EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2
Start Geology Roam ................................................................................................... 3
Geology Roam Key Features ..................................................................................... 4
Searching for a location.............................................................................................. 6
To search using a place name: .......................................................................................... 6
To search using a postcode: .............................................................................................. 8
To search using a Grid Reference ..................................................................................... 9
Navigating in Geology Roam .................................................................................... 11
Map Content Control ................................................................................................ 12
Opacity Slider ........................................................................................................... 13
Updating the legend ......................................................................................................... 17
Measurement tools ................................................................................................... 18
Annotation tools ....................................................................................................... 21
Get Rock Info. .......................................................................................................... 26
Map information ....................................................................................................... 27
Printing ..................................................................................................................... 28
Features of PDF map print ............................................................................................... 29
Geological Photos .................................................................................................... 30
Access the photos ........................................................................................................... 30
My Maps ................................................................................................................... 33
Understanding Geology Roam map views ............................................................... 34
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Introduction
This guide focuses on Geology Roam, a map making facility in Geology Digimap.
Geology Roam enables you to view and print maps using British Geological Survey data at
one of 12 pre-defined scales, or map views.
PDF prints can be created in A4 or A3 size; and landscape or portrait orientation.
Objectives
By the end of this guide you will be able to to:

Make maps to view on screen at 12 fixed scale views

Zoom in and out of your map to a different view

Change the area covered by your map

Select features to show on your map (customising)

Print your map

Save your map
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Start Geology Roam
1. Go to: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap
2. Follow the login process
3. Select Geology Digimap
4. Select Geology Roam
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Geology Roam Key Features
This image highlights the key features of Roam:
3. Map tools
1. Task menu:
Search, Map
Content Control,
Active Legend,
Map Info,
MyMaps, Photos
2. Map
window
4. Hints &
Tips
1. Task Menu:

Search by place name, postcode or grid reference.

Map Content Control – choose to include or hide map features (Note, only for
certain map views).

Active Legend – view a legend of the rocks shown on your current map view,
sort them alphabetically or by frequency.

Map Information – the geographical extent of your map, and cursor
coordinates.

My Maps – save copies of maps you have generated.
2. Map window – where your map is displayed.
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
Your map, based on your search terms and feature selection (in Map Content
Control) will appear in this area.

Remember that zooming in or out will change your map view. There are 12
views available. The map view is given at the top left corner of the map area
(the image above shows the least detailed view, the GB view).
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
3. Map tools

Zoom in/out using the zoom bar.

Double click to zoom in.

Click and drag to move around the map

Pan NSEW using the pan tool.

Print – print a PDF version of your map in A3/A4, portrait or
landscape.

Get Rock Info. – click this icon then anywhere on the map to highlight
the rock of interest.
4. Hints & Tips

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Get tips on navigation, searching, printing, customising and saving maps.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Searching for a location
You can search for a location in Geology Roam using a place name, postcode or grid
reference. Click Search in the Task Menu to expand the search box.
To search using a place name:
1. Type the place name in the search box and click Find1.
2. If there is more than one match for your place name, the search results will be
displayed below the search box.
3. Click once on the place name you require, e.g. Liverpool (Liverpool):
1
Note that you cannot use street names to search Geology Roam.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
A map centred on this place name is generated in the map window.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
To search using a postcode:
4. Type the FULL postcode in the search box and click Find.
A map centred on your postcode is generated:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
To search using a Grid Reference
1. Type the Grid Reference (e.g. TQ336802) in the relevant box and click Find.
Note that the map view returned for a Grid Reference search will depend on the level of
detail of your grid reference. For example, an 8 character grid reference, TQ336802
returns a Detailed map view.
A 4 character grid reference, TQ3380, returns a Plot map view:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
A 2 character grid reference, TQ, returns a National map view:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Navigating in Geology Roam
You can navigate in Geology Roam by panning (moving the map in any direction) and by
zooming in and out of the map.
To pan you can either:

Click and drag the map i.e. click and hold the left mouse button, then drag to
move the map.

Use the navigation control
to move north, south, east or west - click
the relevant arrow to pan the map in that direction.
To zoom in/out of the map, you can:
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
Double click to zoom in.

Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in or out.

Use the zoom slider bar

Click the

Click and drag the blue marker to zoom in or out.

Or click anywhere on the slider bar to zoom to that scale.

Use the zoom tool - click the

Click and drag a box on the map.

