Create GIS Vector Data Without Any Software
GIS digitization has traditionally required expensive software licences, powerful workstations, and hours of training. This tool changes that equation: open it in your browser, click the drawing tool you need, and start placing features directly on high-resolution satellite imagery or a street map. Within minutes you can have a complete vector dataset — points, lines, and polygons — ready to download in the format your workflow requires.
The tool supports three geometry types that cover virtually every real-world mapping task. Points mark discrete locations: survey stations, sample sites, tree positions, building entrances, incident locations. Lines trace linear features: roads, rivers, utility corridors, hiking trails, fence lines, property edges. Polygons define enclosed areas: land parcels, administrative boundaries, habitat zones, flood extents, building footprints, field boundaries. All three can be freely mixed in a single session and exported together as one dataset.
Understanding GIS Digitization
Digitization is the process of converting geographic features from a source image (satellite imagery, aerial photography, scanned paper maps, or drone imagery) into vector format. In the vector model, the world is described as points (coordinate pairs), lines (ordered sequences of points), and polygons (closed lines enclosing an area). This representation is compact, scalable to any resolution, and suitable for spatial analysis like area calculation, buffering, intersection, and routing.
In professional GIS workflows, digitization is performed in ESRI ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, or AutoCAD Map. These tools offer snapping, topology checking, multi-layer editing, and geodatabase management. For quick tasks, field sketches, educational exercises, and small-scale projects, however, a browser-based tool is often faster and more practical. No installation, no licence, no waiting for IT to configure a workstation — just open the page and draw.
The coordinate reference system used here is WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) — the standard for GPS and web mapping. All exported GeoJSON and KML files use geographic coordinates (decimal degrees of latitude and longitude), which is the universal input format for every modern GIS platform and web mapping library.
How to Draw Points, Lines, and Polygons
The drawing interface uses a floating toolbar at the top of the map area. Each tool behaves slightly differently:
- Point tool: Click once to place a point marker at that location. Stay in Point mode to keep placing points — each click adds a new marker. Double-clicking in Point mode still places just one point. Click any placed point to see its label and coordinates in a popup.
- Line tool: Click to place the first vertex, then click each subsequent vertex. A dashed ghost line tracks your cursor to preview the next segment. The growing line updates in real time. Double-click the final vertex, press Enter, or click Finish to complete the line. You need at least 2 vertices.
- Polygon tool: Click to place vertices just like the Line tool. The polygon preview updates as you go, showing the filled shape including a closing edge back to the first vertex. Double-click, press Enter, or click Finish to close the polygon. You need at least 3 vertices.
Keyboard shortcuts: Escape cancels an in-progress drawing without saving it. Enter finishes an in-progress line or polygon. Ctrl+Z (or the undo button in the toolbar) undoes the last vertex during drawing, or removes the most recently placed feature when not drawing.
Style Settings and Basemap Selection
The sidebar provides colour pickers and sliders for each geometry type. Point colour controls the fill of the circle markers; the radius slider sets their size in pixels. Line colour and width control the polyline stroke. Polygon colour sets both the outline and fill, while the fill opacity slider (0–80%) controls transparency — lower opacity lets the basemap show through, higher opacity makes the polygon more solid.
Style changes apply immediately to all existing features on the map, not just future ones. This makes it easy to retheme the entire dataset: change all polygons to orange, or make all lines thicker, in a single slider movement.
Four basemaps are available. Satellite (Esri World Imagery) is the default and best for digitizing land features. Street (CartoDB Voyager) shows street networks and place names, ideal for urban mapping. Topo (OpenTopoMap) adds elevation contours and terrain shading. Dark (CartoDB Dark Matter) provides a high-contrast dark background great for screenshots and presentations.
Exporting Digitized Data
Three download formats are available from the sidebar:
- GeoJSON — A JSON-based open standard for vector geographic data. Every modern web mapping library (Leaflet, Mapbox GL JS, OpenLayers, deck.gl) reads GeoJSON natively. QGIS and ArcGIS Pro both import GeoJSON directly. GitHub renders GeoJSON files as interactive maps. The exported file is named digitized-data.geojson and contains a FeatureCollection with all drawn features and their auto-generated labels.
- KML — Google's Keyhole Markup Language, the format of choice for Google Earth and Google My Maps. The exported file (digitized-data.kml) contains Placemarks for points, LineString elements for lines, and Polygon elements for polygons, each with an auto-generated name. Open it in Google Earth Pro to see your features in 3D, or upload to Google My Maps to share via a link.
- GPX — The GPS Exchange Format, used by GPS devices, fitness apps, and navigation tools. GPX waypoints correspond to drawn points; GPX tracks correspond to drawn lines. Polygons have no standard GPX equivalent and are omitted from GPX exports. Use GPX to load a route into a Garmin device, import tracks into Strava, or open waypoints in OsmAnd or Komoot.
Step-by-Step Guide
Common Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Tools
Map tiles by Esri, CARTO, and OpenTopoMap. Base map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Map rendering by Leaflet. All drawing and export processing is local — no data is uploaded to any server.