Features such as streets(road networks) usually need to be managed in segments, having individual polylines for each block(city block #1, #2, #3, and so forth). So the end-point vertices of each polyline need to meet at the same place/coordinate. This is tedious and time consuming at the present time because there is no way to see the vertice in another feature when creating a new feature, and of course there is no way to snap the vertice of/on the new feature with the vertice of/on the existing feature.
Whilst in edit mode, it would be nice to be able to press a keyboard key to activate snapping of the vertice you are mousing-down/moving, so one may snap it to any other vertice(on another feature), and perhaps with pressing down a second key on the keyboard, one could not only snap, but also connect, should the user so desire to connect two features together if the case may be.
Thank you,
Eric Jarvies
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Although it doesn't work exactly as you have described here, the new snapping functions in Cartographica 1.4 should meet the needs described in terms of ability to snap to vertices and edges of features in the same, different, or multiple layers.
For starters, thank you for adding this particular functionality, as it is rather essential when creating polyline and polygon geoms. I used it for the first time this evening on one of my road(polyline) layers, creating some new roads, each with multiple/individual polylines(aka blocks), and it was nice to finally be able to accurately connect roads at their respective intersections.
The following are the steps involved in creating a geometry, such as a polyline;
Add Feature >
Snap to: Vertex >
Snap Distance: (set value) >
Select Snap Layer
Create actual geometry
Unfortunately, immediately after you create a geometry and press Enter/Return, and then go to start the process over again by selecting Add Feature, one must select all of those steps again each and every time. In other words, Cartographica does not maintain any memory from the last/previous operation, so the user must go through and select/set each and every one of them again(and again and again). When creating something like a road segment, perhaps with 20 blocks/individual polylines that each connect at their respective intersections, then it also means repeating the above 5 steps each and every time.
Instead, the app should remember/preserve the user's previous actions for the given layer that is selected/highlighted at the time, so if the user highlighted/selected the Roads Layer, and had selected Snap To Vertex, and set a Snap Distance to 3 meters, and had to scroll down/find the specific Select Snap Layer in the map stack(that contains several dozen layers), the app should remember these selections/settings, because 1.) they take time to select/set, and 2.) the user is almost always going to create 2 or more geometries when performing such actions, like creating roads for example, and 3.) the user is usually going to need to edit an existing geometry to snap its vertex with one on one of the newly created geometries.
Right now, if I want to create a section of road, such as an Avenue or a Boulevard that has 10 cross-streets/intersections(city blocks) for example, I will need to create 10 individual polylines, wherein the last vertex in polyline #1 will need to connect to the first vertex in polyline #2(and so on). So in creating each of these individual polylines, I must repeat each of these steps:
Add Feature >
Snap to: Vertex >
Snap Distance: (set value) >
Select Snap Layer
Create actual geometry
Wherein ideally I should only really need to repeat these steps:
Add Feature >
Create actual geometry
Wherein steps 2, 3, and 4 are already set from the previous polyline I created, instead of reset back to default.
I think that Cartographica should remember/store/save the whatever settings the user had used previous for a given layer, this way whenever I return to a specific layer, such as the ROADS layer, it has the settings I almost always use when creating polylines, whereas when I return to the PARCELS layer, it has different settings(then the ROADS layer) that I almost always use when creating polygons. Returning the settings to default each and every time is just not the answer when creating geom after geom, such as road segments.
Otherwise, I am thrilled with this feature, and am thankful it now exists... so really I am just looking forward to it being refined/streamlined so that it is user friendly as it relates to REPETITIVE work, which is almost always the case with GIS type of work.
Thanks,
Eric