Measure area and distance and determine elevation | Feedback E-mail this topic Print this topic

Measure provides tools that allow you to determine the area of a surface, the length of a vector, the aggregate length of multisegment lines, and the location and elevation of a point. Before or after performing each measurement, you can set or change length units or area units, implicitly converting existing measurements. The task also provides a way to add the measurement as a note on the map.

##### To make a measurement

1. Choose the tool you want to use.
2. Move the mouse pointer over the map and click as appropriate; for example, a single click with the Point location tool will provide the location and elevation of that point; click once for every vertex of a multisegment line or polygon, and double-click to signal the end of all line types or a polygon.
   The measurement will appear in the area below the tools.

##### To move the map while measuring

- You may find that what you want to measure is not completely contained within the current extent of the map; for example, a street or parcel may extend beyond what is visible. In order to move the map as you're measuring, while still maintaining the cumulative total distance or area, you can simply hold down the right mouse button and pan the map in the direction you want. Once you're at the location you want to be, resume measuring by clicking the map with the left mouse button.

##### To change units

- Either before or after making the measurement, set the appropriate units. If you change units after making the measurement, the current units will convert in the report area to the newly selected units.

##### To change coordinate units

- When you use Measure to find information about a point location, such as its coordinates and elevation, the units that it reports in are the current coordinate units of the map. You can set these units in the Units group on the Display tab.

  ##### To store a measurement as a note

  1. Choose a tool and perform a measurement.
  2. Press the Add to Map button. The measurement will be added and selected, as the first item at the top of the Contents window with one of the following forms of default names, as appropriate to the measurement type:

     Measured Area (area and units). Measured Line (line and units). The coordinates of the measured point. |
     To change the title of a note, select Rename in the note's context menu or click the note twice in succession.