autodesk map 5

12905-010000-5000A June 6, 2001

Autodesk® Map

Getting Started

Copyright © 2001 Autodesk, Inc.All Rights Reserved

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Autodesk, Inc. reserves the right to revise and improve its products as it sees fit. This publication describes the state of this product at thetime of its publication, and may not reflect the product at all times in the future.

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The following are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries: 3D Plan, 3D Props, 3D Studio, 3D StudioMAX, 3D Studio VIZ, 3DSurfer, ActiveShapes, ActiveShapes (logo), Actrix, ADE, ADI, Advanced Modeling Extension, AEC Authority (logo),AEC-X, AME, Animator Pro, Animator Studio, ATC, AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Data Extension, AutoCAD Development System, AutoCADLT, AutoCAD Map, Autodesk, Autodesk Animator, Autodesk (logo), Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk University, Autodesk View, AutodeskWalkThrough, Autodesk World, AutoLISP, AutoShade, AutoSketch, AutoSurf, AutoVision, Biped, bringing information down to earth, CADOverlay, Character Studio, Design Companion, Design Your World, Design Your World (logo), Drafix, Education by Design, Generic,Generic 3D Drafting, Generic CADD, Generic Software, Geodyssey, Heidi, HOOPS, Hyperwire, Inside Track, Kinetix, MaterialSpec,Mechanical Desktop, Multimedia Explorer, NAAUG, ObjectARX, Office Series, Opus, PeopleTracker, Physique, Planix, Powered withAutodesk Technology, Powered with Autodesk Technology (logo), RadioRay, Rastation, Softdesk, Softdesk (logo), Solution 3000, TechTalk, Texture Universe, The AEC Authority, The Auto Architect, TinkerTech, VISION, WHIP!, WHIP! (logo), Woodbourne, WorkCenter, andWorld-Creating Toolkit.

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Microsoft, FoxPro, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks and Visual FoxPro andthe Microsoft Visual Basic Technology logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. dBASEand Paradox are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Oracle is a registered trademark, and Oracle 8i is a trademark of OracleCorporation. Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of IBM Corporation. MrSID is protected by U.S. Patent No. 5,710,835. Foreign Patents Pending.Portions of this computer program are copyright © 2000 Earth Resource Mapping, Inc.

All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Third Party Software Program Credits

ACIS Copyright © 1989-2001 Spatial Corp.

Copyright © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

International CorrectSpell™ Spelling Correction System © 1995 by Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V. All rights reserved.

InstallShield™ 3.0. Copyright © 1997 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Portions Copyright © 1991-1996 Arthur D. Applegate. All rights reserved.

Portions of this software are based on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

Typefaces from the Bitstream ® typeface library copyright 1992.

Typefaces from Payne Loving Trust © 1996. All rights reserved.

GOVERNMENT USE

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U. S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 12.212 (Commercial ComputerSoftware-Restricted Rights) and DFAR 227.7202 (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software), as applicable.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Contents

Introducing Autodesk Map 1

Welcome to Autodesk Map 5 2Autodesk Map: the GIS for AutoCAD 2Autodesk Map Basics 3

Managing Maps and Data 4Drawing Sets 4Creating Maps 4Converting Coordinate Systems 5Storing Attribute Information 5Editing and Cleaning Up Maps 5Querying and Analyzing Maps 6Saving Source Drawings 7Integrating Raster Images 7Presenting and Plotting Maps 8Using Autodesk Map on a Network 8

Before You Begin 8Working with Previous Versions 8Working with Attached Databases 9

What’s Next 9

Chapter 1 Installation 11

System Requirements 12Install or Upgrade to Autodesk Map 13Use Customized Files and Settings from Release 3 17Register and Authorize Autodesk Map for a Stand-alone Computer 18Add Autodesk Map Components 19Reinstall or Repair Autodesk Map 20Uninstall Autodesk Map 21Understand the Autodesk Map License 21

Chapter 2 Setting Up a Project 23

Starting Autodesk Map 24Starting a New Project 25

Contents | iii

Project Drawings and Source Drawings 25Adding Drawings to Your Project 26

Creating Drive Aliases 27Nested Drawings 28Specifying Drawing Settings 29

Setting Scale, Rotation, and Offset 3031

Setting, Viewing, and Resetting Save Back Extents 32Setting Up External Databases 33Seeing What’s Attached to Your Project 34

Viewing Source Drawings 35Using Quick View 35Using a Preview Query 36Zooming the Project Extents 36Controlling Layer Display with Key View 37Viewing Documents Associated with Objects 38

Using Your Projects 39Editing Objects in Source Drawings 39Saving a Project 40Saving Changes 40Working with Multiple Projects 40Sharing Projects 40

Understanding Projects 41Drawing Sets 41Saved Queries 42Drawing Indexes 42Global Coordinate System Settings 43Using Internal Object Data or External Tables 44Link Templates 45

Data View Window 46Topologies 46Themes 47Key View Definition 47User Options 47Symbol Table Information 47

Chapter 3 Digitizing Maps 49

Bringing Data into Autodesk Map 50Digital Data 50Digitizing Overview 50

Planning 51Map Suitability 51Global Coordinate System 52

iv | Contents

Layer Organization 52Using Linetypes and Layers 53Tiling Maps 53Data Storage: Internal or External 54Node, Network, and Polygon Topologies 54

Digitizing Nodes 54Digitizing Networks 55Digitizing Polygons 56

After Digitizing 56Cleaning Up Maps 56

Joining Tiled Maps 56Verifying Data 57

Chapter 4 Importing and Exporting Maps 59

Using Data from Other Sources 60Information in External File Formats 60

Importing Data 60Importing Maps from Other Programs 61

Specifying a Layer During Import 61Performing a Coordinate Conversion During Import 62

Specifying Data to Import 62Specifying How to Import Points 62Importing Autodesk MapGuide SDF Files 63Opening DXF Files 63Importing Raster Files 63Managing Imported Data 63

Exporting Data 64Exporting Maps to Other File Formats 64

Using Saved Settings 64Selecting Objects 64Coordinate Conversion 65Data 65

Exporting to Autodesk MapGuide Files 65Exporting Data to Previous AutoCAD Map and AutoCAD

Applications 66Exporting Raster Images 66

Using Profiles 67Import Profiles 67Export Profiles 67

Contents | v

Chapter 5 Working with an Oracle Database 69

Information for the Database Administrator 70How Autodesk Map Stores Data 70

Block Attributes 70Object Data 71Database Tables 72

Setting Up the Schema 73Improving Performance Before Exporting 74Assigning Roles and Privileges 74Improving Performance After Exporting 75

How the Schema Organizes Data Exported from Autodesk Map 76Information for Autodesk Map Users 79

Using a Drawing as a Template 80Drawing Standards and Coordinate Systems 81General Tips and Suggestions 82

Chapter 6 Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools 83

Understanding Drawing Cleanup 84Specifying Markers 86Map Cleanup Processes 86

Cleanup Order 86Delete Duplicate Objects 87Erase Short Objects 88Break Crossing Objects 89Extend Undershoots 90Erase Dangling Objects 90Simplifying Linear Objects 91

Correcting Nodes 93Snap Clustered Nodes 93Dissolve Pseudo Nodes 94

Edge Matching 95Understanding Editing in Autodesk Map 96

Using Autodesk Map Editing Tools 96Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects 97Defining Text Insertion Points 98Filling Polygons 98Rubber Sheeting 99Breaking Objects at Map Boundaries 100Trimming Objects Using a Closed Boundary 102

Creating Closed Polylines from a Topology 104

vi | Contents

Chapter 7 Sharing and Saving Drawings 105

Understanding Save Sets 106Adding Objects to the Save Set 107Saving Your Changes 108

Sharing Drawings with Other Users 109Understanding File Locking 109Enabling Object Locking 110Editing Drawings in a Multi-User Environment 110Identifying the User Who Has an Object Locked 111Releasing Locked Objects 111

Chapter 8 Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing 113

Understanding Object Data 114Defining Object Data Tables 116

Renaming and Deleting Object Data Tables 116Modifying an Object Data Table 117

Attaching Object Data to Objects 117Editing Objects with Attached Object Data 117

Editing Object Data 118Using Object Data in Queries 119

Using Object Data with Property Alteration 119

Chapter 9 Saving Attribute Data in External Databases 121

Understanding Databases 122What Is a Data Source? 122Benefits of Linking External Data to Objects 123Data Sources and the Project Workspace 124

Attaching Data Sources to a Project 125Universal Data Link (UDL) Files 126Connecting and Disconnecting Data Sources 127

Viewing Tables in the Data View 127Viewing Database Queries 128

Using the Data View 129Formatting Columns 130Freezing and Hiding Columns 130Sorting Records in the Data View 130Filtering Records in the Data View 130Editing Tables in the Data View 131Printing Reports from the Data View 131Exporting Data from the Data View 131

Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects 132Understanding Links and Link Templates 133

Contents | vii

Linking Objects to Data 135Linking Data to Objects Manually 136Linking Data to Objects Automatically 136Linking Data to Objects While Digitizing 136

Highlighting Objects Linked to Selected Records 137Highlighting Records Linked to Selected Objects 137Converting Object Data to External Database Tables 137

Chapter 10 Using Queries to Analyze Data 139

Understanding Queries 140Defining Queries 140

Finding Objects Based on Location 141Finding Objects Based on Properties 141

Defining Numeric Range Property Queries 142Finding Objects Based on Internal Data 142Finding Objects Based on External SQL Data 143

Using SQL Conditions in Map Queries 143Creating a SQL Condition 144Combining SQL Conditions with Other Conditions 144Typing a SQL Condition 144Combining Criteria to Create Compound Queries 145

Grouping Compound Query Conditions 146Understanding Indexing 147

Checking a Drawing for Indexes 148Creating Indexes 148Removing Indexes 149

Editing Queries 149Executing Queries 149

Using Preview Mode 150Using Draw Mode 150Using Report Mode 151Executing Queries with SQL Conditions 151

Altering the Properties of Queried Objects 152Saving Queries 153

Using Saved Queries 153Troubleshooting 154

Chapter 11 Thematic Map Design 155

Understanding Thematic Maps 156Creating Thematic Maps 158Creating Thematic Maps Using Thematic Queries 159

Selecting Objects of Interest 159

viii | Contents

Creating a Thematic Expression 159Setting Display Parameters 160Sample Thematic Maps 160

Creating Advanced Thematic Maps 163

Chapter 12 Creating Map Topology 165

Understanding Topology Functions 166Advantages of Using Topology 167The Autodesk Map Topology Model 167

