# Shapes

Use shapes to select a geospatial area on your map in which to search for objects, select objects already on your map, take actions, or create annotations.

## Create a shape

All operations available on shapes first require an active shape. Create a shape in one of the ways below:

* Construct a shape yourself using the [drawing tools](#draw-a-shape).
* Use the currently selected objects and annotations to create shapes that cover the [same geospatial area as your selection](#from-selection).

### Draw a shape

Choose one of the **Drawing method** options in the toolbar or press `D` on your keyboard to manually draw a shape on the map.

![Open drawing tools](../../../assets/80dbca3de5e252733f00018b9e07219b9b4e68d08add8943d964c245ecae8333.webp)

Select from the various modes available using the dropdown accessible by clicking on the current drawing mode:

![Select drawing mode](../../../assets/41602c61a16114b87a30260c6c2019a38a383c019f922e6eed148cc4df136520.webp)

### From selection

You can also create shapes from the active selection on the map. Right-click on any selected object and use the **Create shape from selection** menu entry.

![Create shape from selection](../../../assets/291345ee2a845b26adb6b15f8974d867ceb43e9788ff8615840f8313d6477b2d.webp)

## Modify a shape

You can edit active shapes on your map by using the **Modify** button in the shapes toolbar.

![Modify button](../../../assets/3cdcbd9858fd00607ca122507cd08fd26399bf3ebdb85d58a9e38d4e8b1bd09c.webp)

There are a number of modification tools available:

![Modify toolbar](../../../assets/a44749d62ebdbc8cd88dbff75e4564c8868b33e0ff2b9529af1d4a0d9dea23c6.webp)

* **Edit points:** Lets you drag individual vertices to modify polygons, lines, or points.
* **Buffer:** Allows entering a specific distance by which to grow or shrink the perimeter of shapes.
* **Translate:** Enables moving an entire shape by dragging it.
* **Replace:** Discards the currently drawn shape and opens the drawing tools to draw a new shape.

Once finished applying modifications, use the **Done** button to return the shapes toolbar.

## Perform operations with an active shape

With an active shape, use the **Shapes** toolbar to perform various operations:

![Shapes toolbar](../../../assets/cd949ae9e21d69ba085fe06fa16d0c09b50f29d8eb7eada5c39b234a66cfe79f.webp)

* **Select intersecting:** Selects every object on your map that is in a visible layer and that intersects the current shape.
* **Search within:** Opens the **Add objects** panel and filters the results to only include objects that have geospatial data that intersects the current shape. Only objects with [`geohash` or `geoshape` properties](../integrate-objects/index.md) can be searched.
* **Actions:** Shows every available ontology action that consumes shapes. Read more about configuring geospatial actions at [Actions](../actions/index.md). The actions button will only appear if geospatial actions have been configured in the ontology.
* **Delete:** Removes the selected shapes from the map interface.