029] Global Mapper - Cutting Areas with Lines: Crop Selected Area(s) to Selected Line(s)

Today, we will explore a simple yet essential function in Global Mapper.

Often, when receiving CAD drawings related to district unit planning or urban development projects, you might find that the parcels are not divided into individual areas. Instead, it is common to have a single large area with only internal boundary lines drawn over it. However, to perform simulations for landscape reviews or digital twin projects, you must split these into individual parcels.

Since each parcel may have a different planned elevation (Z-value), you need to position each one according to its specific height before placing buildings on top. Let's walk through how to do this by creating a sample project.

[img 1 : Accessing the Create New Area Feature menu in Global Mapper]

First, right-click on the screen and select Create Area/Polygon Features -> AREA - Create New Area Feature to draw an area.

[img 2 : Drawing a sample polygon area on the workspace and Naming the feature layer as Area in the Modify Feature Info dialog]

I have drawn an area as shown below. The specific shape is not important for this exercise.

After drawing the polygon, enter "Area" as the layer name and click OK.

[img 4 : Verifying the newly created Area layer in the Control Center]

As you can see, the "Area" layer has been successfully registered in the Control Center.

[img 5 : Drawing line features across the existing area and Control Center showing both Area and Line layers with multiple features]

Next, draw several line segments that cross through the Area feature. Use the Create Line Features -> LINE - Create New Line Feature tool.

Save these lines under a layer named "Line." In this example, I have drawn three line segments.

Now, select both the Area and the Lines simultaneously. Then, right-click and navigate to Crop/Combine/Split Functions -> Crop Selected Area(s) to Selected Line(s).

[img 7 : Selecting the Crop Selected Area to Selected Lines function from the right-click menu]

Once you execute this command, the single Area feature will be split by the lines, resulting in a total of four distinct area features (depending on how many lines you drew).

[img 8 : Final result showing the area successfully split into four separate features]

That's all for today!