MapWindow:Desktop:EditLayers
From MapWindow GIS
Creating Data or Layers
Setting up Data Folders
Before you start to create new data and projects, it is best to setup the folders for storing your GIS datasets in.
- In My Documents add a folder for all data, eg GIS or Mapping
- Create sub folder/s in this folder for your supplied layers, eg imagery, and base data
- Create sub folder/s in the main folder for your created data layers, eg Works, GPS,
- When saving a Project, add your Project files to the main folder (GIS) to make it easy to find the project file
- Add data layers to the sub folders – keeping these separate from projects and base data.
Creating a New Layer
First, the Shapefile Editor plug-in must be enabled. Click on [Plug-ins] and tick [Shapefile Editor]. This will add the Shapefile Editor Icons to the Toolbar.
To create a new layer for editing, choose 
Create New Shapefile icon from the main menu.
The New Shapefiles Options dialog will be displayed.
- Choose the type of layer (point, line, or polygon).
- Click on the button to the right of the Filename box, which will open the browse dialog. Browse to the appropriate folder to store your layer in, type in the filename for the layer.
- GIS naming options are best to avoid using blanks in the names of files, but use dash or underscore between names, eg instead of site poly.shp use site_poly.shp. This will avoid issues with sharing the data.
- Use the default option for setting the layer’s projection to the Project projection, by clicking OK in the warning box
- Click OK on the next warning box.
- The layer is now ready to add shapes to.
- It is good practice to modify the Attribute table now, to setup the required fields for the layer. See section on Using Table Editor to Edit Attribute Table. This also includes the option to import preset field definitions from existing layers.
- To add a shape to the layer, click on the 
(Add Shape) button and commence adding by clicking on the appropriate points for each point or vertex.
Right click to finish each shape.
