelling the map

Use the dropdown arrow to select NZMG (New Zealand Map Grid) or Longitude/Latitude options.

To zoom to a specific location, type coordinates into the x and y boxes, then click Locate
- Map will zoom to location, and label map with coordinates

More Tools > Google Streetview

Enable Popups on your browser
Follow instructions in the panel
- Drag the Google® Street View man onto the street you want to see a panorama for. You can also drag the street view man around on the map once he has been placed.
- Note – the window showing Google® Street View may be behind your main window

More Tools > Draw

Select button for which type of thing you want to draw
- Point
- Line
- Shape

Select options for
- Colour
- Style
- Width
Click on map to add item
To edit it > Right click for options

For Text, select A

Type text in box, then click on the map to place it

More Tools > Links

Click to show Help, Contact Us, Metadata, Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council links