Click the GB map icon

Click the back icon

Click the forward icon
to move to the next map (this is similar to the
back/forward buttons on your web browser).
to zoom in or out
to zoom in and click the
to zoom out.
icon at the top right of the map.
to return to the GB map view.
to return to previous map view.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Map Content Control
It is possible to customise which Geological layers are displayed on the map.

Click Map Content Control tab in the Task Menu.

Switch Geology layers, e.g. Artificial Ground, on/off by checking or unchecking the
tick box next to the feature name:
The content of the Map Content Control box reflects the geology at the map location. The
box content is updated whenever you change location.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Opacity Slider
There is a slider bar available at the top of the map window in Geology Roam, which allows
you to change the transparency of the geological map data.

By default, the slider position is set around the middle:

Click and drag the slider to change the opacity of the Geology layers – least opaque:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

Click and drag the slider to change the opacity of the Geology layers – most opaque:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Active Legends
The Active Legend tool allows you to view a list of the rocks on your current map.
The rocks can be sorted Alphabetically or by Frequency of occurrence, via the drop-down
box:

Sort your legend by Most Frequent

Note that the numbers on the right of the rock name indicate how many times the
rock occurs on your present map:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

Click on any rock in the legend to select it - the rock will be highlighted on the map:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Updating the legend
By default, the legend does not automatically update when you pan around the map or zoom
in or out.
To change the legend to update automatically, click Update Options:
Check both boxes to automatically update the legend entries:
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Measurement tools
Geology Roam’s measurement tools allow you to easily check the distance between two or
more points and find out the area of a polygon you draw on the map.
Activate the Measurement tools by clicking the icon at the top right of the Geology Roam
window:
The tools open in the Geology Roam window.

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Option – click and drag on the Measurement Tools box to move the tools to a
different location in the Geology Roam window.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Measure Distance

Click the Measure Distance icon to activate the tool:

Click on the map at the point where you wish to start measuring.

Continue to click at each point of the line/shape you wish to measure.

Double click to finish measuring – the distance of your line/shape is given in the
Measurement Tools box, in red text.
Distance of your line
shown in the
Measurement tools
box
Pink dotted
line is created
from your
clicks
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Measure Area

Click the Measure Area icon to activate the tool:

Click on the map at the point where you wish to start measuring.

Continue to click at each point of the shape you wish to measure – an area of
pink shading is drawn on your map.

Double click to finish measuring – the distance of your area is given in the
Measurement Tools box, in red text, in m2 or km2.
Pink shaded
area reflects
area
measured
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Annotation tools
These tools allow you to draw symbols, lines and polygons on the map. You can also add
text, labels and area values. There are options to set the colour and style of the features you
add.
The features you add remain the same geographical size when zooming in and out to
different Roam map views.
Features can also be included on your PDF print maps.
Access annotation tools

Click the icon at the top right of the Roam window:
The toolbar appears at the top of the Geology Roam window:

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Option - click and drag the toolbar to move it to a different place in the Geology
Roam window.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Annotation options
The Draw & Create section of the toolbar contains 5 options for adding annotations:

Add symbols

Add text

Add lines

Add polygons

Add pre-defined shapes
Add polygons
Let’s try adding a polygon to a map:
Select polygon colour and line options
before you start drawing your polygon.

Click the polygon icon to activate the tool.

Select a colour from the Fill Settings area.

Select a line colour and/or style/width from the Stroke Settlings area.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

Click on the map at the point where you wish to start drawing your polygon.

Continue clicking where you wish to add points to your polygon.

Double click at the last point.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Label the polygon

Click the Add Label icon to activate the tool.

Select the text size and colour from the Text Settings area (NOTE: you cannot
change the text formatting after you add the label)

Click on your polygon

Add your text

Click Save
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Try out some of the other Annotations tools. We suggest:

Add a pre-defined shape. Activate the shape tool then click and drag on the map,
releasing when satisfied with the shape.

Try the Modify tools – from left to right:

Label

Measurement label – add distance or area measurement to any feature

Move

Modify Feature (changes shape)

Free-Transform Feature (stretch your shape in any direction)

Rotate

Scale Feature (change size but not shape)

Make your features invisible by unchecking this box:

Delete some features – note that you cannot undo this action!
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Get Rock Info.

To activate the information tool, click on the

Once activated click on any point on a map to open up a Feature Information box
describing the geological information for that point.