Link-Node Relationships 167Link-Polygon Relationships 168Left-Right Relationships 169Topology Data in Autodesk Map 170

Defining and Creating Topology 170Removing Erroneous Data 170Creating a Topology 171Saving a Topology 171

Storing Topology Data 172Creating a Node Topology 173Creating a Network Topology 173Creating a Polygon Topology 175

Administering and Editing Topology 177Administering Topology 177Editing Topology 177Topology Completeness 178

Completing a Topology 179Auditing and Recreating a Topology 179

Chapter 13 Analyzing Map Topology 181

Understanding Spatial and Geographic Analysis 182Network Tracing Analysis 182

Path Trace: Tracing between Two Points 183Flood Trace: Tracing Out from a Point 183

Analysis of Topology Overlays 183Nodes with Polygons 184Networks with Polygons 184Polygons with Polygons 185Analyzing Topology Overlays 185Explicit Nodes in Overlay Analysis 186

Buffer Analysis 186Example of Buffer Analysis 187

Querying Topology Data 187

Contents | ix

Creating a Result Topology 188Dissolving Topologies 188

Dissolving Polygons 188Dissolving Network Links 189

Topology Applications 189Examples of Network Topology 189

Street Networks 190Examples of Polygon Topology 191

Emergency Services 191

Chapter 14 Using Coordinate Systems 193

Understanding Map Projections 194Map Projections in Autodesk Map 194

Choosing a Projection System 195Map Scales and Distortion 195

Understanding Coordinate Systems 196Coordinate Systems and Origins 196Coordinate Transformation 196Geodetic and Non-Geodetic Coordinate Systems 197

Global Coordinate Systems in Autodesk Map 197Choosing a Global Coordinate System 197Assigning a Global Coordinate System 198

Identifying a Drawing’s Global Coordinate System 199Defining and Modifying Coordinate Systems 199

Setting Additional Projection Parameters 201Defining, Modifying, and Deleting Datum Definitions 201Defining, Modifying, and Deleting Ellipsoids 201

Tracking Coordinates 202Measuring Geodetic Distance 202

Chapter 15 Using Images 203

Understanding Raster Images 204Supported Image Formats 205Using the Raster Extension Features 205

Inserting Raster Images 206Correlating Images During Insertion 206

Hiding, Unloading, Detaching, and Erasing Images 207Hiding Images 207Unloading Images 207Detaching Images 207Erasing Images 208

Changing the Image Display Order 208

x | Contents

Viewing Image Information 208Changing Image File Paths 209

Naming Images 209Selecting Images 209Modifying Image Properties 210

Changing Image Frame Properties 210Adjusting Image Brightness, Contrast, and Fade 210Changing Image Location 210Changing Image Rotation, Width, Height, or Scale 210Modifying Image Transparency and Transparency Color 211

Modifying Bitonal Image Color and Transparency 211Clipping Images 212

Chapter 16 Plotting Maps 213

Plotting with Autodesk Map 214Understanding Layouts 214Defining a Plot Map Set 215

Attach Source Drawings 215Create a Plot Template Block 215Define and Save a Plot Query 217Create Map Sheet Boundaries 217

Creating a Plot Set 218Selecting the Plot Template Block 218Selecting Source Drawings 218Retrieving Data to Plot 218Selecting Boundaries for the Plot Set 218Mapping Object Data to the Title Block 219Specifying Plot Set Options 219

Main View Scale 219Reference View Scale 219Boundary Edge Options (Buffer) 220Boundary Edge Options (Trim) 221Template Block Settings 221

General Plotting Techniques 221Using Linetypes to Annotate Contour Lines 222

Creating Effective and Attractive Maps 222Placing Text 223

Glossary 225

Index 235

Contents | xi

In This Chapter

■ Welcome to AutoMap 5

■ Autodesk Map: thGIS for AutoCAD

■ Autodesk Map Ba

■ Before you begin

■ What’s next

Introducing Autodesk Map

desk

e

sics

Using Autodesk® Map 5, you can create, maintain,

analyze, and effectively communicate mapping

information contained in multiple Autodesk Map

drawings and related external databases.

Autodesk Map is an AutoCAD®-based mapping

product that contains all the functionality of

AutoCAD, as well as its own powerful mapping

tools designed for mapping and geographic infor-

mation systems (GIS) professionals.

1

Welcome to Autodesk Map 5

Autodesk Map 5 is the premier solution for creating, maintaining, analyzing, and producing mapping information in a CAD environment. Autodesk Map 5 contains the object-oriented capabilities of AutoCAD software as well as its own unique spatial data management and multiple drawing access strengths. With Autodesk Map 5, you can digitize, maintain, analyze, and plot your own maps and map sets, and create thematic maps and legends. You can work with multiple drawings and use information from external data sources for all your mapping tasks.

Using Autodesk Map 5, you can

■ Share files among users■ Manage, retrieve, and store both graphic and nongraphic data■ Link maps to associated databases■ Add data to maps and make them more intelligent■ Clean up maps■ Build node, network, and polygon topologies for analysis■ Produce thematic maps with legends■ Work with existing spatial data in other coordinate systems and file for-

mats■ Import data from other CAD and GIS systems■ Export data to other formats■ Plot maps and map books easily and efficiently

Autodesk Map: the GIS for AutoCAD

Using a geographic information system (GIS), you can capture, store, retrieve, analyze, and display spatial data that emphasizes the spatial rela-tionships among the objects being mapped. For example, a GIS can identify a road as the border between wetland and urban development, or as the link between two streets, rather than simply representing it as a line.

In addition to creating maps, Autodesk Map also acts as a GIS, allowing you to develop topologies, a series of defined relationships between nodes, links, and polygonal regions. You can analyze this information and store polygonal or area-based data efficiently in topologies.

With Autodesk Map, you can also link map features with text data from a database and store the data in the drawing file as object data or in an external database. To find more information, you can also define queries based on topology, as well as on object data or external database records.

2 | Introducing Autodesk Map

Autodesk Map Basics

Using Autodesk Map, you can create, maintain, analyze, and present accurate maps, and manage multiple drawings and multiple projects. You’ll do most of your work using the Autodesk Map Project Workspace, the Map menu, and the mapping toolbars.

The Project Workspace displays all the data you need to work with: attached source drawings, queries, databases, and topologies, as well as the links you have set up between objects in the attached drawings and records in the attached external databases.

The following sections explain basic Autodesk Map concepts and terms and refer you to other chapters in this book for further information.

Project Workspace

Mappingtoolbars

Map menu

Autodesk Map Basics | 3

Managing Maps and Data

With Autodesk Map, you can access multiple maps or drawings at the same time by using a project. A project is simply a DWG file that contains the set of source drawings that you work with all the time, their related settings and options, links to external databases, and saved queries. See Chapter 2, “Setting Up a Project.”

Each time you open a project drawing, the linked set of source drawings and data sets for that project is available and ready for use, as shown above.

Drawing Sets

A drawing set contains the source drawings you use in a project. Drawing sets can consist of sets of tiled drawings or stacked drawings and can be any combi-nation of these sets. See Chapter 2, “Setting Up a Project.”

Creating Maps

Using Autodesk Map, you can create digital maps by digitizing existing paper maps or by importing data. You can add graphic and data information to objects as you convert existing data into digital form. See Chapter 3, “Digi-tizing Maps,” and Chapter 4, “Importing and Exporting Maps.”

Drawings attached to the project

Queries

Database tables

TopologiesLink templates


Converting Coordinate Systems

Autodesk Map supports a comprehensive set of worldwide projections and coordinate systems and a powerful set of conversion utilities for converting the various coordinate systems of your source drawings into a common system. You can also create your own coordinate systems. See Chapter 14, “Using Coordinate Systems.”

You can easily import and integrate coordinate system data from many sources. You can also export coordinate system data into other file formats.

Storing Attribute Information

You can store nongraphic or attribute information about objects in the drawing file as object data or in external databases, including dBASE®, Oracle®, Microsoft® Access and Excel, and ODBC-compliant databases. With either method, you can use queries to retrieve objects based on their attribute data. You should evaluate your data storage needs before deciding whether to use object data or an external database to store data related to objects.

For suggestions on when to store information in an external database, see “Using Internal Object Data or External Tables” on page 44.

Editing and Cleaning Up Maps

The map creation process begins with digitizing maps and importing map data, followed by cleaning up the map data. You will need to clean up your data before creating topologies. See Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

Autodesk Map provides several tools to automate this process, including the following:

■ Use the boundary clipping and map-edge cutting tools to create clean breaks between objects, and precisely align edges between map sheets.

■ Select a map area for an enlarged inset, or cut out a space in the map for annotations.

■ Isolate sets of features from large data sets, edit this subset of data, and save the data back to the original source drawings.


Querying and Analyzing Maps

A query is a set of criteria that limits the set of objects retrieved from source drawings. In Autodesk Map, you use the query feature to retrieve objects from source drawings and copy them into your project drawing. You can then use the retrieved objects to create another drawing that serves as a report or presentation. For more information, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

Using queries, you can

■ Perform spatial queries or queries based on data associated with geograph-ical features in order to analyze the information

■ Create simple or complex queries based on location, nongraphic object data stored in the drawing, or tabular data stored in external databases

■ Save queries with your project or save them to an external file for use with several projects

■ Create thematic maps altering the color, linetype, and text to show rela-tionships graphically with internal object data or external SQL data

Autodesk Map can retrieve a subset of objects from multiple source drawings and copy them into the active project.

Source drawings

Project drawing


Saving Source Drawings

After you use the query feature to retrieve objects, you can edit objects, add new objects, delete objects, and then choose to save your changes back to source drawings, or not. If you choose to save changes to source drawings, you must specify the set of objects to be saved by creating a save set. If you do not create a save set, your changes will not be saved to the source draw-ings.

For more information, see Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

Integrating Raster Images

You can insert georeferenced raster images produced in other applications directly into your Autodesk Map drawings and use them as raster backdrops to vector-drawn maps.

You can scale, rotate, and clip them, and once imported, use raster edges as a trim cutting edge. See Chapter 15, “Using Images.”


Presenting and Plotting Maps

Autodesk Map has a complete set of plotting tools for map sheets. You can set up legends easily, add scale bars and title blocks, and save frequently used groups of maps as map sets that you can edit and plot at different scales. See Chapter 16, “Plotting Maps.”

