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Make Your Own Map

The Agas Map interface can be used to create a downloadable image of the map with your own line, shape, or point marked thereon. This feature allows you to add a custom map to a slidedeck for classroom or presentation purposes. You can also reproduce your image in a publication (with credit to MoEML but without permission). At this time, it isn’t possible to create a map with more than one shape, line, or point.
Locations are plotted on the map in three forms:
Each of these forms serve a different purpose, depending on the type of location you are encoding; each of these shapes and their purposes are discussed in more detail below.

Creating a Polygon

To create a polygon shape, first zoom right into the map so that the shape you want to outline is taking up most of the window. In this example, we’re going to outline St. Mary Woolchurch:
agas_draw_poly_01.png
Then choose Polygon from the Draw a shape drop-down list:
agas_draw_poly_02.png
A red box appears at the bottom of the screen, with some XML code for encoding purposes that you don’t need to worry about when drawing on the map. You’ll notice that the cursor turns to a blue point. Now you can click on one of the corners of the object to add a point. Move your mouse to the next corner, and click there to add the next point:
agas_draw_poly_03.png
Keep adding points until you have outlined the whole object:
agas_draw_poly_04.png
Click back on the original starting point to complete the shape.
agas_draw_poly_05.png
Note that it’s good practice to observe the right-hand rules (going from right to left).
Once the shape is completed, the colour of the outlining line will change to show you that it is complete.
What if your shape is not perfect first time around? You can easily edit it after it’s completed. To do so, place your mouse over one of the existing points, click and move it to change the shape of your polygon. You may find that you need to change the polygon at a spot with no points yet; in this case, simply click on that spot and move your cursor to chenge the shape as needed.
agas_draw_poly_06.png
If you need to delete one of the nodes in your shape, press the Shift key and click on it. This will result in a straight line in the place of the previous point.
It is best to have the map zoomed to its maximum size when you create the shape, because you’ll be more accurate. If you’re outlining a large area, this may mean that the shape does not completely fit on the screen. Don’t worry about this; even while you’re in the middle of drawing the shape, you can still click and hold (hold down the mouse button), drag the map around, and release without adding a new point in your shape. It’s only when you click and release immediately that a new point is added.

Creating MultiLineStrings

While we usually draw buildings as shapes, streets are drawn as MultiLineStrings (in other words, a series of connected lines). The process is exactly the same as for Polygons, except that to finish the shape, you just double-click on the last point. When tracing a street, start the line in the middle of the junction where the street starts, and end in the middle of the junction where it ends. Keep the line in the middle of the street.
agas_draw_street.png

Creating Points

Some locations cannot be precisely outlined, perhaps because although we know approximately where they were, they do not actually appear on the map. You can use a Point for this.
Creating a Point is the simplest process of all: select Point from the drop-down list, then click on the location.

Bookmarking Shapes

Just as you can bookmark locations or sets of locations, you can also bookmark a shape you have created. This can be handy if you’re emailing someone and would like to refer to a specific location on the map, if you would like to suggest a particular location for inclusion, or if you would like to share a custom shape that does not belong in the database.1 To do this, simply create the shape as you normally would, and then when you’ve finished, press the Bookmark button. A long, inscrutable URL will be created and a popup alert will tell you that it is about to redirect you to the bookmarked URL.
agas_bookmark_alert.png
Press OK and the page will redirect you to the bookmark URL. Once the page has reloaded, you can copy and paste the entire URL in the address bar. If you paste this URL into a browser, the map will recreate the shape and zoom to it.

Downloading an Image

You may also want to download an image of the shape you created (in .png format). To do so, hover your curser to the top banner of the page, and click on the images icon (shown below). Note that when you hover over the appropriate icon, the pop-up should say: Save this state of the map as a static image. Once you click, the image will automatically be downloaded into your default download folder.
save_agas.png

Notes

  1. See, for instance, the footnote in Silver Street, which shows the house that Shakespeare may have lived in during his stay on Silver Street.↑

Cite this page

MLA citation

Holmes, Martin D., and Tracey El Hajj. Draw on the Agas Map. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 15 Sep. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm.

Chicago citation

Holmes, Martin D., and Tracey El Hajj. Draw on the Agas Map. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed September 15, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm.

APA citation

Holmes, M. D., & El Hajj, T. 2020. Draw on the Agas Map. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Holmes, Martin
A1  - El Hajj, Tracey
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Draw on the Agas Map
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/09/15
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/draw_on_agas.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Holmes, Martin
A1 El Hajj, Tracey
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 Draw on the Agas Map
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2020
FD 2020/09/15
RD 2020/09/15
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#HOLM3"><surname>Holmes</surname>, <forename>Martin</forename> <forename>D.</forename></name></author>, and <author><name ref="#ELHA1"><forename>Tracey</forename> <surname>El Hajj</surname></name></author>. <title level="a">Draw on the Agas Map</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2020-09-15">15 Sep. 2020</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/draw_on_agas.htm</ref>.</bibl>

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