Viewing and finding features
A feature is one thing on the map — one tree, one park. This page covers finding the feature you’re after and reading its details.
Selecting features
Click a feature on the map, or click its row in the feature list — either way it’s highlighted on the map and its details open in the Data panel. Selecting from the list zooms the map to the feature if it isn’t already in view.
When several features sit on top of each other, pausing the mouse over them shows a “N features here” hint; clicking opens a small list so you can pick the one you meant.
Searching
The search box above the feature list matches against all of a feature’s details, not just its name — searching “Eucalyptus” finds every tree with that word anywhere in its attributes.
Sorting
The Sort menu beside the search box reorders the list: by any field, by size (for lines and areas), or by Nearby — distance from the centre of the map, handy for “what’s around me” fieldwork.
Travel distance
Search for an address, then use the Nearby … button on the address marker (or the route icon in the search box, or Travel distance in the Sort menu). Groundwork works out the walking, cycling and driving distance from that address to the nearest features, and lists the five closest. The map zooms to show the address and the single closest result, so the others may sit outside the view until you pick one.
Each result shows all three options — walk, cycle, and drive — with the route distance for each one. For each way of travelling, the shortest of the five is shown in green, so you can see at a glance which option is best for that travel mode. The best walk and the best drive won’t always belong to the same feature, which is rather the point: a nearby drive may still be a much longer walk.
While the five closest are listed, the search box and the Sort menu give way to a blue bar reading Shortest travel from … followed by the address, so it’s always clear what the list is measuring against. Its ✕ puts the list back in its normal order and brings the search box and Sort menu back. Dismissing the address marker does the same. Either way the list is scrolled to the feature that was closest, so you can see where it sits among the rest; the address marker stays on the map, so the Nearby … button can switch the list back.
Click any of the three travel options to draw that route on the map. The option you clicked is outlined in blue so you can tell which of the many distances on screen the map is showing, and a small ✕ appears on its corner to take the route back off. Clicking the result itself opens its details and draws the walking route if it’s a short walk, or the driving route otherwise.
Routing to a single feature
You don’t have to go through the travel distance list. Whenever there’s an address marker on the map, open any feature and you’ll see a route button just to the right of the bookmark at the top of its details. That works even if you never used Travel distance — for instance after dropping a marker with Set location — so you can route to any feature, not just the five nearest.
The button opens a short list of the four ways of travelling: walk, cycle, drive and straight line. Pick one and Groundwork draws that route on the map; pick another to switch. If the travel distance list has already measured this feature, each option shows its distance straight away; otherwise a distance appears once you’ve chosen that option.
The button itself then tells you what’s on the map: its icon becomes the travel mode you picked, and the distance sits just underneath it. To take the route off the map again, choose No route at the bottom of the list.
At the top of the list are the two ends of the trip, with a swap button beside them if you want the route the other way round — from the feature back to the address. Worth knowing: this only really changes the driving route, because of one-way streets and turn restrictions. Walking, cycling and straight-line routes come out the same in both directions.
Filtering
To see only some features — say, just one species of tree — open the filter from the layer’s ⋮ menu (or by expanding the legend). Pick a field, then tick the values you want; the map and list both narrow to match, and the feature count shows “N of M” while a filter is on. Closing the panel keeps the filter applied.
Reading a feature’s details
The detail view lists all the feature’s attributes. The arrows at the top right step through the features in the current list order — sort by what matters first, then step through record by record. The back arrow (or the layer name beside it) returns to the list.
Using your browser’s back button
Your browser’s back and forward buttons move through the features you have opened and the sort orders you have chosen, so back does what you would expect instead of leaving Groundwork. On a phone, the Android back gesture does the same thing.
Every feature you open counts as a move, including the ones you step through with the arrows, so back retraces your browse a record at a time. Going back to a feature re-centres the map on it, since it may be off screen by then. Changing which layer you are working in counts too, so back returns you to the layer you came from.
Three things it deliberately does not do. It does not remember where the map was panned or zoomed to, so going back frames the feature rather than restoring your earlier view. The trail only lasts as long as the page is open — after a refresh, back leaves Groundwork; to keep or send a view, use Share on the map’s ⋮ menu instead. And when Groundwork is embedded in another page, back and forward belong to the page around it, so they move that page rather than stepping through features.