Edit spatial layouts

Spatial layouts add a geometry layer to the layout canvas. They require an owner node and store geometry in layout-local integer coordinates. Moving the viewport or repositioning the layout on Atlas does not change those manifestation coordinates. Spatial layouts share the same pan, zoom, grid, label, selection, autosave, and undo behavior as relational Canvases.

The project’s spatial settings name one universal coordinate unit. The lower-left canvas readout shows this layout’s grid type and cell size in that unit. The scale beside the zoom controls shows configured units per screen centimetre, such as 18.9 m/cm. Zoom changes only the on-screen size; it does not change saved geometry. Name the universal unit from Coordinates on Atlas.

Create a spatial layout for a node

Open a node and turn on Spatial layouts in the icon row below its header. Choose Add spatial layout in that section to open a centered dialog. Existing owned layouts appear automatically under Spatial layouts, with a count of how many the node owns. Enter a name, then choose Create spatial layout or press Cmd/Ctrl+Enter. The new Canvas opens with that node as its owner and Follow project time behavior. Its visibility therefore depends on the owner’s validity at the viewed project time.

Cancel or Esc closes the dialog and returns focus to Add spatial layout. While creating, the name and layout actions are locked. A failed request keeps the name and shows a focused error so you can correct it or retry.

To delete an owned layout, choose its delete icon and review Delete spatial layout?. Delete spatial layout removes that Canvas and its geometry from active project views, including Atlas. The owner node and linked graph items remain. Confirmation and dismissal are locked while deleting; a failed request keeps the confirmation open with an error so you can retry or cancel. After deletion, focus returns to a remaining layout or Add spatial layout. If you move focus elsewhere while deleting, it stays there.

Temporary refresh failures keep the Canvas and unsaved geometry available, including changes whose autosave has failed. The refresh notice and Changes not saved appear separately. Retry reloads saved data without retrying a geometry write. Navigating away still retries pending saves and waits for them to succeed.

Initial load failures offer Retry before editing. Access denials or missing required data block editing.

Configure the layout grid

Choose Grid in the layout header to select:

• Square for square cells.
• Hex · pointy top for hexes with a vertex at the top.
• Hex · flat top for hexes with a horizontal top edge.

Set Cell size as a positive whole number. It is the width and height of a square cell, or the edge length of a hex cell, expressed in the project’s universal spatial unit. Set Grid position to Below content when the grid should sit behind geometry and images, or Above content when its lines should overlay them. The overlay does not block canvas interactions or cover editor controls. Choose Save grid to apply the change to this layout. Changing the grid does not move or rescale existing geometry.

Let content define the layout extent

Unseen Lands automatically fits each spatial layout to its points, lines, polygons, rectangles, and images. There is no separate boundary to draw or maintain. Manifestations can be created and moved anywhere in layout-local space.

Adding, moving, resizing, or deleting content updates the outline shown on Atlas. The saved Atlas placement remains unchanged, so existing content keeps the same project-space coordinates. The outline follows the exact content bounds and has no background fill. Atlas expands only an axis with no extent to keep point-only and straight-line layouts findable, using five grid cells as the minimum extent. If the layout uses an automatic Atlas detail scale, changing these bounds also updates the zoom level at which it appears.

An empty spatial layout has no Atlas outline. It appears under No spatial content yet until you add geometry or an image.

Measure distances

Choose Measure (M) at the right end of the toolbelt, then drag between two canvas positions. The readout uses the project’s universal spatial unit and measures straight-line distance in layout coordinates.

Opening Measure also lets you choose how its endpoints snap:

• Anywhere uses the exact pointer positions.
• Grid centers snaps to the center of square or hex cells.
• Corners & sides snaps to cell corners and side midpoints.

With Measure focused, Up or Down opens the snapping menu. Use arrows, Home, or End to move between choices and Enter or Space to select. Esc closes the menu and returns focus to Measure. Tab closes it and moves to the next control.

Snapping follows the grid currently drawn on screen. At a distant square-grid zoom, it uses the visible major cells instead of hidden minor cells. When a hex grid is too distant to draw, or when the grid is hidden, measurement endpoints act like Anywhere.

The straight-line measurement appears only while you drag and is not saved with the layout. To measure a longer route, right-click each point along the path. The path stays visible and the readout shows the cumulative distance. Press Esc to clear the path, then press it again to return to Select. Hold Space to pan without leaving Measure.

Draw spatial manifestations

Choose a geometry tool, then draw on the canvas:

• Point (P) places one point.
• Line (L) adds a multi-point line.
• Polygon (O) adds a closed shape.
• Rectangle (R) draws a rectangle by dragging, or by clicking two opposite corners.
• Image (I) inserts an uploaded image.

Finish a line or polygon with Enter or a double-click. Press Esc or choose another tool to cancel an unfinished manifestation. The toolbelt wraps on narrow screens so every tool stays reachable. Canvas shortcuts wait while you use a menu, picker, or dialog. Images can also be dragged onto the canvas and are uploaded before the layout finishes saving. Unseen Lands sizes a new image to the current viewport and places it at the chosen point or viewport center.

