Labels layers place text at desired locations in a map. We can add labels to maps for cartographic explication and clarity, or simply to provide technical readouts of attributes for features such as the names of towns or the lengths of road segments. Labels are a text pattern, saved in a property, that is attached to points, lines, or areas in some drawing. Labels can be rotated, positioned, and possibly curved based on the positions of the points, lines, or areas for which they are created.
Labels that are based on curved lines, for example, may have the text in the label also curved to follow the curved line upon which they are based. Labels are created based on a drawing that contains the points, lines, or areas on which they are based. The labels component will take from the drawing's table the text fields to be used in the label and the geometry of points, lines, or areas, to position the label.
Labels can also be created from drawings which are, in turn, created from a query. We can create a new, blank labels component that is not based on any existing drawing. In that case, the system will automatically create a new, blank drawing, and that drawing's table, on which the labels component will be based. The illustration above shows two labels layers in a map, one called Regions Labels and the other called Cities Labels. The labels for cities are created automatically from points in the Cities drawing.
The labels for regions are created automatically from areas in the Regions drawing. In the above example, both the points Cities layer as well as the Cities Labels layers are used in the map. The labels have been offset slightly to the North of each point from which they have been created. Labels are normally used as layers in maps , but a labels component can be popped open in its own window as well.
There is no need for the drawing upon which a labels layer is based to also be a part of the map. Please read the Drawings and Tables topics before continuing. The techniques used for editing labels are very similar to those used for editing drawings, so it is a good idea to read the Editing Drawings topic as well.
