Layers, visibility, filters and selection

Start with the four independent layer states

Most GIS mistakes in a complex editor come from treating visibility, filtering and selection as if they meant the same thing. EditPolygon keeps them separate deliberately.

Use the Project and Layers sidebar

The simple workspace keeps local editing fast. Imported files appear under Project/Layers, and the Inspector follows the active map object. Use this sidebar when your work is primarily opening files, selecting features and editing geometry.

Typical layer actions include showing or hiding a layer, expanding its features, selecting features, making a drawing group active and ordering data for map presentation.

Use Advanced GIS for unified layer management

Choose Advanced GIS when a project contains more than editable files. Its Layers tab manages basemaps, editable data, local reference/image layers and remote service layers in one place.

You can rename layers, change visibility, adjust opacity where applicable, change order and assign layers to custom groups. Only one basemap is active, while editable, reference and service overlays can coexist.

Select directly on the map

Open the Select flyout from the left rail. Four spatial interaction modes are available:

• Click selection for individual features.
• Rectangle selection to drag a box.
• Polygon selection to draw a selection boundary.
• Lasso selection for a freehand selection boundary.

The same flyout lets you choose the target layer(s) and the selection action:

• Replace selection — make the new matches the complete selection.
• Add to selection — keep the existing selection and add matches.
• Remove from selection — subtract matches.
• Keep only matching selected — intersect the current selection with the new matches.

Select by attribute or location

For repeatable queries, choose Select by attribute… or Select by location… from the Select flyout or use the corresponding Processing selection tools.

Select by attribute uses a typed field and comparison such as Equals, Contains, Greater than or Between. Select by location compares an input layer with another layer using relationships such as Intersects, Within, Contains, Touches, Overlaps or Disjoint.

A selection preview highlights prospective matches without changing the canonical project selection. Apply the selection only when the highlighted result is what you intended.

Build a filter when you need a reusable subset

The Data/GIS Filter tab can combine multiple typed conditions using AND/OR logic. Filters can be saved and reapplied. This is preferable to manually selecting hundreds of records when the subset has a repeatable data rule.

A filtered feature remains part of the underlying layer. Clear the filter to return to the complete record set.

Understand All, Filtered and Selected Processing scopes

Most Processing inputs expose three scopes:

Some selection tools intentionally offer only All and Filtered because their purpose is to create or transform a selection; the Processing form shows the scopes actually supported by each tool.

Example: analyse only part of a large layer

1. Apply an attribute filter.

   For example, retain only records in a chosen region or category.

2. Open Processing.

   Choose the required tool and source layer.

3. Set scope to Filtered.

   The preflight count should match the filtered subset.

4. Preview or Run.

   Changing visibility while the tool is open should not silently change that membership.

This is also a useful performance strategy: filter or select the data you actually need, then process that explicit scope.

Selection and export

The top toolbar can export Selected geometry. The Attributes table can also export a record subset. Confirm whether your goal is a spatial file, a selected subset, or a plain attribute table before downloading.

For a spreadsheet result from a spatial join, use CSV — attributes only in the Attributes table rather than including a huge WKT geometry column.