Places/Natural feature View history

Natural features can be mapped to enhance the visual appearance of the app and to help give the driver visual clues of their location. Natural Feature is the parent category and the subcategories are: Canal, Dam, Farm, Forest / Grove, Island, River / Stream, Sea / Lake / Pond, and Swamp / Marsh

Client rendering

An important consideration when mapping natural features as area places is how the objects will render in the app. When adding any area place such as Forest / Grove, Island, or Natural Feature (parent) in WME it will cover up the native water layer which could be undesirable. If an area place is added that will cover the native water layer in the app then the appropriate water feature will also need to be mapped in WME, unless the water layer is not accurate in the app.

The live map and the app have different native layers and different object layer ordering so it is imperative to check the app, not the live map, to see what is currently mapped versus what should be added. Native layers that are visible in the live map may not be visible in the app.

Object colors

Area places add shading to the map. Natural Features have four shades

• Blue for water bodies - Canal, Dam, River/Stream, Sea/Lake/Pond
• Green - Forest / Grove, Farm
• White - Island
• Dark gray - Natural Feature (parent)

Layer order

When a smaller area place is entirely within the bounds of a larger area place the smaller place will appear as the top layer in the app.

• Area places added in WME will always cover the native app layer.
• When a smaller area place is entirely within the bounds of a larger area place the smaller place will appear as the top layer in the app.
• When only a portion of an area place overlaps another area place there is no set layer ordering in the app; sometimes the larger area will appear over the smaller area and vise versa . When it's desired to have shading for both area places it is better to map the places to border each other rather than overlap each other.

When only a portion of an area place overlaps another area place there is no set layer ordering in the app.

When it's desired to have shading for both area places it is better to map the places to border each other rather than overlap each other

Where to map

Dam

Dam area places are shaded blue in the app so it may be necessary to use a different primary category that will shade the dam area place dark grey.

 Dam example  Just click on the expand link to the right ------>

The Hoover Dam example shows a dam that is mapped with the primary category set to Tourist Attraction / Historic Site. The dam is shaded dark gray which visually differentiates it from Lake Mead and the Colorado River. The Oroville Dam example has the primary category set to Dam. The dam is shaded blue and it appears to be a body of water in the app although the actual dam is an earthen dam. This results in the dam not being visually different than Lake Oroville.

Link to dam example

Farm

Farm should be mapped as a point place.

Forest / Grove

Use area place to map any forested area.

Island

Use area place to map any island or land where the land:

1. Isn’t on the native land layer.
2. Is on the native land layer, but:
   • Would otherwise be covered by another area place (park, forest, or otherwise), or
   • Is so significant that the name should be shown in the app.
3. Used to cover errant water layers in the app

Canal, River / Stream, Sea / Lake / Pond, Swamp / Marsh

Use area place to map the appropriate water feature where:

1. The water body is perennial. Perennial waterbodies are those which have water throughout the whole year (excluding drought conditions), and
   1. Isn’t on the native water layer.
   2. Is on the native water layer, but:
      • Would otherwise be covered by another area place (park, forest, large campus, or otherwise), or
      • Is so significant that the name should be shown in the app.
2. Used to cover errant land layers in the app.