Adding a Boundary to a Project in Coreo

4 minutes

Adding a boundary to your project is something you might want to do for several reasons:

  1. For convenience. Your project’s boundary can be used to zoom straight to your project area, meaning that you don’t need to spend time navigating to the right location.
  2. To constrain data entry. You can set your Coreo project to only allow data to be entered within your project’s boundary.
  3. Exactly match project area with records. The project bounds of a project can be used to effectively trace and constrain your survey area, meaning that you can eliminate gaps and overlaps when recording areas.

Adding a boundary to your project in Coreo is a straightforward process. You can upload your project boundary in either GeoJSON or Shapefile format. You can also draw your boundary in the Coreo Admin Area if you need to.

Note 1: Coreo natively uses the EPSG:4326 WGS 84 CRS. For the most accurate results you might want want to oversee any conversions yourself before uploading data to Coreo. However, Coreo will handle the conversion automatically for you.

Note 2: If you are uploading a red line boundary as part of a UKHab Survey then you should use the UKHab & BNG Platform to upload your boundary. For information on how to do this read our user guide.

In the Coreo Admin Area project boundaries are added as shown below:

  • Login and select the project you wish to add the project boundary to.
  • From the project home page click the Configuration tab.
  • Then under General Settings click the ‘Project Settings’ button
  • In the Project Settings page scroll down until you reach the Project Bounds section.

Uploading Your Boundary

Before uploading your project bounds ensure your file meets the following requirements:

  1. Files should be in either GeoJSON (.geojson extension) or Shapefile format.
  2. Files should only contain a single polygon record. This can be a multipolygon, therefore allowing you to add non-contiguous areas – but your file should only contain one ‘feature’.
  3. Shapefiles should be correctly formed, zipped and files should not exceed 1 MB in size.
  • Click the ‘Upload GeoJSON or Shapefile’ button and select your file.

You can now check your boundary has been uploaded correctly. The map will zoom to the location of your boundary, which will be visible as an editable polygon.

Should you need to adjust your boundary you can do so by adding and moving associated points, in the same way you would edit a polygon in-app (see our geometry tools documentation for further info).

  • Make sure you select “Save Bounds” to complete the process.

Drawing Your Project Boundary

You can also draw your boundary from scratch. To do so, you can either add points individually or use the draw tool.

By dropping individual points

  • Hover your mouse on the map – you will see a point below your pointer.
  • Click to add a point.
  • Continue dropping points to construct your desired shape.
  • Once you are happy click the ‘tick’ icon.
  • Make sure you select “Save Bounds” to complete the process.

You can still make any edits and adjustments after confirming your shape by moving and adding more points.

Use the Draw tool

  • Click the Draw tool which is the ‘Pencil’ icon in the bottom right.
  • Click and drag to draw out your shape.

As you draw, a preview of your shape will be shown in red.

  • Release the mouse when you are happy.
  • Make sure you select “Save Bounds” to complete the process.

Viewing your Project Boundary

Once your boundary has been added you can view it in the Records Page.

  • Click the layer icon on the Records page map.
  • Then tick the ‘Show Project Bounds’ Box and the boundary will now be visible on the map.

Your boundary will also now be a toggleable layer in the relevant project within the Coreo app.

  • Open the relevant project in the Coreo App.
  • Click the Layer Icon to open map settings.
  • In map setting activate the ‘Bounds’ toggle.

You can also zoom to your bounds from anywhere on the map within the map settings.

  • Tap the magnifying glass icon.

Your project bounds will now be visible on your map. Should you want to hide them again simply deactivate the toggle.

Constraining data entry within the boundary

You may want to ensure that your data can only be recorded within the boundary that you have set for a project.

  • To begin ensure that you have added a boundary to your project.
  • Next, navigate to the ‘Forms’ page of your project.
  • Navigate to the form which contains a Geometry/Location picker question and select it.
  • Tick the ‘Enforce Project Bounds’ option.

Your records will now be confined to the boundary you have added to your project.

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