Edit spatial layouts

Spatial layouts add a geometry layer to the layout canvas. They require an owner node and store geometry in layout-local integer coordinates. Moving the viewport or repositioning the layout on Atlas does not change those feature coordinates. Spatial layouts share the same pan, zoom, grid, label, selection, autosave, and undo behavior as relational Canvases.

The project’s spatial settings name one universal coordinate unit. The lower-left canvas readout shows this layout’s grid type and cell size in that unit. The scale beside the zoom controls shows configured units per screen centimetre, such as 18.9 m/cm. Zoom changes only the on-screen size; it does not change saved geometry. Name the universal unit from Coordinates on Atlas.

Configure the layout grid

Choose Grid in the layout header to select:

• Square for square cells.
• Hex · pointy top for hexes with a vertex at the top.
• Hex · flat top for hexes with a horizontal top edge.

Set Cell size as a positive whole number. It is the width and height of a square cell, or the edge length of a hex cell, expressed in the project’s universal spatial unit. Set Grid position to Below content when the grid should sit behind geometry and images, or Above content when its lines should overlay them. The overlay does not block canvas interactions or cover editor controls. Choose Save grid to apply the change to this layout. Changing the grid does not move or rescale existing geometry.

Let content define the layout extent

Weave automatically fits each spatial layout to its points, lines, polygons, rectangles, and images. There is no separate boundary to draw or maintain. Features can be created and moved anywhere in layout-local space.

Adding, moving, resizing, or deleting content updates the outline shown on Atlas. The saved Atlas placement remains unchanged, so existing content keeps the same project-space coordinates. The outline follows the exact content bounds and has no background fill. Atlas expands only an axis with no extent to keep point-only and straight-line layouts findable, using five grid cells as the minimum extent. If the layout uses an automatic Atlas detail scale, changing these bounds also updates the zoom level at which it appears.

An empty spatial layout has no Atlas outline. It appears under No spatial content yet until you add geometry or an image.

Measure distances

Choose Measure (M) at the right end of the toolbelt, then drag between two canvas positions. The readout uses the project’s universal spatial unit and measures straight-line distance in layout coordinates.

Opening Measure also lets you choose how its endpoints snap:

• Anywhere uses the exact pointer positions.
• Grid centers snaps to the center of square or hex cells.
• Corners & sides snaps to cell corners and side midpoints.

Snapping follows the grid currently drawn on screen. At a distant square-grid zoom, it uses the visible major cells instead of hidden minor cells. When a hex grid is too distant to draw, or when the grid is hidden, measurement endpoints act like Anywhere.

The straight-line measurement appears only while you drag and is not saved with the layout. To measure a longer route, right-click each point along the path. The path stays visible and the readout shows the cumulative distance. Press Esc to clear the path, then press it again to return to Select. Hold Space to pan without leaving Measure.

Draw features

Choose a geometry tool, then draw on the canvas:

• Point (P) places one point.
• Line (L) adds a multi-point line.
• Polygon (O) adds a closed shape.
• Rectangle (R) drags out a rectangle.
• Image (I) inserts an uploaded image.

Finish a line or polygon with Enter or a double-click. Press Esc to cancel an unfinished feature. Images can also be dragged onto the canvas and are uploaded before the layout finishes saving. Weave sizes a new image to the current viewport and places it at the chosen point or viewport center.

With Select active, drag features, marquee-select, or use Shift for a multi-selection. Select one image and drag a corner handle to resize it in layout coordinates; hold Shift while dragging to preserve its aspect ratio. Select Edit points from a line’s context menu to edit its vertices. Delete removes the selected feature or selected vertex.

Style and order geometry

Select one or more features to open style controls. Depending on the selection, you can change stroke and fill colors, fill pattern, stroke width and style, opacity, and layer order. Image selections focus on opacity and ordering rather than vector stroke settings.

Use the context menu to bring a feature to front, move it forward, send it backward, or send it to back. These commands order features within their current geometry layer.

Link geometry to the graph

Right-click a feature and choose Link. Search for a node, relationship, or layout. After entering a new node name, choose Create node + spatial layout or Create node. The combined action appears first and preselects spatial-layout creation in the node form. Creating the node links the feature to it and opens its new spatial layout when requested.

Linking a feature to a node adds that node to the spatial layout’s query membership. The feature’s shape does not change this meaning: points, lines, polygons, rectangles, and images can all represent nodes. Multiple features linked to the same node still add it only once. Unlinked geometry is decoration and adds no graph node. Links to relationships or layouts keep their navigation behavior but do not add endpoint nodes to the scope.

For faster entry, right-click empty canvas space or any non-point feature, including a locked background image, and choose Create linked point. Search for an existing node, relationship, or layout to link, or enter a new node name and choose a create action. Weave places the point at the clicked location and links it to the selected or newly created target. The original feature and its lock state remain unchanged. Deleting the new point later does not delete its target.

Linked features can change link, unlink, or open their target. Unlink · Keep as decoration removes the target and its graph-scope membership while leaving the geometry in place. It does not delete the target. Double-clicking a linked feature opens that target directly. Labels can be hidden globally from the canvas controls without removing the links.

Set validity and locks

Use Set validity to make a feature visible from a tick, until a tick, across an interval, or at all times. This is separate from the linked node or relationship’s own validity. On a Follow project layout, a node link adds graph membership only while the feature is valid at the viewed time. All time layouts ignore feature validity when determining graph membership.

Lock finished features to protect them from selection and movement. A locked feature’s menu offers validity and Unlock. Right-click empty space and use Unlock all if several features need editing again.

When a follow-project layout becomes unavailable, check the owner’s validity and the active project time.

Open Atlas to place and compare spatial layouts.