Using the plotting tools, you can

■ Easily produce map books and use the plot boundary buffer feature to include the edges of adjacent map sheets by specifying a distance beyond the edge of your chosen map sheet

■ Create a template for the map title, legend, description, and specific dis-play parameters you want to appear on each map in the series

■ Specify template variables that change automatically on each map sheet

Using Autodesk Map on a Network

Autodesk Map supports multiple users on a network. More than one user can query, edit, and save changes to a drawing at the same time. However, users cannot simultaneously edit the same object.

You can lock the subset of objects that you are working on without preventing other users from editing other parts of the drawing and associated data sets. This is called object locking. When object locking is in effect, other users can view the objects but not edit them. See Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

Before You Begin

Before working with your existing drawings in the latest version of Autodesk Map, you should consider migrating the data to this version.

Working with Previous Versions

Autodesk Map 5 is built on AutoCAD 2002. If you are upgrading from AutoCAD Map® 2000i, you can open your AutoCAD Map 2000i drawings, which are based on AutoCAD 2000i, directly in Autodesk Map 5. For more information on upgrading from a previous release, refer to Chapter 1, “Instal-lation.”


Working with Attached Databases

If you have drawings with attached databases, look up “database tables, migrating” in the Autodesk Map online Help Index for more information.

What’s Next

Those of you new to Autodesk Map may want to work through the online Tutorials. To open the tutorials, choose Tutorials from the Help menu.

These tutorials show you how to use Autodesk Map to complete many of the tasks you need to know in order to create, maintain, and analyze maps.

Note We recommend that you copy and save the tutorial drawings, located in the MapTut folder, in a backup folder. Then, if you want to repeat any of the tuto-rials, you will have the original drawings available.

In addition, new and experienced users can access the following additional Autodesk Map and AutoCAD information from the Help menu:

■ Autodesk Map Help Topics—Online help for Autodesk Map features, pro-cedures, and commands.

■ What’s New—New features for Autodesk Map 5.

■ AutoCAD Learning Assistance™ —An interactive program that teaches AutoCAD basics.

What’s Next | 9

In This Chapter

■ System Require

■ Install or UpgraAutodesk Map

■ Use CustomizedSettings from R

■ Register and AuAutodesk Map

■ Add Autodesk MComponents

■ Reinstall or RepMap

■ Uninstall Autod

■ Understand theMap License

1

Installation

ments

de to

Files and elease 3

thorize

ap

air Autodesk

esk Map

Autodesk

This section provides instructions for installing,

upgrading to, and authorizing Autodesk® Map 5 on

a stand-alone computer. If you are installing

Autodesk Map for a network, see the Network

Administrator’s Guide located in the \netsetup\sup-

port\Adlm\docs folder on the Autodesk Map 5 CD.

11

System Requirements

Before you begin installing Autodesk Map on a stand-alone computer, make sure that your computer meets the minimum recommended requirements. See the following table for hardware and software requirements.

Hardware and software requirements

Hardware/Software

Requirement Notes

Operating system

Windows® NT 4.0 with SP 5.0 or laterWindows 98Windows Millennium Edition (ME)Windows 2000

It is recommended that you install and run Autodesk Map on an operating system in the same language as your version of Autodesk Map or on an English version of the operating system.

Users of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 must have Administrator permissions to install Autodesk Map. Not assigning these permissions can cause Autodesk Map and third-party applications to perform incor-rectly. See Windows Help for information about assigning user permissions.

To use the Oracle 8i Spatial features in Autodesk Map 5, you must run Autodesk Map on Windows 98, NT, or 2000.

ProcessorPentium 233 (minimum)Pentium 450 or higher (recommended) Equivalent processor

RAM 32 MB (minimum)64 MB (recommended)

Video

800 x 600 VGA with 256 colors (mini-mum)1024 x 768 SVGA with 64 thousand col-ors (recommended)

Requires a Windows-supported display adapter.

Hard disk

■ 140 MB (minimum) on the drive where you are installing Autodesk Map

■ 64 MB of available swap space for optimal performance

■ 150 MB (minimum) - 170 MB (recommended) on the drive that contains your system folder

■ 20 MB for shared files (by default located at \Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared)

12 | Chapter 1 Installation

Install or Upgrade to Autodesk Map

This section includes information for installing or upgrading to Autodesk Map on a stand-alone computer.

Before you install or upgrade

1 Make sure you have write permission to the following locations:

■ Folder where you are installing Autodesk Map■ System registry■ Windows System folder

Note To use Autodesk Map with Windows NT or Windows 2000, you must have Administrator or Power User permission to write to the system registry.

2 Close all running applications.

Pointing device Mouse, trackball, or other device

CD-ROM Any speed (for installation only)

Optional hard-ware

Open GL-compatible 3D video cardPrinter or plotterDigitizerModem or access to an Internet connec-tionNetwork interface card

The OpenGL driver that comes with the 3D graphics card must have the following:■ Full support of OpenGL or later.■ An OpenGL Installable Client Driver

(ICD). The graphics card must have an ICD in its OpenGL driver software. The “miniGL” driver provided with some cards is not sufficient for use with Autodesk Map.

The network interface card must be com-patible with existing Ethernet network infrastructure and is required for installing and running the network version of Autodesk Map.

Oracle Spatial (optional)

Oracle 8i Spatial client, version 8.1.6, updated with the patch 8.1.6.3.10 for the Oracle Object for OLE (OO4O)

Required to use the Oracle 8i Spatial fea-tures in Autodesk Map 5. The Oracle Spatial client can be installed either before or after you install Autodesk Map.

Web browser Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0Netscape Navigator 4.5 or later

Internet Explorer 5.5 is installed with Autodesk Map.

Hardware and software requirements

Hardware/Software

Requirement Notes

Install or Upgrade to Autodesk Map | 13

3 If you are upgrading from a previous release of AutoCAD Map and have grid data files that you’ve obtained from other sources, such as Canadian .gsb files, it is important to note that these grid data files are not copied from the previous version for you. To bring these files to Autodesk Map 5, you need to copy your files to a separate folder and, after you upgrade, copy them to the appropriate folder under the Autodesk shared coordi-nate system grid data folder, by default C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\GIS\CoordSys\GridData.

4 Uninstall any Autodesk Map product extensions that you have previously installed.

5 Disable virus-checking software. Please refer to your virus software docu-mentation for instructions.

Note Some files required by Autodesk Map are installed in your system folder (for example, c:\Windows\System, or c:\Winnt\System32). This folder may be on a different drive than the folder you specify as the installation folder (for example, d:\Program Files\Autodesk Map 5). You may need up to 170 MB of space in your system folder, depending on the components you select to install. You are alerted if there is insufficient free space on the drive that con-tains your system folder.

To install or upgrade to Autodesk Map on a stand-alone computer

1 Insert the Autodesk Map 5 CD into the CD-ROM drive.

■ Autorun starts the installation process unless you hold down the SHIFT key when you insert the CD.

■ If Autorun is turned off, you must designate the CD-ROM drive. From the Start menu, choose Run. Enter the CD-ROM drive letter and setup. For example, enter d:\setup.

2 On the opening page of the Installation wizard, click Next to continue.

3 Review the Autodesk software license agreement. You must accept this agreement to complete the installation. To accept, choose I Accept, then choose Next.

4 On the Serial Number page, enter the serial number and CD key located on the Autodesk Map package. Choose Next.

5 On the User Information page, enter your user information and choose Next.

6 If this is a first-time installation, and you are not upgrading or adding an additional copy of Autodesk Map to your computer, choose Next and go to step 7.

If an existing version of Autodesk Map is detected on your system, you have two options:


■ Install Autodesk Map 5 in a separate directory ■ Upgrade your existing version of AutoCAD Map to Autodesk Map 5

If you choose to install Autodesk Map 5 in a separate directory, and you want to run a previous release on the same machine, Autodesk Map 5 will operate properly only with Release 3 installed on the same computer, not with AutoCAD Map 2000 or 2000i installed.

Upgrade options are as follows:

■ Release 3. You can upgrade to Autodesk Map 5 from AutoCAD Map Release 3. If you have more than one installed release of AutoCAD Map on your computer, you are prompted to select the location of the release you wish to upgrade.

■ AutoCAD Map 2000 or 2000i. If you have these versions on your com-puter, they are automatically upgraded.

Note Your previous version of AutoCAD Map may have had a hardware lock. Hardware locks are no longer required in Autodesk Map 5.

7 On the Select Installation Type page, specify the type of installation you want, and then choose Next.

Typical installs the following features:

■ Program files. Executables, menus, toolbars, Help, templates, TrueType® fonts, and additional support files

■ Internet tools. Support files and Volo™ View Express■ Fonts. SHX fonts■ Database. External database tools and support files■ VBA support. Microsoft Visual Basic® application support files■ Batch Plotting. Batch plotting application and support files■ Portable License Management. Provides utilities to share a single-user

authorization on more than one computer■ Samples. Sample drawings, images, and AutoCAD® DesignCenter™

files■ Dictionaries. American English■ Help files. Online documentation

Compact installs only the program files, fonts, and the Portable License Management.

Custom installs only the files you select. By default, the Custom installa-tion option installs all Autodesk Map features. Clear the check boxes for all Autodesk Map components you do not want to install.

Full installs the following features in addition to the files installed by a Typical installation:

Install or Upgrade to Autodesk Map | 15

■ Internet Tools. Internet support files■ Samples. Visual LISP™samples■ Dictionaries. French-Canadian■ Texture maps. Maps for photorealistic rendering■ Tutorials. Visual LISP tutorials

8 On the Destination Folder page, do one of the following:

■ Choose Next to accept the default destination folder. ■ Choose Browse to specify a different drive and folder where you want

Autodesk Map installed. Choose any folder that is mapped to your computer (including network folders), or enter a new path. Choose OK, and then choose Next.

9 On the Start Installation page, choose Next to start the installation.

The Updating System page is displayed, showing the progress of the instal-lation.

10 If an existing version of Microsoft NetMeeting is identified, you can choose to update it to Version 3.01. Choose Yes to update, or No to bypass.

Note If you choose not to upgrade NetMeeting, you will not be able to use the Meet Now feature until you upgrade.

11 If you selected a Typical or Custom installation including Volo View Express, you are prompted to install Volo View Express. Choose Yes to launch Volo View setup, or No to bypass.

Note Volo View Express is necessary for DWF file support and for the Publish to Web feature. If an existing version of Volo View Express is identified, it will be automatically upgraded to the latest version. Volo View Express will not overwrite an existing version of Volo View. If you require the full functionality of Volo-View, you may purchase an Autodesk Map-compatible version sepa-rately.

When the installation is complete, the Setup Complete page is displayed.

12 Choose Finish. The Readme file is opened from this page when you choose Finish. This file contains information that was unavailable when the Autodesk Map documentation was prepared. If you do not want to view the Readme file at this point, clear the check box next to Readme.

