Style vector layers

Style point, line, and polygon layers in Felt. Color features by category or value, size points by value, and choose your own colors.

The style editor, the Style tab of the detail panel, controls how points, lines, and polygons look, from color, size, and opacity to icons and outlines. Keep a layer simple with one color, or let its data drive the style so features change color or size with their values. To color a few features differently, see Categories.

Choose a visualization type

A visualization type sets how Felt draws a vector layer's features: in one color, by category, or by value.

1. Click Edit map, then click the layer in the legend. The Style tab opens. For a layer in a layer group, click the layer, not the group.

2. In the General section, open Type and select a type.

3. For a type that styles by attribute, select the attribute next to Color by or Size by.

Type	Shows	Geometry
Simple	The default. One color for every feature. See Simple.	Points, lines, polygons
Categories	A color for each value of an attribute, such as land use type. See Categories.	Points, lines, polygons
Color range	A color gradient for a numeric attribute, such as a choropleth (areas shaded by value). See Color range.	Points, lines, polygons
Size range	A size for each value of a numeric attribute (proportional symbols). See Size range.	Points, lines
Heatmap	The density of points. See Heatmap.	Points
H3	Points grouped into hexagons. See H3.	Points

The style editor styles by one attribute. To use two, such as one for color and one for size, see Bivariate styling.

Simple

A Simple style draws every feature in one color, and it's the style a layer starts with. In the Points, Lines, or Polygons section, use Fill for color, Size for point size or line width, and Opacity for transparency.

Geometry	Settings
Points	Size, Fill, Stroke, Opacity, Icon, and Rotation. See Icons.
Lines	Fill, Size (the line width), Style (solid or dashed), Casing (an outline along each side), and Opacity
Polygons	Fill (a color, or a pattern such as Hatch or Dots), Stroke (the outline), Casing, Opacity, and Position

Position draws polygons above or below the basemap's roads and water. A polygon with no fill opens its popup only from its outline, so add a fill to make its interior clickable too. Most settings can also change with zoom. See Zoom-based styling.

Categories

A Categories style gives each value of an attribute its own color, such as a color for each land use type. It shows up to 256 categories.

1. Set Type to Categories and select the attribute next to Color by.

2. Optional: Click the Showing field to open the Set categories panel, and choose which values show. Turn off Show other to hide the rest.

3. Optional: In the Set categories panel, click a category's color swatch to change its color, or drag a category to change its place in the legend.

The style editor colors features by attribute, not one at a time. To color a few features differently:

1. Add a text attribute to the layer, such as highlight. See Add, rename, or delete attributes.

2. Enter yes in highlight for the features you want to color.

3. Set Type to Categories and select highlight next to Color by.

4. Click the Showing field. In the Set categories panel, click the color swatch for yes and choose a color.

Color range

A Color range style shades features along a color gradient by the value of a numeric attribute, such as population density by county. It works for points and lines as well as polygons.

1. Set Type to Color range and select the attribute next to Color by.

2. Optional: Click the Steps field to set the classification method and number of classes. See Classification methods.

Color range and Size range list only numeric attributes.

Size range

A Size range style makes points larger or lines wider as a numeric attribute's value increases. For example, use larger points for cities with larger populations.

1. Set Type to Size range and select the attribute next to Size by.

2. In the Points or Lines section, set the smallest and largest Size.

3. Optional: Click the Steps field to set the classification method. See Classification methods.

Heatmap

A Heatmap style shows where points are concentrated, shading areas from low to high density. Every point counts equally. Use Color for the gradient, Point size for how far each point spreads, and Intensity for how quickly areas reach the highest color.

H3

Available on the Business and Enterprise plans. Compare plans

An H3 style groups points into hexagons, which helps when there are too many points to read one by one. In Color by, choose a point count or an attribute's sum, average, minimum, or maximum. Use Resolution to set the hexagon size and Scale to keep the size fixed or change it with zoom. Popups show each hexagon's statistics. On a filtered layer, H3 values are estimates. See Filter layers.

Customize colors

Any color in the style editor can be your own. Click a color, such as Fill or a category's swatch, to open the color picker. Select a swatch, pick a color in the color field, or enter a value. Switch the value between Hex, HSL, and RGB with the menu next to it.

For Categories, Color range, Heatmap, and H3, a palette sets the colors:

• To change the palette, click the Fill or Color field and select one. Click Reverse colors at the bottom of the list to flip it.

• To change one category's color, click the Showing field, then click the category's swatch.

• To change a class's color in a Color range, click the Steps field, then click the class's swatch. With the Continuous method, click Add color to add a color to the gradient, or hover over a color and click Remove.

After you change a palette's colors, the palette shows as Custom. To use colors stored in your data, such as a column containing #FF5733, see Color based on an attribute.

Classification methods

A classification method splits a numeric attribute's values into classes for a Color range or Size range style. Set it under Method in the Steps field.

Method	How it makes classes
Continuous	No classes: colors or sizes change in proportion to each value. The default.
Equal intervals	Each class covers the same range of values.
Quantiles	Each class holds the same number of features.
Standard deviations	Classes by distance from the mean, for bell-curve data.
Geometric intervals	Class widths grow by a constant factor, for skewed data.
Jenks	Natural breaks that keep similar values together.
Manual	You enter the break values.

Style each category or class

Give one category or class its own icon, size, stroke, or label color in a Categories, Color range, or Size range style. For example, show each type of point of interest with its own icon, or give the highest class a thicker outline so it stands out.

1. Click the heading of the geometry section (All Points, All Lines, or All Polygons) to open its menu.

2. Select the category or class.

3. Change its settings. They apply only to that category or class.

Style multiple layers at once

Select several layers in the legend to style them together: give related layers the same color or label style, or turn off popups or legends for many layers in one step.

1. In the legend, Shift-click to select a range of layers, or Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) to add layers one at a time.

2. Change a setting in the style editor. It applies to every selected layer.

A setting the layers don't share shows Mixed until you choose a value for all of them. Each layer keeps its own categories, classes, styling attribute, and popup contents.

Frequently asked questions

Does a Categories style update when my data changes?

Yes. A feature's style updates when its value changes. A new value that isn't in the category list shows as Other, or is hidden when Show other is off. To color it, add it in the Showing field.

Can I copy a style from one layer to another?

Felt has no command to copy and paste styles. Style the layers together, or copy the Felt Style Language (FSL) from one layer's style language editor into the other's. The layers need the same attribute names. See Advanced styling (FSL).

Does Felt support 3D extrusions or pie chart symbols?

No. Felt styles layers in 2D, and points are circles or icons. To chart a location's values, use a custom HTML popup. See Custom HTML popups.

Can I choose which overlapping point draws on top?

Not within a layer. Move those features to their own layer, and drag that layer above the original in the legend.