The GIS Viewer has some distinct advantages over paper-based maps. It allows users to explore map features in greater detail and find additional information about them. With the GIS Map Viewer you can:
When you access an Waukesha County GIS Viewer Map, you will see a screen similar to the one below. The screen is made up of two main areas: the map window and the information panel. The map window has a number of features including a bookmark tool, and zoom controls that you can use to quickly zoom in or out. The information panel lets you perform a number of tasks like showing or hiding map layers, viewing the legend, viewing a list of your search results, or displaying selections you have made.
The toolbar at the top of the screen, which can be hidden if required, contains a number of tabs that hold all the tools you need to interact with your map. The number of tabs and tools you see may change depending on the map you are using.
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Information panel |
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Toolbar |
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Scale zoom |
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Toolbar menu |
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I want to… menu |
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Map window |  |
Scale bar |  |
Results/Layer Panel |
The map can easily be navigated with your mouse. Just click and drag the map to pan around, or double-click to zoom in. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out, or hold down the SHIFT key while dragging a rectangle with your mouse to quickly zoom in on the selected area. Also, Right-click the map and you will see a What's Here menu with shortcuts to useful tools.
Here are the basic mouse navigation functions:
| To… | Then… |
| move or pan a map | click the pan button (Hand icon) then drag the map in the direction you want to move it |
| zoom in to a specific area on the map | hold down the SHIFT key and then click and drag a rectangle with the left mouse button that designates the area you want to zoom in on |
| zoom in on the map at the cursor position | double-click the left mouse button on the point you want to zoom in on |
| zoom in on the map at the cursor position | roll the mouse wheel away from you to zoom in on the map at the cursor position |
| zoom out from the map at the cursor position | roll the mouse wheel toward you to zoom out on the map at the cursor position |
You can also use your keyboard to perform basic navigation. This can help when you need more control over the movement of the map.
| To… | Press… | |
| pan left | LEFT ARROW |  |
| pan right | RIGHT ARROW |  |
| pan up | UP ARROW |  |
| pan down | DOWN ARROW |  |
| zoom in | PLUS |  |
| zoom out | MINUS |  |
Click the right mouse button to access a shortcut menu to show the actions you can perform on the object you clicked on.