Note You can also view the Readme file after you have installed Autodesk Map by starting Autodesk Map and choosing Help ➤ Autodesk Map Help. In the frame on the left side of the Help window, choose the Contents tab and choose Late-Breaking Information. Then, in the frame on the right side of the Help window, click the arrow button to open the Readme file.


13 It is strongly recommended that you restart your computer at this point in order for the installation settings to take effect. Do one of the following:

■ Choose Yes to restart your computer now. ■ Choose No to manually restart your computer at another time.

If you do not restart your computer, you may have problems running Autodesk Map.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Autodesk Map 5. You are now ready to register your product and start using the program. To register the product, double-click the Autodesk Map 5 icon on your desktop and follow the instructions.

Use Customized Files and Settings from Release 3

If you choose to upgrade in the same folder as a previous release, customized files are copied from the previous version and stored in a folder under the main Autodesk Map folder called Previous Version Custom Files. The types of customized files copied are

■ Exported profiles■ LISP files that are loaded during startup■ Standard linetype definition files■ Menu files■ Digitizer and plotter configuration information

If you choose to install Autodesk Map 5 in a different folder, and you want to use your customized files, copy the files from the previous release into the Autodesk Map 5\Support folder.

Use Customized Files and Settings from Release 3 | 17

Register and Authorize Autodesk Map for a Stand-alone Computer

The first time you start Autodesk Map, the Authorization wizard is displayed. You can authorize Autodesk Map at that time, or run Autodesk Map and authorize it later. Autodesk Map displays the Authorization wizard for 15 days. Each time you start the program, you are prompted to provide an authorization code. After 15 days, you must enter an authorization code in order to run Autodesk Map.

You can register and authorize Autodesk Map in one of the following ways:

■ Internet. Guides you through entering your registration information and sends it to Autodesk over the Internet. Once you submit your information, registration and authorization occur almost instantly.

■ Fax. Guides you through entering your registration information. Saves the information in a file that you can print and fax to Autodesk.

■ Email. Guides you through creating an email message with your registra-tion information, which you can send to Autodesk.

■ Post/Mail. Guides you through entering your registration information. Saves the information in a file that you can print and mail to Autodesk.

To authorize Autodesk Map

1 Double-click the Autodesk Map 5 icon on your desktop.

2 On the Begin page of the Authorization wizard, select Authorize Autodesk Map 5, and then choose Next.

3 Do one of the following:

■ Select Register and Authorize, which will guide you through the elec-tronic registration process.

■ Select Complete Authorization, where you will enter your authoriza-tion code (which you’ll receive after you’ve registered your product).

4 Choose Next and follow the on-screen instructions.


Add Autodesk Map Components

You can add custom components at any time by running Setup.

To add components

1 From the Start menu, choose Settings ➤ Control Panel.

2 In the Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs.


■ For Windows 98, NT, and ME. In the Add/Remove Program Properties dialog box, on the Install/Uninstall tab, select Autodesk Map 5. Choose Add/Remove.

■ For Windows 2000. In the Add/Remove Programs dialog box, select Autodesk Map 5, and choose Change.

4 In the Add/Remove Application dialog box, select Add or Remove Fea-tures, and choose Next.

5 In the Autodesk Map 5 Setup dialog box, select a feature and then select one of the following options from the list. Then choose Next:

■ Will be installed on local hard drive. Installs a feature or component of a feature on your hard drive.

■ Entire feature will be installed on local hard drive. Installs a feature and its components on your hard drive.

■ Feature will be installed when required only. Installs the feature on-demand.

■ Entire feature will be unavailable. Makes the feature unavailable.

6 On the Start Installation page, choose Next.

When the components have been added, choose Finish.

7 If prompted, restart your computer.

Note You can find information on optimizing and configuring Autodesk Map in the online AutoCAD Customization Guide. You can view it by choosing Help ➤ Autodesk Map Help and, from the Contents tab, choosing AutoCAD Online Man-uals ➤ Customization Guide.

Add Autodesk Map Components | 19

Reinstall or Repair Autodesk Map

If you accidentally delete or alter files required by Autodesk Map, you can reinstall or repair them. When you perform a reinstallation of Autodesk Map, the procedure automatically repairs damaged or missing files. The reinstalla-tion or repair uses the choices you made during the last installation and requires little interaction.

To reinstall Autodesk Map

1 From the Start menu (Windows), choose Settings ➤ Control Panel.

2 In the Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs.


■ For Windows 98, NT, and ME. In the Add/Remove Program Properties dialog box, Install/Uninstall tab, select Autodesk Map 5. Choose Add/Remove.


4 In the Add/Remove Application dialog box, select Reinstall Autodesk Map 5, and then choose Next.

5 In the Autodesk Map 5 Setup dialog box, do one of the following, and then choose Next:

■ Select Reinstall Autodesk Map 5.■ Select Repair Errors in My Autodesk Map 5 Installation. If you select

this option, you also restore your shortcuts if they do not point to the location of your Autodesk Map files. If you do not want to restore your shortcuts, clear the corresponding check box.

6 In the Start Installation dialog box, choose Next, to begin installation.

7 In the Backup Files dialog box, highlight the files to back up, and then choose Next.

8 In the Autodesk Map 5 dialog box, when the components have been added, choose Finish.



Uninstall Autodesk Map

When you uninstall Autodesk Map, all components are removed in the process. This means that even if you’ve previously added or removed compo-nents, or if you’ve reinstalled or repaired Autodesk Map, the uninstall proce-dure removes all files, making the uninstallation easy.

To uninstall Autodesk Map

1 From the Start menu, choose Settings ➤ Control Panel.

2 In the Windows Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs.


■ For Windows 98, NT, and ME. In the Add/Remove Program Properties dialog box, on the Install/Uninstall tab, select Autodesk Map 5. Choose Add/Remove.


4 In the Add/Remove Application dialog box, select Remove Autodesk Map 5, and then choose Next.

5 In the Autodesk Map 5 Uninstall dialog box, choose Next to start the pro-cess of removing Autodesk Map 5.

6 On the Autodesk Map 5 Setup page, after the program is uninstalled, choose Finish.


Understand the Autodesk Map License

When you authorize Autodesk Map, only the computer you authorized is licensed to run that copy of Autodesk Map. The licensing software identifies the licensed computer by using certain components on the computer, such as the hard disk.

The Autodesk Map license is only valid on one computer at a time. With the Portable License Utility, you can transfer the license to another computer and then transfer it to a different computer, or transfer the license back to the original computer.

For more information on managing Autodesk Map licenses and using the Portable License Utility, refer to “Change the AutoCAD Setup” in the online AutoCAD Customization Guide.

Uninstall Autodesk Map | 21

In This Chapter

■ Starting AutodeskMap

■ Starting a new pr

■ Viewing source drawings

■ Using your projec

■ Understanding projects

2

Setting Up a Project

oject

ts

Start Autodesk® Map and set up your projects.

Within each project, you can specify the set of

drawings you want to use, the databases, queries,

and themes you want, and your option settings.

23

Starting Autodesk Map

When you start Autodesk Map, the Autodesk Map Today window displays. This window provides you with the following ways to start a drawing:

■ Open an existing drawing.■ Start a drawing from scratch.■ Start a drawing based on a template.■ Use wizards to help you set up your drawing.

To start Autodesk Map

1 From the Start menu (Microsoft® Windows® ) choose Programs. Then choose Autodesk Map.

2 In the Autodesk Map Today window, choose one of the following:

■ Open Projects tab—Select from a list of recently opened drawings, or click the Browse button to look for another drawing.

■ Create Projects tab—Choose Start From Scratch, Template, or Wizards.

Start From Scratch: Select English (inches) or metric (millimeters) to open a new drawing based on the measurement system you choose.

Template: Select a template from the list to open a new drawing based on the template. The list displays template files (.dwt extension) in the drawing template file location as specified in the Options dialog box. Template files store all the settings for a drawing and can also include predefined layers, dimension styles, and views.

Wizards: Open a new drawing and set it up using either the Quick Setup wizard or the Advanced Setup wizard.

■ Symbol Libraries tab—Select from a list of symbol libraries to load into AutoCAD Design Center™ .

After you use Autodesk Map for a while, you may want to turn off the display of the Autodesk Map Today window.

To turn off the display of the Autodesk Map Today window

1 From the Tools menu, choose Options.

2 In the Options dialog box, choose the System tab.

3 In the Startup list under General Options, select Do Not Show A Startup Dialog.

4 Click OK.

For complete information on starting new drawings and opening existing drawings, see “Start, Organize, and Save a Drawing” in the User’s Guide section of the AutoCAD® Online Manuals.

24 | Chapter 2 Setting Up a Project

Starting a New Project

Projects let you organize how you view and work with your drawings. When you set up your projects, you select the drawings that you will use with that project, the databases you will use, the external documents, etc. Every time you open that project, all those items are automatically available. For example, a town manager might create the following projects:

■ A Streets project, including all the street maps of the town and a database of traffic flow information.

■ A Quadrant project, including the street map, sewer map, and electrical map for a specific quadrant of the town. In addition, the town manager could attach documents and videos that give additional information about the sewers and the wiring.

■ A Schools project, including the street maps, the school zone map, and a database of bus route information.

Before you begin, think about the drawings you have and how you want to organize them. Remember that a drawing can be included in more than one project. If you have database information, decide which information to include with the project. Decide if you want to attach any external docu-ments, graphics, or videos. For more information about the type of items that you can store with a project, see “Using Your Projects,” on page 39.

Project Drawings and Source Drawings

Any drawing can be used as a project drawing, and any drawing can be used as a source drawing. Autodesk Map makes no distinction between source drawings and project drawings. Any drawing you open in Autodesk Map will be treated as a project drawing. Any drawing you attach to the current drawing will be treated as a source drawing while this project is open. You decide how you want to set up your drawings.

Most users create a blank drawing that they use as the project drawing, and then attach all the drawings that they will use with this project. For example, you could create a new drawing called Sewer Systems and attach all the sewer maps as source drawings.

Other users start with a drawing that contains the basic outline of their project, then attach drawings that fill in the details. For example, you could create a project drawing that contains the site map for a new development, and then attach all the parcel drawings as your source drawings.

The group of source drawings attached to the project is called a drawing set.

Starting a New Project | 25

Adding Drawings to Your Project

You specify that you want to use a drawing with a project by attaching the drawing to the project.

You can attach files from many directories. When you’ve added all the files you want, click OK to attach them to the project.

Select the files you want and click Add to add them to the list.

