How to add image and measurement layers to maps

Maps is a new feature we’ve added into our latest 3.3 release. One of the features of maps is the ability to add different layers to a map. Today we’ll be going over how to add layers, what kind of elements you can add to it and how you can manipulate these elements. Previously we’ve discussed the other features in the maps tab and how to add a camera while importing a video.

Layers in the maps tab add new elements on top of a map. Currently there are two different types of elements you can add to a layer, image and measure. Adding an image can allow you to add blueprints of buildings, transportation layouts or pictures or giant puppies (I may had added a few for “testing” purposes). The measure element allows you to picture two points on the map and see how far apart they are. This can let you see how far apart two cameras, tags, buildings or any other points on the maps are.

Adding layers and elements

To add a new layer to maps click the Add New Layer button

The new layer will appear in the layer list where you can now add elements.

By moving your mouse over the layer name the edit layer name button will appear. Click that to edit the name of the button.

To add an image element to your layer select Image from the Add+ section. This will bring up the browse menu so navigate to the image you want to add.

When you’ve selected your image a preview of that image will appear in a preview window. You have the option to select a different image, accept that image or cancel the whole process. If you are happy with that image click Accept. The image will then appear on the map in edit mode, allowing you to resize and move the image.

If you leave Preserve Aspect Ratio checked then when you go to resize the image using the corners the aspect ratio will be kept. When you’re finished aligning and resizing select Accept to get out of edit mode.

If you wish to change the name of the image element you can again mouse over the name to reveal the edit button . You can also change the visibility, opacity and orientation of the image from here. Go To shows you that image on the map, Delete removed the image and Edit puts the image back into edit mode. You can add multiple images to the same layer.

To add a measure element select Measure from the Add+ list.

A red line will appear on the map measuring the distance between two points. You can move the two dots at the end of the line to change the area you’re measuring.

Once you’ve got the distance you want you can click Confirm in the element into box. There you can also change the opacity of but the measure line and the label. Once again to edit the name, hover over the element name and click . You can hide both the entire measure element or just the label and can go to the measure element using ‘Go to’.

Save, load and delete layers

Your layers will be saved automatically in the background when you exit Kinesense and will be loaded up again when you restart. You can also save off your layers and load up different layers. To save you layers click the Save layers to file button . This will open a save dialogue where you can name your new .maplayers file.

When you want to load layers click the Load layers from file button . If you already have some layers it’ll warn you that loading the .maplayers file will delete all your current layers. If you don’t want this to happen just cancel out and save your current layers.

If you want to remove an element or layer you can right click on it and select delete from the list

If you want to remove everything from the list you can click the Delete all layers button