Draw Nodes

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This mode behaves differently depending on how you use it.

Standard Mode

(TODO: sort and check some old and probably imprecise instructions in this section)

• If no node is previously selected and you click between (or very close to) two nodes in an existing way the new node is added on the existing way, between two existing nodes. If two ways cross, and there currently is no node in common at the junction, and you click near the intersection of the two ways, then the node will be inserted into both ways, which will then share a common point.

• If a node is previously selected and you click between two nodes in an existing way the new node is added on the existing way, between two existing nodes, and a way is drawn between the previously selected node and the new node.

Create a node

When selection is empty, If you click on a blank area of the screen you add a new node independent of any existing way:

Draw a segment

With empty selection, if you select one node and then click on a blank area of the screen you add a new node and create a new way (with one segment):

Select and deselect objects

• If you are currently not drawing, then you can select node with a left mouse click
• If the node is an end node of a line then also the line gets selected (leaf node + way in selection); this will be explained in #Continuousdrawing

In demo below, left mouse click was used to select a drawing mode, then clicked 6 times at nodes:

To stop drawing mode, click on selected object (a node) again. This can be done so quickly and some users confuse it with double click. No, you don't need double click:

Double click stops drawing on leaf node

Drawing stops, if you make a double click when creating the last node. This way you don't have to click on last node, but you have to know about this special case:

Continuous drawing

Previous way will be continued if both following is true:

1. nothing was selected OR way in question was selected
2. draw mode applied to leaf nodes

If draw mode applied to non-leaf nodes, it will create a new way instead of continuing old one:

Snaps to existing nodes or ways

• If you click near an existing node it draws a "segment" between what was previously selected and the existing node, and this allows you to re-use existing nodes to make a new way / area (so that certain nodes and "segments" can be reused in more than one way/ area).

Left click on drawn way will deselect node and stop mode

It doesn't matter if you click on nodes or create a new node in a way:

Angle snapping

You can choose the direction of next segment to make specific angle between segments (0,30,45,90, degrees etc.). To enable this mode press A again and see helper lines while moving mouse. To fix the direction and move mouse far from snapping line, please hold A key.

Right click on any way segment when snapping allows to use that segment as reference (for example, to draw segment that is parallel, perpendicular or 45 degrees-aligned to the reference segment). Instead of the right click you can also hold Ctrl while moving mouse over desired reference segment.

To choose angles, disable showing helper geometry, or disable snapping, use right-click on Angle symbol in statusbar and select corresponding item in popup menu.

Modifiers

Alt modifier

If you hold down the Alt key when using this mode it starts a new way, rather than continuing an existing way.

Shift modifier

If you hold down the Shift key while using this mode, it disables the "auto-connect" feature. So segments will not be drawn between new nodes.

Ctrl modifier

If you hold down the Ctrl key whilst using this mode, it disables the snapping to an existing way, allowing you to draw nodes close to, but not part of an existing way.

Combination of modifiers

You may optionally use one or many modifiers at once to get desired result.

Here is Ctrl modifier used with Shift at once:

Note

There is another way to add nodes.

When you zoom in to higher resolutions you will note that on a way, between a pair of nodes, there is a + symbol. If you drag this with the mouse it automatically becomes a new node. Using this method it is very easy to modify an existing way.

See also

• Add node ...

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