An unreadable image or failed upload leaves the saved layout unchanged. Choose Image again and select the file to retry. Selecting a new file clears the previous image error; a successful upload is included in the next layout save.

If your account has storage limits, uploads reserve capacity before they start. An exhausted allowance blocks new uploads; existing images remain available. Contact support if you need more capacity. If the layout cannot finish saving an uploaded image, keep the page open and follow the reported recovery action.

With Select active, drag manifestations, marquee-select, or use Shift for a multi-selection. Select one image and drag a corner handle to resize it in layout coordinates; hold Shift while dragging to preserve its aspect ratio. Select Edit points from a line’s context menu to edit its vertices. Delete removes the selected manifestation or selected vertex.

Style and order geometry

Select one or more manifestations to open style controls. Depending on the selection, you can change stroke and fill colors, fill pattern, stroke width and style, opacity, and layer order. Image selections focus on opacity and ordering rather than vector stroke settings.

Color, style, and layer dialogs keep keyboard focus inside their controls. Press Esc to close a dialog and return focus to its button.

Use the context menu to bring a manifestation to front, move it forward, send it backward, or send it to back. These commands order manifestations within their current geometry layer.

For a multiple selection, the layer controls keep the selected manifestations in the same relative order. Moving forward or backward steps the selection past the next unselected manifestation; selected neighbors already at the front or back stay in place. Hidden manifestations keep their existing order.

Bind manifestations to graph data

Every shape or image you draw is a spatial manifestation. Right-click one and choose Link to open a centered modal. To bind it to a node, select the node, then choose one of the project’s manifestation types. A type states the spatial meaning of the shape. Examples include Representation, Habitation, Political control, Vegetation cover, and Species distribution. To create another type without leaving the layout, enter its name in the centered type modal and choose the create option.

Wait for the type list to load before choosing or creating a type. Creating a type locks the picker until the request finishes; a failed request keeps your search so you can try again.

If the list cannot load, choose Reload types without leaving the picker. Reloading keeps your search and pauses selection and creation. A failed reload focuses the error; a successful reload returns focus to search. If a creation request and the follow-up check both fail, the picker cannot confirm whether the type was created. Reload the list before trying again, then choose the existing type if it appears.

An Entity-bound manifestation belongs to the spatial layout and refers to the selected node. It does not create a graph relationship between that node and the layout’s owner. Its shape does not change this meaning: points, lines, polygons, rectangles, and images can all manifest nodes.

After entering a new node name, choose Create node + spatial layout or Create node. The combined action appears first and preselects spatial-layout creation in the node form. Creating the node moves you to the manifestation-type step. Choosing a type connects the manifestation and opens the new spatial layout when requested. If you dismiss that step, the node and optional layout remain in the project, but the manifestation stays unbound.

Each manifested node belongs to the spatial layout’s query membership. Multiple manifestations of the same node still add it only once. An unbound manifestation is decoration and adds no graph node.

When element labels are visible, an Entity-bound manifestation shows both the node name and its manifestation type. The type also appears in the manifestation’s context menu and in Atlas.

Choose Filters in the layout header to show or hide each manifestation type independently. Its count shows visible types out of all types. The options open in a compact popover beside Grid and Time. Esc closes the popover and returns focus to Filters. All types start enabled. You can keep any combination visible or disable them all. Unlinked geometry and navigation links remain visible as map context. Filtering changes only the current view; it does not change saved geometry or query membership.

You can instead bind a manifestation to a relationship or another layout. These bindings provide navigation only and do not add relationship endpoints or layout owners to query membership.

For faster entry, right-click empty canvas space or any non-point manifestation, including a locked background image, and choose Create linked point. Search for an existing node, relationship, or layout to link, or enter a new node name and choose a create action. Unseen Lands places the point at the clicked location and links it to the selected or newly created target. The original manifestation and its lock state remain unchanged. Deleting the new point later does not delete its target.

Bound manifestations can change their connection, unlink, or open their target. Unlink clears the binding and its query membership while leaving the manifestation and geometry in place. It does not delete the node, relationship, or layout. Double-clicking a bound manifestation opens that target directly. Labels can be hidden globally from the canvas controls without removing the connection.

Set validity and locks

Use Set validity to make a manifestation visible from a tick, until a tick, across an interval, or at all times. This is separate from the manifested node or linked relationship’s own validity. On a Follow project layout, a manifestation is visible and adds graph membership only while both it and its node are valid at the viewed time. All time layouts retain their all-time behavior.

Lock finished manifestations to protect them from selection and movement. A locked manifestation’s menu offers validity and Unlock. Right-click empty space and use Unlock all if several manifestations need editing again.

When a follow-project layout becomes unavailable, check the owner’s validity and the active project time.

Open Atlas to place and compare spatial layouts.