Legacy Shape Tab

This section describes how to create a marker's shape and access paths using the legacy marker shape tools. If you are using the new marker shape tools, which are currently in beta, see the section on the Shape tab.

The Shape tab lets you specify the location, type, size, and shape of a marker. By default, new markers are circles but they can easily be changed to polygons. This tab also allows you to create access paths from and to a marker.


 

Click the location (latitude and longitude coordinates of the center of the marker) text to open a contextual menu. The options on this menu are: "Find nearest vehicles", "Add as route stop", "Find activity near here", "Copy to clipboard", and, depending on your account configuration, "Go to link". This option opens the map centered on a location specified by an administrator, overriding the actual location of the marker (see the LatLonLink right for details).

Click the Edit button to put the shape tab into Edit mode, then follow the instructions that are displayed in the dialog box. These instructions guide you through the process of:
 

Editing a Circle Marker.
Changing a Circle Marker to a Polygon Marker.
Editing a Polygon Marker.
Changing a Polygon Marker to a Circle Marker.
Adding an Access Path.

Editing a Circle Marker

1:

Click the handle in the center of the marker area to drag the marker to a new location, or change the location details shown in the Latitude and Longitude fields. You can drag the marker only after you have clicked the Edit button and the dialog box is in Edit mode.

2:

The purple line links the center of the marker area with the closest point on the road that the marker is on. This point is used as the destination for routes to the marker, unless you define one or more access paths or gates for the marker. To turn the purple line into an access path right-click the purple line then click Convert to access path. See Adding an Access Path for more information.

3:

The dark blue radius outline, and a less transparent blue fill color, indicate that the marker is in Edit mode.

4:

Click anywhere on the boundary of the circle, then drag to change its radius. The point on the radius that you select changes to a small circular drag icon. As you drag the circle radius in or out, the radius value of the circle shown on the dialog box changes to reflect its new size. You can also specify an exact radius size in either feet or meters using the Radius field.

5:

Click the Save button to save your changes to the location or size of the circle marker.

Changing a Circle Marker to a Polygon Marker

To change a circle marker into a polygon marker:
 

1.Click the Redraw yard button.

 
2.Click the Redraw as Polygon button to change the circle marker to a polygon marker. Click Cancel to keep the marker as a circle.

 
3.Click the map at a location you want to use as a corner of your new polygon.
4.Click another point that will be used as another polygon corner. Blue lines show the edges as you create them:
 

 
5.Click each corner that marks the end of an edge you are creating:
 

 
6.Finally, click the first corner once again to close the polygon, then click the Save button:
 

 
7.The completed polygon shadow is displayed on the map, and your changes are automatically saved:
 

 

Editing a Polygon Marker

To edit the shape of a polygon marker:
 

1.Click the Redraw yard button.

 
2.Click a corner and drag it to a new location to re-position a corner of the polygon. Drag any part of an edge to a new location to split a single edge into two segments.

 
3.Click the Save button when you are finished editing the polygon.

Changing a Polygon Marker to a Circle

To change a polygon marker into a circle marker:
 

1.Click the Redraw yard button.

 
2.Click the Redraw as Circle button.

 
3.The polygonal marker on the map is replaced by a circular marker.
4.Adjust the circle using the same techniques as when you edit a circle marker.
5.Click the Save button.

Adding an Access Path

An access path is a custom route restriction, typically used to connect a marker location, a "gate" located on the perimeter of a circle or polygon marker, or a street location. The access path dictates the direction that vehicles can travel along it. This direction can be bidirectional, which allows travel in either direction along the path, or directional, which permits either entry to, or departure from, the marker to a gate or an external location on the road network.

This feature allows users to control where vehicles can and cannot enter and exit from the marker's area to the surrounding road network.

Access paths can be snapped to roads. In this case they use the existing roadways, or are manually and arbitrarily configured using the cursor. Manually drawing an access path is helpful in cases where the roadway does not exist in the map data; for example, driveways or private roads, or if you want to specify an exact custom route around a larger area such as a parking lot or depot yard.

Snapping an access path to the road

To create an access path to the closest point on the road:

 

1.In Edit mode, right-click the purple line that links the center of the marker to the point on the road that the marker is on.
2.Click Convert to access path.
3.The purple line is converted to a bidirectional access path. Right-click the access path to make changes to it.

