The Portal Used on a Computer or Tablet > Functionality > Accessing Information on a Set of Map Elements

You can select elements of a layer directly on the map interface using the selection tools. Afterwards, you can access the selection's descriptive information.

You can select the elements of only one layer at a time; before selecting a layer's elements, you must make that layer selectable. To do so, follow these steps:

1.Place the mouse pointer on the row of the layer you are interested in, on the right of the layer's name. An arrow displays.

2.Click on the arrow. The arrow will turn blue , which indicates that the layer's elements can be selected using the interactive selection tools.

Each layer of a group can be made selectable independently from the others.

3.Click on the arrow if you no longer want the layer data to be selectable. The arrow changes back to grey .

Selecting elements using the selection tools

To select elements directly in the map interface:

1.Click on Selection to display the drop-down list of selection tools.

	Punctual selection Allows you to select one element at a time. Click on an element to select it.
	Linear selection Allows you to select one or more elements by drawing a line. Any elements the line touches will be selected. Note: this option does not work with layers of points. Enable the tool and draw a line on the map. If you are using a tablet, touch a point to start the line, touch the points that will constitute vertices in the line, and touch to indicate that the line is complete.
	Rectangular selection Allows you to select one or more elements by drawing a rectangle. Any elements included in the rectangle, in whole or in part, will be selected. The rectangle's dimensions will be displayed. Enable the tool and draw a rectangle on the map. If you are using a tablet, touch the screen to trace the first point of the rectangle, then touch the screen again to trace the opposite point of the rectangle.
	Polygonal selection Allows you to select one or more elements by drawing a polygon. Any elements included in the polygon, in whole or in part, will be selected. The polygon's dimensions will be displayed. Enable the tool and draw a polygon on the map. Keep pressing down, double-click or press the space bar to complete the polygon. If you are using a tablet, touch the screen once to start the polygon, touch all the points that will constitute the polygon's vertices, then touch to indicate that the polygon is complete.
	Circular selection Allows you to select one or more elements by drawing a circle. Any elements included in the circle, in whole or in part, will be selected. The radius of the circle will be displayed. Enable the tool and draw a circle on the map. If you are using a tablet, touch the screen to define the center of the circle, and touch the screen again to draw its radius.

Note: If you are using a computer, with any selection tool, you can hold the SHIFT key of your keyboard to add elements to an existing selection.

2.Click on one of the tools to enable it. The icon of the enabled tool turns blue and displays in the toolbar.

3.Select the element or elements you are interested in. In the map interface, the selected elements will be identified with a marker, and the selection explorer will automatically display.

Selected elements are identified using numbered markers .

The selection explorer is deployed, showing the selected elements in rows and their attributes in columns.

Various functions allow you to work with the data in the table.

4.Click on the arrow to hide the results table.

5.Click on the arrow to redisplay the elements explorer.

6.Click on to delete the results of the selection. The elements explorer and the markers in the map interface are no longer displayed. The map interface stays in the same view.

Working with a selection of elements

Several tools can be used to access descriptive information on the selected elements.

The selection explorer allows you to view and organize data on the attributes of the selected elements.

1	The first line contains the names of the attributes. You can sort the data in ascending or descending order.
2	The first column contains the number of each element, identified with a grey marker .
3	The vertical bar allows you to scroll through the list of selected elements.

Other functions are available to select elements or to export the data to a file.

Selecting elements

Elements can be selected manually.

Click on one or more elements in the explorer to select them. The grey marker becomes blue in the explorer and on the map. In the explorer, the row of each selected element turns blue.

In a computer, double-click on an element to place it in the center of the map.

The Zoom to all elements icon displays all elements retrieved by the search.

Generating an information report

If the Portal administrator configured reports for the layer of the selected elements, you can generate an information report for the selection. The reports may have basic or advanced functionality. If no report has been configured for the layer, when you try to generate one, a message indicates that there is no report.

1.Click on to generate the report for the selection. The interface of the basic report is as follows:

1	Name of the map layer to which the elements selected in the search belong.
2	Name of the report.
3	Table similar to the selection explorer. The elements are displayed in rows, and columns represent the element attributes. The column headers allow you to sort the elements in ascending or descending order.
4	This tool allows you to export the report to an Excel file.
5	This tool allows you to print the report.

2.Click on the name of the advanced report (if it exists) to display it. Other tools will be available:

1	Name of the map layer to which the elements selected in the search belong.
2	Name of the report.
3	This table is similar to the selection explorer. Elements are displayed in rows, and the columns represent the element attributes. The column headers allow you to sort the elements in ascending or descending order.
4	This tool allows you to export the attributes to a CSV file. Details are presented below.
5	This tool allows you to export the report to a file. Details are presented below.
6	This tool allows you to print the report. Details are presented below.

3.Click on Close to close the report and return to the selection explorer.

Exporting report data, in whole or in part, to a file

Data contained in the advanced report can be exported to a CSV file to be processed with other software, such as spreadsheets.

1	Name of the database containing the data.
2	Attributes that contain descriptive data for the element and that are available to be exported. Using the and arrows, you can select all the attributes you wish to export.
3	Attributes that are exported to the file. Using the and arrows, you can remove attributes from the selection. Using the and arrows, you can modify the order of the attributes in the file.
4	CSV is the file format.
5	You can select a type of encoding for the data.
6	You must specify a separator for the data columns.
7	You can specify a column format. This information is useful to read the data with databases or other software (when the CSV file is opened with Excel, for instance).

Exporting the report to a file

The report can be exported to a file.

Format of the file to which the report will be exported.

The following formats are available: DOCX, Excel (XLS), OpenDocument Presentation (ODP), OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS), OpenDocument Text (ODT), PDF, PostScript (PS), PowerPoint (PPT), PPTX, Spudsoft Excel, Word (DOC), XLSX.

You can select the report pages you wish to export.

You can configure how the report will fit in the file.

Printing the report

The report can be saved in a certain format for printing and sharing purposes.