The interface
A quick tour of the DropMaps workspace — the toolbar, side panel, map controls and menu.
DropMaps is one screen: a map filling the window, a side panel of tabs on the left, a toolbar across the top, and a few controls floating over the map. This page names every part so the rest of the guide makes sense.
The top toolbar
Along the top you’ll find:
- The map name — click it to open the Maps manager and switch, rename or create maps.
- Add files — opens the Add layer dialog.
- A cloud sync chip (when signed in) showing whether the current map is backed up — see Maps & cloud sync.
- The Menu button (your account picture, or a menu icon) — opens Settings, account, storage and help.
You can drag a file onto the map from anywhere — you don’t have to open a dialog first.
The side panel
The panel on the left has a strip of tabs:
- Layers — every layer in the map: visibility, order, opacity, styling and removal. See Working with layers.
- Draw — create and edit geometry, and measure. See Drawing & measuring.
- Select — pick features to act on. See Selecting features.
- Basemap — the background map and your own custom basemaps. See Basemaps & external sources.
- Legend — a live key of what’s drawn.
- Functions — spatial analysis tools. See Spatial analysis.
The Draw and Select tabs open as floating toolbars over the map rather than filling the panel. You can hide tabs you don’t use in Preferences.
The attribute table
A bottom panel holds the attribute table for the selected layer — view, edit, search and calculate over your data, and run SQL. See The attribute table.
Map controls
Floating over the map (each can be toggled in Preferences):
- Zoom buttons and a home / zoom-to-all-layers button.
- My location — centre on your GPS position.
- Search — find an address or place, and save bookmarks (saved views). See Settings & preferences.
- The coordinate readout — shows the pointer’s coordinates; click it to cycle between decimal degrees, degrees-minutes-seconds and degrees-decimal-minutes. Right-click the map to copy a coordinate.
- Fullscreen.
The menu
The Menu (top right) is the home for everything that isn’t a map tool: Maps, Account, Preferences, Storage and Help. It’s covered in Settings & preferences.
Next steps
- Getting started — make your first map.
- Adding & importing layers — every way to get data in.