Step-by-step guide to defining your area boundaries

To create any project you need to define the boundaries of your study area—eOceans uses these boundaries to know what coordinates are of interest. Here, we show you how to create your own.

**BEFORE YOU GET STARTED:

There are many tools you can use to create your geofence, below we share just one of those ways.

*Note: this is not meant to be instructional or exhaustive, but rather an overview guide for those who already know the basics or are willing to learn more about how to use the programs.

You will need the following FREE programs:

—>Google Earth Pro: here you will draw your boundary and export a

—> R: here you will run code and packages to convert your file (above) into a .zip that will be uploaded to eOceans

In Google Earth Pro

Once you’ve downloaded the program and logged in, you’ll create a polygon and save it.

—> Click the polygon feature,

—> Select the way you want the polygon to appear

—> Point and click to create the polygon

—> Click “OK”

Screenshot of a computer screen displaying a Google Earth Pro map highlighting Maynard Lake with a red outline and a proposed trail in red, green, and pink, with an overlay window showing the trail's name and description.

Now you need to download the file:

—> Find the file in your polygon list

—> right click

—> Select “Save Place As…”

Screenshot of a right-click menu on a map or listing tool with options to add, cut, copy, paste, delete, save place as an image, email, view snapshot, or get info. The menu is active over a list of lake locations, with multiple checkboxes checked for lakes including Lake Thomas, Fletcher Lake, and Maynard Lake + Forest. A purple arrow points from the list to the menu.

Now you need to download the file:

—> Select “Kml”

—> This will download to your file

Dropdown menu showing options for file formats: KMZ (*.kmlz) and KML (*.kml), with KMZ selected.

In R

Once you’ve downloaded the program and logged in, you’ll create a polygon and save it.

—> Click the polygon feature,

—> Select the way you want the polygon to appear

—> Point and click to create the polygon

—> Click “OK”

Screenshot of Google Earth Pro showing a lake with a trail around it, overlaid with lines marking the trail route in red and green, and a window labeled 'Maynard Lake + Forest' with options to add links or images, in an environment with numerous houses and trees.

Consulting Services

Let us know if you need help with data formatting, wrangling, etc. and we can help through our Consulting Services.