Configuring Area Object Type (KB-AP016)
Area objects are used to identify property boundaries, footprints of buildings, and underground chamber outlines. They will be displayed as area overlays in the vGIS app. There are two object configuration settings for the Area type:
- Default Height: sets the default height of the area object. Area height can be used to extrude the area into a 3D object. For example, if the GIS data contains building footprints, they can be converted into 3D prisms, creating a 3D outline for physical objects. Positive numbers in the default height field will extrude the area upwards, while negative downwards. You can choose a unit of measurement by selecting it in the drop-down box adjacent to the Default Height value field.
- Height Field: sets the height of the extruded area dynamically based on the attribute value of the object. It can be mapped by selecting the appropriate field from the drop-down box. Use the sample data at the bottom of the page to find the height value field. Next, select the unit of measurement that your data source uses. Check the Invert checkbox if you need to invert (multiply by -1) values in the attribute.
Infocard Image: sets the picture that will be displayed in the object's infocard within the vGIS app. The image can be selected from a range of preset images or uploaded from your library.
Please note: when selecting colors for an area object, the Primary Color is for the surface of the area, and the Secondary Color is the boundary line. It is recommended to set the transparency of an area object’s primary color to 30-50% (xxxxxx30 or xxxxxx50 in the primary color where xxxxxx is the RBG color code).
Example
These images show two different Area objects configured differently:
- On the left, the flat surface area is used to highlight the space where a building is located in the real world. It was placed slightly below surface level using the default depth/elevation setting of -0.02m. It is recommended to place areas 0.01-0.04m underground to allow surface-level objects to remain visible. The object has been assigned a color transparency of 50% to allow other objects to remain visible.
- On the right, the 3D area object has been extruded into its current form from a flat shape using the height setting. In this case, the object projects below the surface. To achieve this, the area was assigned a negative height value of -2m. The object has been assigned a color transparency of 30% to allow other objects to remain visible.
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Reviewed: 2025-02-05