Setting and Managing Layers > Layer Properties > Labeling > Setting Label Placement

Line features

The line features on the map may stand for street, subway line, river, and even contour. Line features with different meanings need labeling in different ways. In SuperGIS Desktop 10, you can label lines in various orientations and on several positions. To label street names, for example, you may want the labels paralleled to the line features. To label subway station, you might need to place the label perpendicular to the line features. Therefore, you can click "Placement" button in Layer Properties window to open tab "Line Placement" to set the orientation and position of the labels.

The orientations of the line labels include:

Horizontal: place the label horizontal to the line features.

Parallel: place the label parallel to the line features.

Curved: place the label curve around the line features.

Vertical: place the label vertical with the line features.

Perpendicular: place the label perpendicular to the line features.

The orientation of the label can be used with the positions as “above the line”, “on the line”, and “below the line.” What should be noted is that "Horizontal" cannot be used with other positions. And users could choose to use function “Rotate characters” or not while the orientation of label is curved.

	Horizontal	Parallel	Curved	Perpendicular	Vertical
above the line
on the line	—
below the line	—

Place the line label as curved one with rotated characters	Place the line label as curved one without rotated characters

Moreover, in setting “location along the line”, if you choose "At Best", the system will automatically find the best position for the label. If you choose "At Start", the label will be placed at the start vertex. If "At End" is chosen, the label will be placed at the end vertex of the feature.

At Best	At Start	At End

Users could use “Allow label to extend feature space” to deal with line feature which is too short for labels. This function allows the lines to extend outward. Besides, filling in the distance value and the unit in “Maximum Extension” will enable the program to distinguish whether the label could be labeled on the line features or not.

Merge / Split Policy

In tab “Merge / Split Policy”, “Merge connected features with the same field value” enables users to deal with various lines interconnected each other at endpoints. Lines that are specified with the same label field will be labeled as one edge. After selecting “Merge connected features with the same field value”, users can set degree value of angle between features to have label not merge. However, what should be noticed is that “Remove duplicate labels” must be selected in advance in “Duplicate Labels” before users select options in “Merge / Split Policy”. Otherwise, each line will be labeled individually.

Besides, “Split features at edges with significant turning angle” is used to split label and label those line features with angle between each other that is too large. After selecting this function, you will be allowed to set degree value of angle between features to have label not split.