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Facility labels

The Facility Labels bulk tool adjusts how each facility's map label reads and where it sits — label text, position, and leader lines — across many features in one session. Labels drive readability on the map and on every drawing the project produces, so a pass through this tool is the cheapest way to make a crowded site legible.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Override a facility's label text, including variable tokens
  • Reposition labels and control leader lines
  • Explain how automatic label placement works around your custom positions
  • Recognize where label changes propagate — and where they don't

Labels vs. names​

A facility's name is data — it appears in the features list, exports, and forms. Its label is presentation — the text drawn next to the shape on the map. By default the label template shows the name, so the two move together; this tool edits the label side. To rename facilities, edit the Name on each feature's Details tab, and to change what all labels show by default, use the project label template (see Feature labels). To have every new project start with the same labels, save a default template on the Feature Labels card of your Preferences.

Automatic placement first​

Since v0.32, Siter moves overlapping labels for you. With Automatic label placement on (the default for every project), a label that would overlap another label moves to nearby free space around its facility, with a dashed leader line when it ends up clearly off the facility. Labels are never hidden; when nothing fits, a label goes to the least crowded spot. See How automatic label placement works.

So start by looking at the map before you open this tool. Most crowded sites now read well without any hand placement, and you only need a custom position where you want a label somewhere specific. A custom position always wins: automatic labels move around it. The facility's Shape tab shows where its label is — Custom, Default, Auto-moved, or Crowded — and a Crowded label is the best candidate for a custom position.

The Facility Labels tool​

Open it from the map's apps Add/Edit menu > Bulk Edit > Facility Labels. The footbar lists facilities with a Feature Source filter and Search box; click a facility to edit its label:

  • Label Text — choose Use project default, Hide label, or Custom. Custom text accepts the same variable tokens as the project template, such as {name}, {layer}, {description} (the Facility Description), and per-criteria attribute tokens (see Feature labels)
  • Click map to place label — move the label by clicking its new position on the map; a leader line connects a moved label back to its feature. R resets the position and E or / toggles the leader line
  • Label Position column — Custom for a label you placed, Default otherwise; the summary counts each. The column doesn't show automatic moves — check the facility's Shape tab for Auto-moved or Crowded
  • A Keyboard Shortcuts panel lists the shortcuts, including stepping through the list with W/A and S/D or the arrow keys

Every pending change — moves, resets, leader lines, and label text — shows on the map before you save, across all facilities, so you can judge the whole layout before committing. Close and choose Don't Save, and the map returns to the saved labels.

The placement preview uses the layer's own label font, text, and default position. Facilities without a usable shape are left out of the list. When the map won't draw a label for the selected facility (no label template, or a hidden or empty label), the placement marker reads LABEL POSITION rather than the facility name.

The tool keeps your search, sort, and selection when you open a feature's dashboard and come back with Back, and searching or saving keeps your place in the list. Facility names sort naturally ("Bldg 2" before "Bldg 10"). Closing with unsaved changes prompts Save, Don't Save, or Cancel; edits made while a save is still running stay pending, and closing asks about them too.

Where label changes propagate​

Label changes propagate immediately to:

  • The map (feature labels)
  • Future drawings and forms

Label changes do not retroactively update:

  • Existing result sets (they reflect the labels at result-set creation time)
  • Already-generated drawings or forms
  • Already-exported files

If a deliverable shows the old label, regenerate it after the change.

Drawings lay labels out for the printed page with the same automatic placement, and raise small label sizes to a readable minimum of 2.5 mm (about 7 pt). The map keeps the size you set.

Try it​

In a project with a dense cluster of facilities:

  1. Look at the cluster on the map and note which labels automatic placement moved (the ones with dashed leader lines)
  2. Open apps Add/Edit > Bulk Edit > Facility Labels, select one of those facilities, and click the map to give its label a custom position — confirm the leader line appears and the neighboring labels make room around it
  3. Give one facility a Custom label text of {name} — {layer} and confirm the map label updates before you save
  4. Move a second facility's label and confirm both pending changes show on the map at once
  5. Close the tool, choose Don't Save, and confirm the map returns to the saved labels
  6. Reopen the tool, open a facility's dashboard from the list, click Back, and confirm your search and selected facility survived