Abstract: A measuring device having a tape for taking angle and length measurements, tnd capable of providing a user discernible indication of the angular orientation of its tape relative in any given extended measuring state relative to a predetermined orientation, for example, the horizontal. The measuring device preferably is capable of reading out one or more measurements associated with any given extended measuring state, and transmitting them to a remote device. The measuring device preferably has one or more finger depressible soft feature keys each programmable with a user specified function downloaded from a host computer.