A blue marker

The rock area is also highlighted with an orange line.

Details of the rock unit name, type and age are given where they are available, along
with the layer that the information is from; Bedrock, Superficial Deposits etc.

You can select a different layer in the Feature Information box on the left, where
more than one layer is available.
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button at the top right of the map.
indicates the point where you clicked.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Map information
The Map Information tab displays the geographical coordinates for the current map. The
information will update as you pan and zoom the map.

Click Map Information on the Task Menu tab to open.

The top right and bottom left coordinates of the current map are displayed. Note: The
bottom left coordinates relate to the corner of your map which is hidden by the left
task panel – you can display this corner by hiding the Task Menu (click the double
arrows to hide the Task Menu
).

The scale at which the current map will be printed.

Hover over any point on the map to view that point’s coordinates.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Printing
Geology Roam allows you to create printable PDF maps in A4 and A3 size and in portrait or
landscape layout.
To create a PDF map:

Click Print on the Task Menu:

Click Continue – a new browser window will open:

Enter a map title (optional).

Check National Grid Lines to add National Grid lines to your map.

Check Annotations and Map Labels if you wish to include these on your map (NOTE:
Map Labels will display the code for each rock from the BGS Rock Lexicon)

Select the page size and layout using the drop down menus.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

Click Generate Print File, this will produce a PDF file which you can save or
download:
Features of PDF map print
Print date and
map creator
Copyright
statement
automatically
generated
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Geological Photos
Geology Roam allows you to view British Geological Survey images (of geological features,
rocks, fossils and the BGS at work) from the JIDI Image Collection.
There are over 3000 images mainly found in geologically rich areas such as Cumbria, North
and South Wales, the Dorset coast, Edinburgh etc. The images cover a wide range of
features from details of bedding planes and large crystals in rock faces to aerial photographs
of valleys showing glacial erosion features.
Access the photos
To access the photos you will need to be viewing one of the 5 most zoomed in map views.
The Geological photos icon is located on the top right of the map, or in the Geological
Photos area of the Task Menu.

Click on the photo icon at your area of interest.


will appear on the map where there are photos available. A double camera icon:
appears where there are two or more photos for a location.
A list of images also appears in the Geological Photos area of the Task Menu.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

Clicking on a camera icon will open up a small image(s) for that location.

Click on the small image to open a full size image in a pop-up box.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam

You may need to scroll down to see the location information, at the bottom of the
image.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
My Maps
To save a map for later viewing, select My Maps from the Task Menu:

Click Save current map

Enter a map title – map titles can only be 30 characters long:

Click OK.
.
Your saved map will now be listed:

Click any entry in the list to regenerate that map.

Click any entry and then click Delete selected to delete unwanted maps.

You can store up to 200 maps.

Re-order the list by clicking on the column headings: Title, View and Date.
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EDINA Digimap Training: Geology Digimap – Geology Roam
Understanding Geology Roam map views
Geology Roam has 12 different pre-defined map scales, called map views. The views
consist of different BGS geology data and background Ordnance Survey map products
which are appropriate for each view's scale (e.g. the Local view uses the BGS DiGMapGB50 data and the OS 1:50 000 scale raster).
Once you have found your location of interest, you can zoom in and out to find the
appropriate map view.
The following table lists the scale and map products used for each view, to help you decide
which view is appropriate for your purpose.
View name
Background Map Product
Scale
British Isles
Geology Map
Product
DiGMapGB-625
Digital Chart of the World
(Country Outlines)
1:5 600 000
Mainland
DiGMapGB-625
OS Miniscale®
1:1 250 000
National
DiGMapGB-625
OS Miniscale®
1:625 000
Regional
DiGMapGB-625
OS Miniscale®
1:500 000
Range
DiGMapGB-250
OS Miniscale®
1:375 000
County
DiGMapGB-250
OS Miniscale®
1:250 000
District
DiGMapGB-250
OS 1:250 000 Colour
Raster
1:150 000
Sector
DiGMapGB-250
OS 1:250 000 Colour
Raster
1:100 000
Division
DiGMapGB-250
OS 1:250 000 Colour
Raster
1:75 000
Local
DiGMapGB-50
OS 1:50 000 Colour Raster
1:50 000
Plot
DiGMapGB-50
OS 1:50 000 Colour Raster
1:25 000
Detailed
DiGMapGB-50
OS 1:25 000 Colour Raster
1:10 000
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