Click the Drive Alias button to define a new drive alias.


Creating Drive Aliases

Autodesk Map provides a drive alias feature that allows different users working with the same projects and drawing sets to locate drawings.

If you plan to share drawings with others on a network, use aliases to locate attached source drawings rather than hard-coded drive letters. For example, if source drawings are stored in server:\acadmap\drawings, you might connect to that location as drive J, and another user might connect as drive K. This could make it difficult to share projects, since your projects would specify J: as the location for the source files. However, if you both assign the same alias to the location, for example, “Autodesk Map Projects,” you can share projects regardless of location.

Autodesk Map provides a default alias called C. If you store drawings in a location other than drive C, you must create aliases for the paths to your source drawings before you attach them.

Everyone in your organization should assign the same alias to this location. This lets Autodesk Map easily find files when you share projects.


Nested Drawings

You can nest projects. For example, suppose you create a Sewer Systems drawing and attach all the sewer drawings. Then you create a Water Systems drawing and attach all the water drawings. You could then create a City Services drawing and attach both the Sewer Systems drawing and the Water Systems drawing, and all the water and sewer drawings would automatically be attached as nested drawings.

Any drawing can be a project drawing and any drawing can be a source drawing. The currently open drawing is the current project; any drawings attached to that drawing are source drawings. If the source drawings have drawings attached, those nested drawings are also part of the current project.

Autodesk Map assigns the nested drawings the same status as the top level drawing. You can deactivate a nested drawing if the top level drawing is active. However, you cannot see or activate a nested drawing if the top level drawing is not active.

WaterSystems.dwg

CityServices.dwg

SewerSystems.dwg

Water1.dwg

Water2.dwg

Water3.dwg

Water4.dwg

Sewer1.dwg

Sewer2.dwg

Sewer3.dwg

Sewer4.dwg


Online Hdrawings, s

Specifying Drawing Settings

After you attach a drawing, you can specify where it should appear in the project drawing, whether it needs to be scaled, and whether it needs to be rotated.

■ If you attach drawings that represent the quadrants of a city, you may need to adjust the offset of the drawings so each drawing appears in its appropriate location.

■ If you attach two drawings that are drawn to different scales, you need to scale one of the drawings to match the other.

■ If you attach two drawings that use a different orientation, you need to rotate one of the drawings to match the orientation of the other.

You can also specify a drawing description that makes the drawing easier to identify in lists and set the save back extents for the drawing.

These settings are stored only in the project. They do not modify the actual source drawing.

When you save changes back to source drawings, Autodesk Map restores the transformed objects to their original rotation, scale, and offset.

Note If you have set coordinate systems in your source drawings and in your project drawing, you do not need to use the transformation settings. Autodesk Map will automatically adjust all the source drawings when it displays them in the project and show objects at their proper coordinates.

elp Indexettings


Online Hdrawings, t

Setting Scale, Rotation, and Offset

In your projects, you want all the source drawings to display seamlessly together. After you attach each drawing to the project, you specify how you want that drawing to display in the project.

In this example, both the City Map and the Street Map are drawn to the same scale as the project map and use the same point of origin, so neither of these maps needs to be adjusted when attached to the project. However, the map of Subdivision A is drawn to a much larger scale, so you must reduce its scale and modify its offset so it displays correctly in the project. These modifications are stored with the project; they do not affect the Subdivision A drawing itself.

elp Indexransforming

City Map Street Map

Project Drawing


Subdivision A

Set the scale so the subdivision fits into the City Map

Set the offset so the subdivision appears in the proper place in the City Map


Online Hdrawings, s

extents

Setting, Viewing, and Resetting Save Back Extents

When you add an object to a drawing, the drawing extents may expand and intrude on boundaries of adjacent drawings. By specifying save back extents you preserve a drawing’s boundaries relative to other drawings. While the actual drawing extents might expand, the save back extents remain unchanged.

If you don’t specify save back extents, Autodesk Map uses the source drawing extents as the save back extents.

The following illustration shows how the original drawing extents can expand as you add objects. The dotted line represents the actual drawing extents.

After setting the save back extents, you can view the boundary rectangle. You can also reset save back extents to the original extents of the source drawing.

If you set save back extents and also use the offset transformation option, Autodesk Map offsets the save back extents the same amount.

elp Indexave back

Specified save backextents of drawing

Expanded drawing extents after adding objects

New object


Online Hexternal da

Setting Up External Databases

You can store information in a database, such as Oracle® or dBASE® , and asso-ciate data with objects in your drawing.

For each database that you use, you use an information file called a UDL file to tell Autodesk Map where to find information about that database. In addi-tion, you create a link template that specifies how to link data from that data-base to the objects in your drawing.

When you set up a project, you need to specify which databases you’ll use. Autodesk Map will automatically connect to these databases when you open the project. Make a list of the databases that you use in the source drawings for this project, and attach the same databases to the project.

To attach a database to a project, view your files using Explorer or My Computer, and drag the database onto the Project Workspace. For most data-base types, Autodesk Map will automatically create the UDL file.

You can view your data from inside Autodesk Map using the Data View.

The project should also include any link templates that you use in the source drawings attached to this project. If you use only a few link templates, you can easily recreate them in the project. If you use a large number of link templates, you can copy them from the source drawing and paste them into the project.

For information on attaching a database to your project and linking records to objects, see Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.”

elp Indexta


Seeing What’s Attached to Your Project

The Project Workspace shows you information about the current project. It displays all the items you’ve included in this project.

Any drawings you’ve attached to the project are listed in the Project Workspace. Whenever you open this project, these drawings are automatically attached.

Drawings attached to the project

Queries

Database tables

Topologies

Link templates

Themes


Online Hquick view

Viewing Source Drawings

Autodesk Map does not automatically display your source drawings. You decide how you want to view these drawings.

Using Quick View

You can quickly view all the objects in one or more attached source drawings by using Quick View.

Quick View displays all objects in a particular source drawing as a temporary static picture of the drawing. If you use Quick View to view multiple source drawings, the Quick View will show one selectable picture for each source drawing. You can zoom and pan, but you cannot select or edit individual objects. When you regenerate or redraw, the Quick View pictures are cleared from the project drawing.

You can plot the results of a Quick View. Quick View does not display shapes.

elp Index

Select the drawings you want to view.

Viewing Source Drawings | 35

Online Hqueries, pre

Online Hdrawings, z

extents

Using a Preview Query

You can view all objects in a specific area of the drawing or all objects that share a specific property, such as color or elevation, by using a preview query.

Run the query in Preview mode to view any objects in the source drawing that are within the specified location. A Preview mode query does not copy the objects into the project drawing, it just displays them onscreen. If you want to copy the objects into the project drawing, run the query in Draw mode.

Zooming the Project Extents

Before you execute a query, you need to adjust the view of the project to match the extents of the source drawing. If you don’t adjust the project extents, some or all objects may not be visible after you execute a query.

Use the Zoom Projects Extents command to zoom the project drawing to the extents of the selected source drawings. The drawing coordinates in the lower-left corner of the screen reflect the new extents of the project.

elp Indexview mode

To view all objects in a certain area, use a Location Condition and select Window as the Boundary Type. Click Define < to specify the window.

elp Indexooming to


Online Hkey view

Online Hviewports,

Controlling Layer Display with Key View

The Key View feature lets you quickly view different layers in the active source drawings depending on the zoom magnification. When you set up Key View, you specify which layers to display at a given zoom magnification.

Like Quick View and querying in Preview mode, the Key View feature displays the contents of active source drawings. However, using Key View you can display only the layers you want to see at particular zoom magnifi-cations. Zoom in and more layers display; zoom out and fewer layers display.

For example, in a set of maps, you can zoom to the extents of the maps to see only layers containing the major roads. When you zoom in more, you can also see minor roads. When you zoom in even more, you see smaller streets as well.

Key View provides an efficient way to view your drawings. Autodesk Map doesn’t waste time redrawing or regenerating objects that you can’t see or don’t want to see. To use Key View, your drawings must be organized by layers. You must also know the width of the current viewport (drawing window) at different zoom magnifications.

As you zoom out of and into your drawing, the width in drawing units of the current viewport increases and decreases. For example, if you zoom out to the extents of a map of a large urban area, the width of the drawing window might be 40,000 units. If you zoom into the drawing to display a single building, the width of the drawing window might be 800 units. If you spec-ified several Key View width settings, the layers displayed will change as you zoom out and exceed each width threshold.

Once you have set the zoom magnification, you can use the Pan option to move around your drawing. Key View continues to display only the layers you specified for that width setting and zoom magnification.

Note You can plot a Key View.

elp Index

elp Indexmeasuring

Viewing Source Drawings | 37

Online Hdocument

Viewing Documents Associated with Objects

With Autodesk Map, you can associate external documents with objects in your drawing and then click on an object and view the associated documents. For example, you can:

■ Click on a polygon that represents a parcel of land to view a deed of trust or a photo of the plot.

■ Click on an object that represents a fire hydrant to view a maintenance spreadsheet.

■ Click on a link that represents a sewer tunnel to view a video of that tun-nel.

You associate the document with the object by defining a document view that tells Autodesk Map where to find the document and what application to use to view the document. You can add as many document view definitions as you need. If you have a variety of documents you want to associate with an object, you need a separate document view definition for each document.

When you use the View Associated Documents command and select an object, Autodesk Map displays all the document views associated with that object.

Autodesk Map stores document view definitions in the project drawing.

One project can have multiple document views. When you are viewing docu-ments, Autodesk Map lists the document views that apply to the selected object. For example, if a document view definition specifies a specific docu-ment name, that view applies to all objects in the drawing. If the view defi-nition specifies a property such as layer or color, the view applies to all objects that share the property. However, if a view definition specifies a field in a table, the view applies only to objects that are linked to the specified table.

elp Indexviews

Associate a document with all objects that share a property, such as layer or color.

Associate a document with a spe-cific object in the drawing.

Associate a document with all objects in the drawing.


Using Your Projects

Now that you’ve set up your projects, you’re ready to start using them.

■ You can view and edit objects from multiple source drawings in a sin-gle project.

■ You can create topologies from points (nodes), lines, and polygons in your drawings, then analyze the topology. See Chapter 12, “Creating Map Topology” and Chapter 13, “Analyzing Map Topology.”

■ You can create thematic maps that use color, linetype, hatch, text, etc. to call out specific items. See Chapter 11, “Thematic Map Design.”

■ You can run reports on objects in your source drawings, or on data attached to those objects. See Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

■ You can create customized maps that show only the objects you want. See Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

Autodesk Map integrates multiple drawings into one seamless environ-ment providing access, editing, and reporting of drawing, attribute, and related database information within a single Autodesk Map session.

