Working with Layers

A layer is the rendered form of a dataset that you can style or perform operations on. Layers are listed in the Layers panel on the right side of the screen.

Adding layers

There are two ways to add a layer.

• From a data source — click a dataset in the catalog or upload a file, and Graticule adds it as a layer.
• As a blank layer — click the + button at the top of the Layers panel to create a layer with no data source. A blank layer opens straight to its Data tab, where you can assign a source — any uploaded file or single-layer catalog dataset. You can also leave it source-less and give it geometry by drawing into it.

You can change a layer’s source at any time from the Data tab, and the layer re-renders from the new data while keeping its style. Layers whose geometry you have edited or derived from an operation show as a Derived dataset; selecting one of the original sources again restores its clean, unedited geometry.

Layer order

Layers render bottom to top — the bottom of the list draws first, layers above draw on top. Drag layers in the panel to reorder them or use the keyboard shortcuts [ ] with a layer selected.

Renaming layers

Double-click a layer name to rename it. Press Enter or click away to confirm.

Toggling visibility

Click the eye icon on any layer or press H to hide or show it. Hidden layers stay in your project with their data and settings intact — they just don’t render on the canvas.

Duplicating a layer

Press Cmd+D or use the ... menu to duplicate a layer. The copy has the same style and data as the original and is added directly above it.

Removing layers

Use Cmd+delete or the ... menu to delete a layer. This can be undone with Cmd+Z.

Undo / Redo

All layer changes — adding, removing, reordering, renaming, and style changes — are undoable. Use Cmd+Z to undo and Cmd+Shift+Z to redo, or the Undo/Redo buttons in the top toolbar.

The history stack goes back 50 steps.

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Selecting layers

Layers can be selected directly from the layers panel by clicking them, or on the canvas while in Select mode.

• Click a layer to select it. Shift+click to range-select, Cmd+click to toggle individual layers in or out.
• Selected layers are highlighted on the canvas with visual feedback tuned to geometry type: bounding box strokes for all types, fill tint and outline thickening for polygons, stroke tint for lines, and halos for points.
• Click and drag to create a marquee that will select all layers it intersects.
• Escape clears the selection (feature selection clears first, then layer selection).
• An X button in the action bar dismisses the selection at any time.
• Double-clicking a layer on the map allows you to select features within it.

The action bar

When one or more layers are selected, a floating action bar appears above the canvas toolbar.

Action	What it does
Dissolve	Merges all features in the layer into a single geometry.
Explode	Splits multi-part features into individual single-part features.
Clip	Clips the layer to another layer’s extent or to a bounding box.
Subtract	Subtracts another layer’s geometry from the selected layer.
Mosaic	Flattens overlapping polygons by converting overlapping areas into separate non-overlapping polygons.
Merge	Combines multiple selected layers into one.

The Clip operation

Clip trims a layer to a boundary. Click Clip to open a popover with two options:

• Clip to layer — choose another layer from the list. Graticule clips the active layer to that layer’s outer boundary.
• Clip to bounding box — drag handles appear on the canvas. Resize and position the box, then confirm. Graticule clips to the box edges.

The original layer is replaced with the clipped result. Press Cmd+Z to undo.