This is an extension of the Image Processing Toolbox functions BWAREA and REGIONPROPS. On one hand BWAREA allows for two types of area measurements ('digital', or sum of pixels and 'analog'), but cumulates into a single value the areas of all non-connected shapes in an image; while on the other hand REGIONPROPS gives the area of all shapes individually, but expressed only in the 'digital' mode. The present function - BWAREAN - provides individual measurements of both types. In addition to its use as a measuring tool, BWAREAN helps the visualization of the results by generating an image in which each shape is labeled with the value of its area (similar to BWLABEL). Type BWAREAN_DEMO; at Matlab prompt with image file textsample.png in the working directory.