Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Is it possible to have Draw calculate the surface size of shapes? And if so, is it possible to have it take into account a specific scale for drawing maps?
I am looking for a program to use for drawing maps, and a function that allows me to know the surface of irregular shapes would simplify things immensely.

Thanks in advance,
Tim.

Sorry, no. Draw doesn't do any sort of calculations; it's purely a graphics tool.

That said, it is possible to extract the coordinates from Draw, copy them to a spreadsheet, and do whatever calculation you want. See this thread for an example, and a link to the extension that allows it: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 11&t=21044

I expect it wouldn't be all that difficult to write a macro program to do the calculation in Draw, but I would wonder if you'll get good results. Wouldn't you need some real GIS software to do it well?

Look at Google SketchUp. It will calculate areas for at least some complex shapes. (I haven't tried it very much, but at least I know the tool is there.)

Also, it integrates with Google Earth, so scaling should be straightforward, and if you are making real world maps you can't get much better off. (At least not at that price.)

Sketchup is a mixed blessing when it comes to drawing 2d maps. Its designed to be used 3d and has a lot of options that thus are overly complicated for a 2d map. Anyhow, I’ve got my answer. Thank you both very much.