Editing Objects in Source Drawings

To edit objects from source drawing, you must first copy those objects from the source drawings into the project drawings. To copy the objects, you use a query, which tells Autodesk Map which objects to copy.

You can create a global query that copies all objects, or you can target just a few objects that you want to work with, such as all the objects on a specific layer, all the objects in a specific location, or all objects that are blue.

If you want to query objects from only some of your source drawings but not others, you can make those other source drawings temporarily inac-tive. When you make a source drawing inactive, you tell Autodesk Map to ignore the drawing during queries. To make a drawing inactive, change the setting in the Drawing Settings dialog box.

After you edit an object, you can save it back to the source drawing. The changed object overwrites the original object in the source drawing.

Using Your Projects | 39

If you work with other users who share files, Autodesk Map will lock the drawings that you are working with so no other users can modify them. If the other users are also using Autodesk Map, you can lock specific objects in the drawing while the other users continue to work on the unlocked objects.

For more information on object locking, see Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”.

Saving a Project

The project drawing file is a DWG file with additional project information, including links to the set of source drawings you want to use, saved queries, user options, links to external databases, and other settings. Autodesk Map saves the project when you save the current drawing file.

When you save and close a project that contains queried objects, you lose the association between the queried objects and the attached source drawings and cannot save changes back to the source drawings. If you plan to work with the queried objects later, save the query so that you can run it when you are ready to edit the objects.

For more information on saving queries, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

Saving Changes

If you add changed and new objects to the save set, Autodesk Map prompts you to save changes back to the source drawing files.

For more information on saving changes to source drawings, see Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

Working with Multiple Projects

You can have more than one project open at one time and switch back and forth between projects in a single Autodesk Map session. When you switch to an open project, that project becomes active, and the Project Workspace displays information about the project.

Sharing Projects

Other users can share a project drawing with you but they must open the project drawing file in read-only mode. They cannot change any of the project settings. See Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

40

Online Hdrawing se

Understanding Projects

A project contains links to the set of source drawings you want to use, saved queries, user options, links to external databases, and other settings. Working in a project you can query, edit, and save changes to attached source draw-ings. When you start Autodesk Map, a new project file appears in the project workspace.

You can also open more than one project at a time and switch between projects.

When you set specific project options, opening a project drawing automati-cally activates the source drawings and connects the external databases.

A project can include the following elements:

■ Drawing sets■ Saved queries■ Drawing indexes■ Global coordinate system setting■ External databases or object data■ Link templates■ Topologies■ Themes■ Key View definition■ User options■ Symbol table information

When you open a project, all these items appear as you last saved them. Each of these is described below.

Drawing Sets

When you work with Autodesk Map, you can work with several drawings at the same time, attaching the drawings to the project. The group of drawings attached to the project is called a drawing set.

The drawing set can include other project drawings that in turn attach draw-ings. These nested drawings become part of the drawing set for the current project.

elp Indext

Understanding Projects | 41

Online Hquery libra

Online Hindexes, cr

drawings

The following illustration shows how a drawing set can consist of a set of tiled drawings or a set of stacked drawings that act like transparencies. Drawing sets can also be any combination of stacked and tiled drawings.

For more information, see “Adding Drawings to Your Project” on page 26.

Saved Queries

If you want to use a query more than once, you can save it in the project Query Library. There are two methods for saving queries: internal and external. Internal queries are stored in the project drawing and are only avail-able from within that project. External queries are stored independently and are useful because you can share them with other users. You can edit exter-nally saved queries by editing the query files. For more information, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

Drawing Indexes

Autodesk Map can execute most queries more quickly if you create indexes for different types of queries, such as location, property, data, or SQL queries. The program stores indexes in the drawing files. See “Understanding Indexing” on page 147.

Whenever you open a drawing that includes database links, Autodesk Map automatically creates a database link index and keeps it in memory. This feature is especially useful when you edit your source drawings directly. See “Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects” on page 132.

Tiled source drawings attached to the project

Stacked source drawings attached to the project

Project

Project

elp Indexry

elp Indexeating for


Online Hcoordinate

Global Coordinate System Settings

When working with maps in Autodesk Map, you can assign the appropriate global coordinate system to each source drawing and then specify a global coordinate system for the project drawing. Both the coordinate system code and the coordinate system definition are saved in the drawing file. When you query to retrieve objects, Autodesk Map automatically converts them from the global coordinate system in the source drawing to the global coordinate system in the project drawing. This operation is called coordinate transforma-tion. When you save back to the source drawing, Autodesk Map restores the objects to the original global coordinate system setting. See Chapter 14, “Using Coordinate Systems.”

elp Index systems

Enter the coordinate sys-tem you used for each source drawing and the coordinate system you want to use in the project, and Autodesk Map will automatically adjust all the source drawings when it displays them in the project.


Online Hobject dataexternal da

Using Internal Object Data or External Tables

You can store attribute data associated with objects in object data tables, which are stored in the drawing, and in external database tables. Using object data, you can easily attach attribute information to objects. When you store data in external databases you can carry out sophisticated queries, accessing the databases from within Autodesk Map, and manage and report on the data from the database application. The following table compares the two storage methods.

Use object data tables for small amounts of data that you don’t change much. Use external databases for larger amounts of data, data that comes from an independent source, data you want to share between projects, or data that needs to persist even if the object is deleted.

You can also convert your existing object data to external database tables with links to objects. See “Converting Object Data to External Database Tables” on page 137.

Internal object data tables External database tables

Increases drawing size; best for limited amounts of data

Holds large amounts of data without increasing drawing size

Data used only in one Autodesk Map project

Data can be used in more than one Autodesk Map project or in other applica-tions

Data can be maintained from within Autodesk Map Database must be maintained separately

Data relates only to a single object Data relates to network of objects

Use if data does not change often Use if data changes frequently

Quicker retrieval Retrieval is slower

Data lost when object deleted Data retained when object deleted

elp Index

ta


Online Hlink templa

The following illustration shows how you might use data to store ownership information with objects. You could use a query to retrieve objects, for example, where the type is commercial or where the address in on Hastings.

Data can either be attached directly to each object using object data, or it can be stored in an external database with specific records linked to specific object.

For information about creating object data and linking objects to external databases, see Chapter 8, “Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing,” and Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.”

Link Templates

A link template is an alias for the connection between the project and an external database table. After creating a link to an external database table, you can link objects in your drawing with rows in the table. When you save the project drawing, the link template is saved with the drawing.

For more information, see Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.”

TYPE=COMMERCIALOWNER=CALUS, INCADDRESS=4701 MANORAREA=4700

TYPE=COMMERCIALOWNER=ADELTSI, INCADDRESS=5240 HASTINGSAREA=3000

TYPE=RESIDENTIALOWNER=ARGELLO, TADDRESS=5270 HASTINGSAREA=1500

TYPE=RESIDENTIALOWNER=SMYTHE, RADDRESS=5280 HASTINGSAREA=1000

4701

5240

5270 5280

elp Indextes


Online Htopology

Data View Window

After connecting an external database to your project, you can use the Data View window to view the information in the database in tabular format. You can also use the Data View to link records in the database with objects in the drawing, and then select, highlight, and view records attached to selected objects or objects attached to selected records.

For more information, see Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.”

Topologies

With Autodesk Map, you can use topologies to perform spatial analysis, including network tracing, shortest-path routing, polygon overlay, and polygon buffer generation. You can also determine conditions of adjacency (what is next to what), containment (what is enclosed by what), and prox-imity (how close something is to something else).

For more information, see Chapter 12, “Creating Map Topology,” and Chapter 13, “Analyzing Map Topology.”

Data View

elp Index


Online Hthematic m

Online HKey View

Online Hoptions, Au

Online Hdrawings, v

informati

Themes

Thematic maps make information more visible by changing how objects look. You can use thematic maps to tell a story by changing the map colors, linetypes, symbols, text, or other features of your information. Once you’ve defined a theme, you can apply it to new objects and use it with other maps.

For more information, see Chapter 11, “Thematic Map Design.”

Key View Definition

The Key View feature lets you quickly view different layers in the active source drawings at different zoom magnifications. When you set up key view definitions, you specify which layers to display at a given zoom magnifica-tion. If your drawings are organized in layers of varying detail, you can view major features when you zoom drawing extents and view details when you zoom in. You must organize drawings by layers to use Key View.

For more information, see “Controlling Layer Display with Key View” on page 37.

User Options

You can set a variety of options that control the way Autodesk Map operates. Each project can have its own project options saved in the project drawing. The local acadmap.ini file contains saved user and installation options. In addition, a system administrator can set options for all Autodesk Map users in the system. A binary file called acadmap.sys contains saved system-wide options.

Symbol Table Information

In Autodesk Map, nongraphic information such as block definitions, layers, groups, and text styles is stored in symbol tables.

If two drawings use the same name for a symbol table, Autodesk Map will use the symbol table definition from the first retrieved object that uses that symbol table. For this reason, the order in which you attach drawings is important. It can affect the properties of objects retrieved by queries.

To maintain consistency between drawings, you can store symbol table infor-mation in the project drawing. For example, if you define a LAYER_A in the project drawing, Autodesk Map applies the project definition of LAYER_A to objects retrieved from LAYER_A in all source drawings, and when you save back, applies the project layer definition to the saved objects.

elp Indexaps

elp Index

elp Indextodesk Map

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on


In This Chapter

■ Bringing data intAutodesk Map

■ Planning

■ After digitizing

3

Digitizing Maps

o
You can create a digital map by digitizing an exist-
ing paper map. Autodesk® Map gives you tools to

create a digital DWG file, simplify and speed the

digitizing process, and add object data and links to

external databases while you digitize.

49

Bringing Data into Autodesk Map

Data capture—putting the information into the system—is the most time-consuming and possibly most important part of mapping and GIS work. You need to specify map objects, define spatial relationships, and edit or remove extraneous data from the data file.

You can bring information into Autodesk Map and create a new map in several ways. You can

■ Digitize, or manually trace, data from raster images or paper-based data into Autodesk Map. Digitizing is explained in this chapter.

■ Import data from another mapping or GIS program in one of the external file formats translations supported by Autodesk Map. See Chapter 4, “Importing and Exporting Maps.”

■ Purchase map data from a variety of public and private sources. In this case, the data may be ready for immediate use or require preparation and editing.

Digital Data

Autodesk Map stores data in a drawing (DWG) file. Vector data is stored as X,Y,Z coordinates that form points, lines, areas, and volumes. Vector data is used to store three types of discrete, well-defined data: geographic data about shapes and positions of map features, such as points, lines, and arcs; attribute data, which provides textual information about features and is stored in a drawing or a linked external database; and display data, which controls the way features appear.