Manually creating access paths

The following example describes how to create an arrival access path (including an approach gate) and a departure access path (including a departure gate) for a polygon marker that has been created over a shopping center. Approaches to the marker are permitted only through the approach gate, and departures from the marker are permitted only through the departure gate. The marker location is the depot bay entrance at the rear of the shopping center. The shopping center has several other entrances, but by configuring only two gates, the routing engine ignores all other entrances. This prevents large goods vehicles passing through entrances used by the center's customers, bypassing the main customer parking areas.

In this example a polygon marker over a shopping center has already been created.

First, add two gates:
 

1.Click the Edit button on the Shape tab of the Marker Details dialog box.
2.Hover over the edge of the polygon. A circular marker is displayed on the blue edge, indicating that a gate can be added at the location. Right-click the blue edge at the location you want to add a gate. Gates can also be added to circle markers if needed.

 
3.Select the "Create gate" option from the contextual menu. A green gate icon is added at the location. This is the approach gate. To revert the gate back to a point, right-click the green gate icon and select "Convert to point". To delete it select "Delete gate".

 
4.Repeat these steps to add the departure gate in the upper left corner of the marker.

 

Next, create the access paths between the gates and the marker location:
 

5.Click the Add Access Path button on the Shape tab of the Marker Details dialog box.

 
6.Click the gate on the right. A green dotted line connects the gate to the cursor. The line represents the access path. You can also click the marker location pin (the orange marker in the following screenshot) first then connect it to the gate, or click a point on the road and connect to the gate, or connect the marker directly with a point on the road to bypass any gates.

 
7.Click the marker pin to create an access path between the depot bay entrance and the gate. The new access path is displayed as an animated green and red dotted line. Green represents a path that permits approaches only (as indicated by the direction of the moving dots). Red represents a path that allows departures only. The combination of both colors indicates that the new path is bidirectional. Travel is permitted along it in either direction.

 
8.Repeat these steps for the departure gate in the upper left corner. There are now two access paths.

 

Next, manually edit the paths so that the access paths to and from the depot loading bay travel around the edge of the parking lot, avoiding the customer parking areas
 

9.Drag a corner or edge of the path lines to split a path into two edges, then drag the path to follow the required roadway layout.

 

There are now two gates and defined access paths between the gates and the marker location.
 
Next, specify the direction of travel permitted on the access paths:
 

10.Right-click the right path line to open a contextual menu. This is the approach path so select "Make Approach Only". The path line changes to green, indicating that this path permits only approaches to the marker.

 
11.Right-click the left path line to open a contextual menu. This is the departure path so select "Make Departure Only". The path line changes to red, indicating that this path permits only departures from the marker.

 
12.Click the Save button on the Shape tab. Routes that include this marker as a stop will now be routed from the approach gate to the depot bay entrance, then to the departure gate when departing.
In the following screenshot a route stop has been added close to the departure gate, but the route generated ignores this gate and continues around to the approach gate, even though it is further away:

 
Determining the approach direction

You can extend the access paths outside the marker to control the direction that drivers take on the roads when they approach or depart the marker. Routes directed to the marker shown in the previous screenshots could arrive at the approach gate from either the north or the south. You can connect an additional access path directly to the road network to restrict access to the approach gate from a particular direction. The following example describes how to restrict the arrival at the approach gate from the south.

 

1.Click the Edit button on the Shape tab of the Marker Details dialog box.
2.Click the Add Access Path button, then click the approach gate on the right.

 
3.Click a location on the road network south of the approach gate. A new access path is created between the approach gate and location you clicked.

 
4.Right-click the new access path and select "Make Approach Only" from the contextual menu.

 

The "Disable Street Snapping" option in the contextual menu is used when there is no base map data for the access path to route along; for example, when routing along private roads. This feature allows the shape and location of the access path to be manually controlled. When street snapping is enabled (the default behavior of access paths) the access path attempts to travel along the nearest known road network, as contained in the base map data. Street snapping can be toggled on or off on a segment-by-segment basis (between each set of vertices).

 

5.Click Save. When the route is generated again it will show the arrival at the approach gate from the south: