Linear features

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Linear feature is a geographic feature that can be represented by a line or set of lines. For example, rivers, roads, railway lines or ferry routes.

Each set of the linear feature will have it's own unique tool to assist you to map each set of linear lines of your choice.

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Roads

Roads is a feature whereby you can define roads and routes in Wikimapia just like marking places. However, unlike marking places which are done by adding polygons, you add roads by adding points. Successive points which have been pinned on the map are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by segments.

You can then select a set of successive road segments marking a road, and give the road a name. The Roads feature should only be used for thoroughfares facilitating road vehicle conveyances and animal-drawn carriages. Please see the Linear features section. You can also mark different types of roads from dirt roads to highways

Starting a road

Firstly zoom into the map, so that you are at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, this is not a good idea, you need to zoom in more, much more! From the Wikimapia-BETA "Edit map" menu, select 'Road' mode. Click first where you want to start marking your road, and then choose "Start new" option. You will be prompted to choose the kind of road you want to make: "Dirt road," "Courtyard road," "Street, low traffic," "Road, high traffic," or "Highway" (as described in 'Properties' below). Select one of these options, and a bright blue road segment will appear that will follow your mouse cursor.

Every next click that you do will place an additional point and a road segment will be created between your current point and your previous point. Once done with marking the road, click on "Save" in the bottom centre of your screen. Clicking on "Cancel" will erase all your work since your last save.

If you need to start a road from another road already marked, you can click on the location where you want to start your new road. If there is already a road "point" at this location you will have the option "Start new road" and then you can follow the above instructions. If there is no existing road point where you want to start your new road, you should click on the segment of the existing road and choose the "Insert point" option. Then you can continue as above.

Making your road accurate

How can you tell if your road drawing is accurate enough? Zoom in to the highest zoom level available. If your drawn road is shown always on top of the roadway in the image then it is "good enough". If, however, your drawn road strays outside the roadway (into the ditches or houses at the sides of the road), then you can make it fit better. Note that it is always preferred to follow the center of the roadway or a particular traffic lane if the image shows this amount of detail.

Crossing roads

When you are marking a road and you have to cross a pre-existing road, you will be prompted to choose between 3 options:

  • Make a crossroad: the roads are in the same level.
  • Selected segment under: the road you are marking passes under the existing road.
  • Selected segment above: the road you are marking passes above the existing road.

You can cross only one road with each new segment, so you won't be allowed to create a segment if it crosses 2 (or more) roads. You have to make it in 2 (or more) steps. Firstly, cross the first road, choosing one of the above options. Then click on the final point you have just added and click "start a new road" to continue marking the road. So you can cross another existing road, following the same steps.

Ending a road

When you have finished drawing a road, you can click on the last point and choose "stop line draw". If the road ends at a pre-existing road, you can click directly on this road; a new point will be created, and it should be inserted into this existing road segment also. You can check it by moving it with the mouse (drag it on the map and return it to the same place) and verifying that all the segments that are supposed to be connected to it all move together.

Sometimes, when you do it, the pre-existing road moves a little bit to accept your new point. This can be avoided by creating the point just beside the pre-existing road. Then you can drag and drop it above the existing road. If there is a point next to the connection, you will have an option to "Join points", so that the point you are dropping and the existing point will merge into an unique one, assuring you the connection has been made correctly. If there is no pre-existing point next to the place you are making the connection, you should choose the option "Attach point" to be sure the roads are connected. Doing this way, you should check directions of both new segments in pre-existing road, because sometimes their directions are changed inadvertently, due to a system bug.

After marking a road, you can set its properties (see below). In general, it's better to set the properties correctly before naming a road.

Naming a road

The best time to name a road is as you create it, and carefully set its properties. After you have laid down all of the points you can, you should "save changes". Wikimapia will not allow you to enter a name if there is an unsaved drawing change ("You must save changes before naming!"). Immediately after the [Save], left or right click on the road (your browser menu may be dismissed with a click): a set of nearby segments should change colour to bright blue (if road is short, every segment will be highlighted). If not all segments you want to name are blue, you should choose "Start to select" option and choose them properly. With all segments selected, choose 'Set new name', and a window much like a place tag editing window should open ("Access denied"(sic) implies wiki data error). Check the language you are using above the title field. Then type in only the name of the road into the title field. If you have extra information, you can type it in description box. Since there is not a specific field for a Wikipedia link, you should put it in the end of description (especially if there is an article about this road). Click 'Save', and wait for confirmation.

  • If you don't know the name of a road, please do some research to find its correct name and route number. If you cannot find a name for the road or it does not have one, you may save it without a name.
  • Do not abbreviate parts of the name such as "Avenue", "Street," "Park", "Boulevard" or "Route".
  • Be aware that each city or other jurisdiction generally has a system of road naming and addressing that should be followed. There is a difference between "2nd Street" and "Second Street".
  • In some cases, the cardinal direction is part of the road name, so that "South Brown Street" is different from "North Brown Street". In other naming conventions, the road is just "Brown Street" and North and South are considered to be part of the address. Also, as a road crosses through various towns, it may go from being North to South and back to North again. If you are not familiar with the local naming convention in use, assume that the direction is part of the address and do not include it in the road name.

Properties

Properties of a road are defined for each segment individually. To see these properties of a segment, you can click on it and select "Properties".

Types of roads

There are 7 types of roads available. In map, they differ mainly by their thickness and by zoom levels they are shown. Once you defined a type of road for a segment, this property will be inherited to new segments created starting from the final point of the first segment. {See discussion of additional types and see 'level' properties for bridges & tunnels.}

1. Cycleway Cycleway.png

Cycleway are specifically used for bicycles and bicycle riders.

2. Footpath Footpath.png

A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians, not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles and horses. They can be paths within an urban area, or rural paths through the countryside. Urban footpaths can be isolated routes or they can abut or line a vehicular carriageway. They are usually paved, may have steps, and can be in the form of footways, pavements, sidewalks, alleys, lanes, steps, etc. Occasionally they are named. In less urbanized areas, rights of way such as bridleways, byways, towpaths, and green lanes are also used by pedestrians.

3. Dirt road Dirt road.png

Select for gravel, unpaved or dirt roads. These roads must be usable by vehicles. They are shown at zoom level 12 or higher.

4. Courtyard road Courtyard road.png

Courtyard roads are used for paved alleyways, private roads and driveways. They may or may not have an official name, and if they don't, be sure that your name for it mentions that it is not official in the description field. They are shown at zoom level 15 or higher.

5. Road, Low traffic Street traffic low.png

Low traffic roads are typified by having one lane in each direction. In some cases, they may have only one lane. Also, low traffic roads tend to be in residential areas. Low traffic roads are also shown at zoom level 12 or higher.

6. Road, High traffic Street traffic high.png

High traffic roads are typified by having two or more lanes in each direction. They tend to be well-known to locals, and to be lined by businesses rather than residences. High traffic roads are shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

7. Highway Highway.png

Highways are typified by having two lanes or more in each direction, limited access from other roads, and by a median strip which divides the two directions of traffic. "Limited access" means no intersections with minor or smaller roads, only merging traffic permitted, nor any direct crossing by cross-roads i.e. these use bridges or tunnels instead. These features make high speed, high volume traffic possible. It is best to draw each direction of highways with its own road. Highways are also shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

Directions

This property applies direction of traffic in the road segment. There are 3 options:

Highway.png is the default setting and indicates both directions are possible in a road segment. This option can be chosen by clicking on the middle button in the road properties menu Both directions.png

Directional road 2.png indicates one-way or uni-directional traffic flow in a road segment. Depending on the orientation of the road segment, this option can be chosen by clicking either the right or left button in the road properties menu Direction 1.png Direction 2.png

Directional road 1.png indicates the opposite to the above. Depending on the orientation of the road segment, this option can be chosen by clicking either the right or left button in the road properties menu Direction 1.png Direction 2.png


In order to check on map directions referring to each symbol ("<--" and "-->"), you may look the road while hover mouse over these symbols. A red arrow will appear above selected segment to show the corresponding direction. The first option ("<==>") doesn't show anything.

Once you have defined a property to a segment, and you start to mark new segments starting from a final point of this first segment, direction will be inherited.

Elevation Level

This properties refers to the elevation level of segment in relation to ground level and nearby roads. There are 6 levels available:

  • 2 underground ones: -1 and -2
  • ground level: Ground road
  • 3 overpass ones: 1, 2, and 3

This property changes way segments are displayed on map. Tunnels are shown in a different color than other levels. Ground level and overpass levels can only be differentiate when there is a viaduct, where you can see which road is above other.

This property is never inherited to new segments. So, for example, if you want to draw a tunnel with many segments, you will need to check every segment property to assure they are assigned -1 (or -2) elevation level.

Elevation properties also apply to the railway lines linear feature (see below).

Changing properties

If a road changes, for example, from high to low traffic, it is possible to change the properties of those segments to reflect that fact. After drawing the road, click save. Then click on a segment which begins (or ends) the section you wish to change. Choose 'Start to select' from the prompt box, and the segment will turn bright blue. Click on any other segment and it and all the segments between will be highlighted bright blue. Choose 'Properties' from the prompt box, and change the road type. You can change all or part of a road in this manner.

Each property has its own behavior when one attempts to change it in multiple segments simultaneously.

  • Level: You can change this property for a single segment only. You can't make a selection to try to change properties of any segments together.
  • Direction: This property is changed only for a group of segments where there is no junction. If you select a group with junctions, property will be changed only for the set of segments between 2 junctions where the segment you click is on.
  • Type of road: You can change type of road of many segments simultaneously, no matter there are junctions among them. But if the road is too long (for example a national one), you can not change properties of all its segments in a single step: just some segments near segment you clicked will have their properties changed.

Correcting Errors

Points are in wrong location

If you placed a point on the wrong location (or they were already this way, when you found them), possibly just outside the road by mistake, you can click on the point and drag it to the correct location (without releasing your mouse click). If you attempt to put this point over an existing road (or point), you will be prompted to choose between "Cancel" or "Attach point" (or "Join points"). If you don't choose any of these and click anywhere on map, your change will be cancelled. If you want to avoid it, you may use map mode and zoom it so that you can put point in that region and it will not be considered too close of existing road (or point).

Wrong segment linking correct points

If a wrong segment is linking two points that are correctly marked, you can delete only this segment, keeping the points in their right places. To do this, just click on the segment. If more segments become highlighted, click on "Start to select" to select just the one segment. (Road segment deletion must be made one by one. You can't delete a set of segments with a single command.) Then click on "Delete segment". You will be prompted to confirm your deletion by clicking "ok".

Name error

If a segment or a set of segments is not named right, you can edit it or clear its name. It's very important to be sure that you are changing only the segments that are wrong and not the whole road.

First you need to select the segment or segments you want to correct: Click on one segment. All the segments of the same road (with the same name) will be highlighted. If you want to modify just some of these segments, you should click on one of the segments and choose the "Start to select" option. You can then select more segments by clicking on them, as long as the segments are all connected.

( Because of a flaw in the system, if you want to change the name of just part of a road then currently you have to do this in two steps: first clear it, and then set it anew. If you try to do it in one step (by choosing the "Edit this name" option, below) then you will end up changing the whole road, and not just your selected segments. )

Once you have selected all the segments you want, click on any one of them and then:

  • Clear (unset) name: to unset the name and description of all these segments,
  • Save the changes;

If you wanted to change the name (instead of stopping after clearing it):

  • Re-select all the same segments, click on one of them and
  • Set new name: to set the name and description of all these segments.

Duplicated names

Sometimes a unique road is marked as 2 separated roads with the same name. This problems caused because someone has erroneously entered the road name more than once, instead of using the option "choose street name from nearest streets". If it occurs, you can correct it by following these steps:

  1. In roads edit mode, unset the names for all except one road with the same name. The one that you leave unchanged should preferably be at the end of your road. Save.
  2. Then go to the adjoining road segment to that one segment you left unchanged. Click on it and choose "Set new name" (if you see "Edit this name", it means that you haven't unset the road name).
  3. In the name definition window, click on "choose street name from nearest streets" and choose the correct road name from the list. If you see the same name twice, it means that you didn't unset all of the segments, so go back and try to find the segments whose names were not cleared and unset them.
  4. Save the changes and repeat this process beginning from step 2, for the next adjoining segment.

You can make things faster in step 2, if you select all segments together, provided they are connected. This way, you won't need to repeat steps 2 and 3 so many times.

Moving a road

Sometimes, after an imagery update, Wikimapia place tags and roads are not correctly aligned to the images anymore. In this case, one could need to move a road to the correct position. For now, there is no way to move the entire road. So you should move point by point, taking care to avoid creating new crossroads (especially if all the roads around are also marked and if the misalignment was too large).

Tips and tricks

  • If after placing a point you move it from side to side then the cursor will release it, allowing you to set its properties, create another road, etc before saving. This is useful as saving can be a time consuming operation.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the line of the road when using one of the wider road types (Street, Low Traffic; Road, High Traffic or Highway) you might try changing the road type to 'Courtyard Road'. This shows a fairly narrow line and you should be able to see more clearly. This trick is especially useful when drawing highways and major interchanges. When you have finished editing the road or highway you can select the segments and change the road type to one more appropriate to the traffic.

Railway lines

Railroads is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines in Wikimapia. You can mark railroads by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

The marking of railroads should follow the same principles as marking tags ie. the object/railroad to be marked must be visible and non-movable. Thus the marking of non-existent railroads or even non-visible railroads of historical importance should be avoided. If it isn't there don't mark it!

Creating a Railroad

Firstly zoom into the map at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, it would be preferential to zoom in further to get the best out of imparting points and segments for railroads more accurately.

Example 1 Selecting Railroad mode
Example 2 Start a new railroad
Example 3 Railroad context menu

From the Wikimapia-BETA "Menu bar" along the top of the screen, select "Edit map" and then "Railroad" from the dropdown list (See Example 1). You will then enter "Railroad" mode. Click first where you want to start marking your railroad and then choose "Start new" option (See Example 2). By left-clicking your mouse you will have anchored a 'red dot' or point from which a light-yellow coloured segment shall issue forth and follow your cursor wherever you move it. You will then be able to set further points, joined by segments, by subsequent left-clicks of the mouse. This way you will be successfully laying linear markings along the desired railroad image on the map.

