How to use Ozi-Explorer and a PDA connected to a GPS to deliniate polygons in the field
Requires: Ozi-explorer CE, Ozi-explorer PC, ET GeoWizards

Field Instructions

Walking a Polygon
1. Be sure that the track log is cleared from the Ozi-Explorer screen
2. Turn on the GPS button on the Ozi-Explorer screen
3. Begin walking the perimeter of the area that you want delineated
4. When you get back to your starting point, turn off the GPS button on the Ozi-Explorer screen
5. Go to “File" -> ”Track Log”-> ”Save Track Log (Mem)”
6. Change the name to whatever you want or leave the default name
7. You are now finished with that delineation
8. To delineate another area begin at step 1

Sketching a Polygon
1. Be sure that the track log is cleared from the Ozi-Explorer screen
2. Make sure to turn off GPS button on  the Ozi-Explorer screen
3. Load up the "Track Toolbar" by touching "View"-> "Toolbars"-> "Track Toolbar"
4. In the Track Toolbar, touch the Add Track button (Note: this is the button with a "+" on it)
5. Delineate your polygon by touching the screen and making a series of points (note: you cannot freehand draw)
6.  Try to make the end point as close as you can to the starting point
7.  Save the track by touching the green folder in the Track Toolbar
8.  Use the default file name which records the date and time
9.  After the track is saved, you may remove it from the screen by touching the "X" in the middle of the Track Toolbar (Note:  you can always open up your track by touching the yellow folder in the Track Toolbar)
10. To delineate another polygon begin at step 1



Converting Delineations to Shapefile Polylines using Ozi-Explorer on a PC

1. In Ozi-Explorer load a map file of the area where your delineations are
2. Then bring in your delineations by clicking the “Load Track from File (Multi)” function in the “Load” menu
3. Select the file names you gave or the default names the Ozi-Explorer gave and “Open” them
4. To convert your delineations to a shapefile polyline go to the “Tracks to Polylines” function by clicking the “Save” button -> “Export to ESRI Shapefile”-> “Tracks to Polylines”
5. Give this shapefile a name
6. Now you are ready to convert the polylines to polygons



Converting to Shapefile Polylines to Polygons in ArcMap

1. In a new ArcMap file, bring into a layer your newly created shapefile polyline
2. Define the projection as Teal Albers NAD 83
3. Using the ET GeoWizards Tool click on the Convert tab at the bottom
4. Select “Polyline to Polygon”
5. Select your input shapefile and name an output
6. Leave the “Use closed polyline chains” box checked
7. Check the “Force Closure” box
8. Select a tolerance high enough to close all of the endpoints of polylines into polygons. Note: if the tolerance is too low then not all of the polylines will be converted into polygons
9. Click finish
10. Check to make sure that all polylines were converted to polygons, if not, repeat steps 3 through 9 and select a higher tolerance



Cleaning the Polygons using the ET GeoWizards Tool

1. Using the ET GeoWizards Tool click on the “Polygon” tab at the bottom
2. Select the newly created polygon shapefile
3. Specify an output
4. Specify a fuzzy (cluster) tolerance. Note: the default tolerance my be too low so experiment with a higher number that is high enough to clean the polygons but low enough to not reduce the accuracy of the delineation
5. Do not identify overlaps
6. You can “update area and perimeter fields” if you want these to be automatically added to the attribute table by selecting the box
7. Click finish



You should now have clean delineation polygons