Digitizing Overview

Digitizing is the process of converting paper-based graphical information into a digital format. The most common way to input existing maps into Autodesk Map is to use a digitizer. The digitizer is configured so that a move-ment on the digitizing tablet can be recorded directly into an existing drawing file as you digitize or trace the map.

50 | Chapter 3 Digitizing Maps

Planning

Before you begin to digitize a paper map, creating a base or project map for a mapping system or GIS, you need to be certain the source map is suitable, and you need to plan how you want the base map to function. Generally speaking, when digitizing, the simplest approach works best. You should consider these points:

■ Suitability of source maps■ Global coordinate system■ Layer organization■ Using linetypes and layers■ Tiling maps■ Data storage: internal or external■ Representation of node, network, and polygon topologies

Map Suitability

You need to use the right source map because errors in the source map will be reflected in your digital map. For example, maps showing land use and land cover may not be geographically accurate, but may be accurate in terms of the relative proportions of land use and coverage shown; or maps showing human and cultural features often show great change in short periods while natural features usually show little change.

When selecting a map to digitize, try to obtain a copy that is as close to the original manuscript as possible. Some copying methods (such as blueprinting and photocopying) can produce significant distortion. Also, some types of media are more susceptible to shrinkage and expansion from humidity changes than others. Mylar tends to remain dimensionally stable over time.

Your source map should be:

■ Known to be reliable■ Accurate, absolutely or relatively, to the extent you require for your

project■ Up to date■ Complete■ The correct type■ The same scale as any other source maps you are using

If any of these conditions is not met, the suitability of the map for a project might be compromised, and any digitized data might introduce inaccuracies into a map set.

Planning | 51

Global Coordinate System

You can digitize a map based on its latitude and longitude, but for accurate representation of an area, you must apply a global coordinate system. The Cartesian coordinate system must be in place and evident on the map before you begin digitizing.

Projective digitizing is the process of digitizing from one projection directly into another projection. Autodesk Map does not support projective digitizing directly. Instead, you can digitize data into one projection and use the options for global coordinate systems to translate to another coordinate system after digitizing.

It’s important to add some text to your digitized map to indicate the coordi-nate system of the source map. This text should also be included in the legend for a plotted map.

For more information, see Chapter 14, “Using Coordinate Systems.”

Layer Organization

You need to plan the layers you will use in your project. A layer is a logical grouping of data, which simplifies organizing and viewing data. Layers are like transparent overlays on which you organize and group different kinds of mapping information.

You create objects on layers, and each layer has an associated linetype and color. Assigning different colors to layers emphasizes the contrasts between different types of objects. Refer to “Using Layers and Object Properties” in the online AutoCAD® User’s Guide.

Each object that represents a different type of map feature should go on a separate layer. For example, a polyline representing a coastline could go on a layer named COASTLINE, interstate highways on a layer named INTERSTATE, land boundaries on a layer named LOTS, and so on. Always use industry stan-dard or established department conventions for naming layers. Consistency is essential. A query on a layer named TOWN finds all objects on that layer even if some objects are utilities, some are city limits, and some contain population details.

If you have not established a scheme for layer names, you can create one using the numeric feature-classification code found in some digital source data. For example, major roads might be on a layer named “170-201”. A better naming convention combines names that suggest their function and a structure that allows selection with wild cards and groups of layer names. For example, you might decide that all topographic features should go on


layers beginning with the letters TP. So you might put rivers on a layer named TP_RIVERS, and contours on a layer named TP_CONTOURS. To freeze, thaw, lock, or unlock all layers with topographic data, you would use the expres-sion TP*. Keep in mind that layers appear in alphabetical order.

For information on wild cards and layer commands, refer to “Using Layers and Object Properties” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Using Linetypes and Layers

Wherever possible, use the linetypes supplied with Autodesk Map to indicate different types of boundaries, road types, and waterways. Using standard linetypes ensures consistency across maps and helps you keep track of what you have digitized. Associate each linetype with a different layer.

For information about creating layers and assigning linetypes, refer to the “Working with Layers” section of “Using Layers and Object Properties” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Tiling Maps

If a map is larger than the digitizing tablet, the map can be broken into sections and assembled later into one large drawing. This process is known as tiling. Include a 3–5 percent overlap between the tiled sections, which allows you to reassemble and match the edges of the tiled maps accurately at a later time.

After you finish digitizing, use the Autodesk Map cleanup tools to match boundary edges and create one drawing with contiguous and complete data. See Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

Map tiles

Planning | 53

Online Hdigitizing

Data Storage: Internal or External

You can link graphic and attribute information to objects as you convert existing data into digital form. Although you can store data in Autodesk Map as block attributes, you can perform more sophisticated analysis of the data if you store it in either of these two ways:

■ Data linked to an object and stored as object data in the drawing■ Data linked to an object and stored in an external database

For information about structuring data as object data or in external data-bases, see “Using Internal Object Data or External Tables” on page 44.

Node, Network, and Polygon Topologies

A topology describes the relationships between related geometry in a drawing. For example, a line or arc is described by its start node, end node, and direc-tion; and a polygon is described by its start and end nodes, its centroid and intervening vertices, and the polygons on its adjacent sides. You use topology in Autodesk Map to find the shortest path or the fastest route (which can also be thought of as the path of least resistance) between two points, and to perform analysis using topology overlays.

For more information about node, network, and polygon topologies, see Chapter 12, “Creating Map Topology,” and Chapter 13, “Analyzing Map Topology.” Also see Tutorial V of the online Tutorials.

Digitizing Nodes

Node topology defines the interrelation of node objects (points). Node topologies are often used in conjunction with other models in analysis but can also represent point locations or point sources, such as wells or pollution sources respectively. Street lights and signs are other examples of objects represented as nodes in node topologies. To represent a node, you can

■ Insert a block with the BLOCK command■ Add text with the DTEXT or TEXT commands■ Insert a point with the POINT command■ Use the Autodesk Map digitizing commands

For information about the above commands, see the online Command Refer-ence.

elp Index


Digitizing Networks

Network topology defines a linear network, consisting of connected linear objects, known as links. The links are joined at nodes, which can appear as text, blocks, or point objects. You can use data in a network topology for finding possible travel or flow routes, defining input to analysis models, and presenting network information.

The following illustration shows two examples of network topologies—a water pipe network and an electrical network.

Water pipe network

Electrical network in residential area

Planning | 55

Digitizing Polygons

Polygon topology defines polygons, using links to define boundaries between adjacent areas. It is used to represent areas such as county boundaries, land parcels, and drainage basins. Polygon topology can be used for spatial analysis and combined with other topologies.

The following illustration shows two examples of polygon topologies.

After Digitizing

Once you complete the digitizing process, you can reconfigure your digi-tizing tablet to work with the standard AutoCAD® tablet menu. Refer to the TABLET command in the online AutoCAD Command Reference.

Note When returning to a previously digitized drawing, you can use the DDINSERT command to add data from other digitizing sessions.

Cleaning Up Maps

Data created by digitizing is not complete until you have cleaned up and verified the data. See Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

Joining Tiled Maps

If you broke your original map into tiled areas, you need to edit and join together the different map drawing files. You may need to use the cleanup tools described in Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.” to completely match the maps.

Cantons Crops in fields


Verifying Data

If you require a high degree of accuracy, you may have to verify digitized data against field data. You can use digital orthophotos, survey data, and overlay maps to ensure that your data is current and accurate. If the source map is not up to date, you need to verify that roads, buildings, and other man-made structures match the current area. You also need to update maps when new roads or buildings are constructed, zoning changes occur, power lines and other utilities are modified, and parcels of land are divided or joined.

Error checking is an important part of data verification. One method is to symbolize features or objects based on their attribute information in the database and conduct a visual check for features that look incorrect. For example, you could thicken all right-of-way lines in a parcel database and thin all other lines to make sure that parcel boundaries were categorized correctly. You can search for invalid spatial relationships, querying, for example, all valves of a certain type, highlighting them, and visually checking that they are connected to the correct pipe sizes.

For information on displaying objects in different ways according to their properties, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data,” and Chapter 11, “Thematic Map Design.”

If information about features is stored as object data or in an external database, you can use data or SQL queries to find data inconsistencies, for example, verifying that all pipe sizes are greater than one diameter and smaller than another. You can also find other inconsistencies, such as all right-of-ways that do not have an object data record or external database link to a land parcel.

After Digitizing | 57

In This Chapter

■ Using data from osources

■ Importing data

■ Exporting data

■ Using Profiles

4

Importing and Exporting Maps

ther
Another way to create maps is to import them from
other sources and file formats. As well as creating

DWG files, you can use Autodesk® Map to import

and export a variety of file formats, including

DXF™ , ASCII, and Autodesk MapGuide® SDF.

59

Online Himporting,

Using Data from Other Sources

You can combine data from other mapping or GIS programs by first importing it into Autodesk Map. After working with it, you can maintain it in Autodesk Map, or you can export it to an external file format.

The new Import/Export feature provides enhanced data translation ability, enabling you to exchange data with colleagues and customers more freely than ever before. And, by downloading the additional drivers available on Autodesk Map Today, you have instant access to an increased number of industry standard formats that you can put to immediate use in your work.

Information in External File Formats

Digital map files can contain three types of information.

■ Geographic information, also referred to as graphics information, indicates the position and shapes of features with drawing objects. Objects such as lines, arcs, and polygons are located with X,Y (and sometimes Z) coordinates.

■ Data elements, referred to as attributes in external file formats, provide additional textual information about features. This information is often stored in an external database file.

■ Display information, which describes how a feature appears on the screen, includes object color, line width, linetypes (continuous, dashed, dotted, or double), and hatch patterns.

Some digital map files do not contain all these types of information.

Importing Data

You can import data in other file formats into Autodesk Map, and the data can be read into a new or existing file.

The Import/Export feature provides an easy and reliable way to import your maps from other formats into Autodesk Map. You can import not only the objects themselves, but also data and display options associated with the objects. In addition, Autodesk Map can automatically perform a coordinate conversion on the objects as they are imported.

Only one file can be imported at a time. However, you can use a command script to import a series of files using prespecified options for the translation.

elp Indexexternal data

60 | Chapter 4 Importing and Exporting Maps

Refer to “Programming Interfaces” in the online AutoCAD® Customization Guide for information on creating and running command scripts.

Importing Maps from Other Programs

During Import, Autodesk Map will copy objects from the input file into the active Autodesk Map drawing.