Once completed, click on the "Save" button in the bottom centre of the screen. Clicking on the "Cancel" button will erase all your work since your last save.

You can also create new railroads from others that are already marked. There are two ways in which you can do this. The first way is by clicking on an existing point along the railroad and then selecting the "Start new" option. If there is no existing railroad point where you want to start your new railroad, you can opt to click on the segment of the existing railroad and then choose the "Insert point" option via the context menu (See Example 3). You will then be able to continue creating railroads as described above.

Rivers

Rivers is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions. This method of marking is also used for the other linear features available in Wikimapia, such as Road, Railroad and Ferry.

The marking of rivers requires patience and meticulous attention to detail because of their complexity. Rivers can be as wide as lakes, while others can be as narrow as streams. Moreover, they can have straight courses or they can have tight "meandering" (curves) channels. Another characteristic of rivers is that they can form junctures (confluences) with other watercourses or split into smaller rivers (tributaries).

To address some of these factors, the River tool has an additional special feature that adds width to its segments. This feature is called riversides, and outlines the width of a river's channel (the distance between opposing "riversides") by adding a framework to segments. In essence, riversides are polygons for the river tool. When the riverside feature is activated, two smaller points, called "riverside handles", appear either side of an attached point at both ends of a segment. Just as opposing points are linked by segments; opposing riverside handles are linked with riversides. The riverside handles are flexible and can be manipulated to give two-dimensional shapes (or riversides) to segments.

When a river with riversides is saved, the Wikimapia map is updated to show the river with a fully rendered form, as opposed to a conventional thin blue line. In "Satellite" view the river is depicted with as a transparent blue channel. In "Map" view the river is defined with a solid blue channel.

Example The image to the left shows the components of a riverside:
A. Segment.
B. Points. Located at either end of a segment.
C. Riverside handles. A pair, flanking one point and linked to an opposite pair. The lines joined with the riverside handles give river segments editable shapes.

A typical segment will consist of one line and two points. A riverside segment comprises of five lines and six points. Just as two standard segments share a point, a riverside segment will share a point and its pair of riverside handles.

On the right, the same river (viewed in "Map" view) is shown as saved with riversides activated.

Riverside components - A Segment B Segment points C Riverside handles
See paragraph above.
River with riverside in "Map" view

How to mark a river

Fig.1

1. Select the river tool by navigating to the menu bar at the top of your screen and then choosing "Edit map".
2. Click on "River" at the bottom of the menu (See Fig. 1). You shall then enter the edit mode.
3. To add a river, you will need to fix an initial point by clicking on the image of the river. Then select → River4.jpg
4. When you move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. To set the segment, you will need to place another point along the river.
Repeat the process of adding points and laying segments along the centre line of the river, taking care to follow the contour of the river accurately and adding sufficient points to maintain a smooth line.
Hint add more points for meanders (bends in a river), and fewer points for straighter stretches.
If fewer points are used for meanders, the bend of the segment line will be more jagged. Remember: more points equals a flexible, meandering river.
5. Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen when you have finished.
Note: there will be a limit on how many points and segments you can add in one session.

Marking from an existing river

Fig. 2

To mark confluences, you may create a new tributary by clicking on an existing point and then selecting "Start new." (See Fig. 2) You may also add a new point in an existing segment, by clicking it and selecting "Insert point" from the menu.

Some hints

Select the highest zoom level available (z=19 or above) for the river you are editing.

If part of the river imagery is obscured by clouds or haze, it would be better to not mark that portion with the tool. However, if you have access to an alternative source that shows the complete watercourse, you may continue to mark it. When the imagery is eventually updated, the edited river should be fairly accurate; if not, it can always be tidied up afterwards

To ensure the river is marked as accurate as possible, the dots and segments should always be placed in the centre line of a river. This will also make certain that riverside segments will always be aligned correctly over the river image when they are included.

For rivers with islands, if both sides of the island provide sufficient space, then create smooth lines for both sides. If one side is definitely wider than another use your best judgment whether or not to create two lines.

For wide rivers with rapids, I tend to follow the 'racing' line, as long as the line entering and exiting curves or rapids is smooth.


It is crucial you use extra points to trace a river accurately, especially its curves, so that the final rendering is smooth and precise in appearance.

Ferry

Click on the "Edit map" menu item and then the "Ferry" sub-item. If you are viewing a coastal ferry port, you may see some ferry lines highlighted with red boxes in the style of place outlines. You can edit an existing ferry or add a new line. See the documentation for the other linear features for more information.

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