You can specify a number of settings for the import.

■ You can specify which layers (sometimes called schema, levels, or files) in the incoming file should be mapped to layers in the Autodesk Map draw-ing.

■ You can import data from the incoming file to object data tables in the Autodesk Map drawing.

■ You can import points as points, text, or blocks.

■ You can perform a coordinate conversion if you’ve assigned a coordinate system to the Autodesk Map drawing.

If you have previously saved settings (from this release of Autodesk Map or AutoCAD Map® 2000i Release 4.5), you can reload those settings.

For more information on these settings see “Using Profiles” on page 67.

Specifying a Layer During Import

By default, Autodesk Map imports data to a drawing layer with the same name as the layer (sometimes called a schema, level, or file) in the input file. If a drawing layer with this name already exists, objects are copied to that layer. Otherwise, a new layer is created and objects are copied to the new layer.

You can specify one of the following layer options:

■ Put incoming objects on an existing layer in the drawing.

■ Put incoming objects on a new layer.

■ Put incoming objects on a layer based on data attached to the objects.

Importing Data | 61

Performing a Coordinate Conversion During Import

As you import objects, you can convert them from the coordinate system of the input file to the coordinate system of the Autodesk Map drawing.

To perform this conversion, you must first assign a coordinate system to the active project. Then, for each layer that you import, you must specify the appropriate coordinate system.

Specifying Data to Import

As you import objects, you can import the attribute data attached to the objects.

If you enter a new object data table name, Autodesk Map creates a new object data table with fields that match the fields you’ve chosen to import.

If you select an existing object data table, incoming fields are imported into object data fields with the same name. If no object data field exists with the same name, the incoming field is not imported.

Specifying How to Import Points

As you import objects, you can choose how to import points. You can

■ Import points as points, using ACAD_POINT

■ Import points as text, using text specified in data attached to the objects

■ Import points as blocks, using a specified block definition

■ Import points as blocks, using a block name specified in data attached to the objects

If you import points as blocks, you can choose to import the attribute data with the objects. If an attribute name on the block that is being created matches a field name on the incoming point, the data for that attribute will be imported with the point.

Note If the attribute data includes the values used to link the object to an exter-nal database, you can recreate these links in the Autodesk Map drawing using the ADEGENLINK command.


Online Himporting,

Online Himporting,

Importing Autodesk MapGuide SDF Files

Autodesk MapGuide is an Internet-enabled GIS product for authoring, publishing, distributing, and viewing interactive maps and graphics over the Internet and across corporate intranets. It provides a client/server framework for accessing GIS technology through an easy-to-use Web browser interface.

Using Autodesk Map, you can import Autodesk MapGuide SDF files and edit or print them, or add them to your project drawing sets.

Opening DXF Files

You can use DXF files created by other applications to bring information into Autodesk Map. Autodesk Map objects imported from DXF files do not have links to other objects. For example, a polygon that encloses a parcel ID is not linked to the parcel ID in any way except visually. In the same way, data brought into Autodesk Map with the DXFIN command does not have any links to object data or external databases.

You can use DXFIN to read in DXF files made from pre-Release 14 versions of AutoCAD®, but data sets may not be complete.

Autodesk Map 5 does not allow you to use a DXF file as a project drawing or to attach DXF files to project drawings.

Importing Raster Files

You can also import raster files into Autodesk Map. See Chapter 15, “Using Images.” Also, see “Working with Raster Images” and “Using Other File Formats” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Managing Imported Data

When you import data, treat it like newly digitized data: imported data needs verification and cleanup, and may need edge matching and other adjust-ments to match existing maps. See Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

elp IndexSDF files

elp IndexDXF files

Importing Data | 63

Online Hexporting,

Exporting Data

The Import/Export feature provides an easy and reliable way to export your Autodesk Map drawings to other formats. You can export not only the objects themselves, but also data associated with the objects. In addition, Autodesk Map can automatically perform a coordinate conversion on the objects as they are exported.

Only one Autodesk Map drawing can be exported at a time. However, you can use a command script to export a series of drawings using prespecified options for the translation. Refer to “Programming Interfaces” in the online AutoCAD Customization Guide for information on creating and running command scripts.

Exporting Maps to Other File Formats

During export, Autodesk Map will copy objects from the active Autodesk Map drawing to the specified file or location. If you want to export objects from a source drawing, query those objects into the current project before you begin the export.

Using Saved Settings

If you have previously saved settings (from this release of Autodesk Map or AutoCAD Map 2000i Release 4.5), you can reload those settings.

For more information on these settings see “Using Profiles” on page 67.

Selecting Objects

You can automatically select all objects, or you can manually select the objects you want. Alternatively, you can export only objects on selected layers.

The status bar tells you how many objects are currently selected and how many are filtered out. In addition, you can preview the objects that will be exported.

Note If you are exporting to a format that uses entity types, some objects may count as more than one entity type. For example, lines that form a polygon will count as line entities and as a polygon entity.

elp Indexexternal data


Online Hexporting,

Coordinate Conversion

If you’ve assigned a coordinate system to the active Autodesk Map drawing, you can convert objects from that coordinate system to a coordinate system you specify.

Data

You can export data that is associated with the objects. You can export object data, block attributes, or external database (SQL) data.

Note You can export records from only one data table. If you want to export records from multiple tables, you should combine the data into one table before you export the objects.

When you export SQL data to an external file, two options are available:

■ If the external file format does not support external databases, use the SQL Data option to export the entire record associated with each linked object. The information from the record is attached to the exported object as attribute data.

■ If the external file format supports external database files, use the SQL Data option and the Key Only option to export only the link data. This option is faster, because it doesn’t open the associated database, and it cre-ates a smaller external file, because only the key data is exported.

Exporting to Autodesk MapGuide Files

You can export Autodesk Map DWG format files to Autodesk MapGuide SDF and SIF format, with the option to create a new SDF file or append data to an existing file. You should export only one type of data—point, line, polygon, or annotation—to an SDF file. You can export data attached to objects in a drawing to fields in the SDF file that are used for popup labels and text, links to external databases, and embedded Web links that jump to other Web pages. You can choose to use the coordinate system set in Autodesk Map or export the file using a different global coordinate system. You can also define your own coordinate system for the translation. All files are exported with 64-bit precision. The SIF file is a spatial index format file.

For more information about Autodesk MapGuide SDF and SIF files, refer to Autodesk MapGuide SDF Loader User’s Guide.

After creating the SDF file, you can then use Autodesk MapGuide Author and Autodesk MapGuide Server to produce the MLF and MWF files needed to create and deliver Web-viewable maps.

elp IndexSDF files

Exporting Data | 65

Online Hexporting,

Exporting Data to Previous AutoCAD Map and AutoCAD Applications

You can create DXF files for use with previous versions of AutoCAD or with the many other applications that support the DXF format.

You can create a Release 13 DXF file (with the AutoCAD R13/LT 95 DXF Save As file type) or a Release 12 DXF file (with the AutoCAD R12/LT 2 DXF Save As file type).

For more information, see “Using Other File Formats” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Note All topology information, links to external databases, and object data are lost when you export data as DXF files.

To use your Autodesk Map 5 drawings with AutoCAD Map 1.0 and AutoCAD Release 13, save your file as the AutoCAD R13/LT 95 type. All topology information, links to external databases, and object data are maintained when you use this command.

To use your Autodesk Map 5 drawings with AutoCAD Map Release 2 or 3 and AutoCAD Release 14, save your file as the AutoCAD R14/LT98/LT97 type.

Exporting Raster Images

You can create raster output with the PSOUT and EXPORT commands. PSOUT creates Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) files, and EXPORT can create Windows® metafile (.wmf) and bitmap (.bmp) files. You can also use the Copy and Cut commands in the Edit pull-down menu to select objects for inclusion in a Windows metafile. See “Using Other File Formats” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide and the online AutoCAD Command Reference.

elp IndexDXF files


Online Hprofiles for

Using Profiles

Once you have specified the settings you want for import or export, you can save those settings in a profile and use them again later.

Import Profiles

When you save an import profile, it does not store the current file name.

When you load an import profile, the table settings are reset for any input layers that match an input layer name in the saved profile. Layers that don’t match an input layer in the saved profile are not reset.

■ If the specified coordinate system code isn’t in the dictionary, the coordi-nate system is set to LL84.

■ If the data field name to be used for a layer doesn’t exist, the drawing layer is set to Layer 0. If the specified drawing layer doesn’t exist, it will be cre-ated.

■ If the data field name to use for the block name doesn’t exist, or if the spec-ified block doesn’t exist, the block is set to ACAD_POINT.

Export Profiles

When you save an export profile, it does not store the current file name or the current selection set.

When you load an export profile, if the specified data source doesn’t exist, the Include Table Data option is set to No.

elp Index import/export

Using Profiles | 67

In This Chapter

■ Information for tdatabase administrator

■ Information for Autodesk Map us

5

Working with an Oracle Database

he

ers

Because Autodesk® Map supports Oracle® Spatial,

you can use Oracle as a central data store for your

drawing data. The Oracle Spatial database stores

drawing objects as individual records. It also stores

any attribute data, object data, or link templates

associated with the objects in separate tables. You

can import this data into a drawing and edit and

update records in the database from within

Autodesk Map.

69

Information for the Database Administrator

If you are a database administrator, you may be very familiar with Oracle but you may not have any experience working with Autodesk products, such as Autodesk Map. If you want to learn more about Autodesk Map in general, reading the other chapters in this Getting Strated manual will give you the information you need to understand how the program works. It may also be helpful to review the information for users in this chapter (see “Information for Autodesk Map Users” on page 79).

This section of the chapter explains what you need to do to make Autodesk Map work with Oracle. It also introduces the following concepts that will be useful to you in setting up and administering an Oracle Spatial database to work with Autodesk Map:

■ How Autodesk Map stores data in drawing (.dwg) files

■ How to set up the schema, including privileges needed by Autodesk Map users to perform various operations

■ How the schema organizes the data exported from Autodesk Map

How Autodesk Map Stores Data

An Autodesk Map drawing is made up of objects or entities, such as lines, arcs, polylines, points, and so on. These basic geometric entities define the boundaries of the different areas of a map, the locations of buildings, the sewer lines, or whatever other real-world objects are represented in the map.

In addition to these spatial entities, non-spatial data can be stored or linked to the drawing in three ways:

■ As attributes attached to blocks■ As object data, attached to any object■ As external database tables

Block Attributes

Drawing objects can be grouped together into blocks. Blocks can then be reused elsewhere in the drawing or saved as files to be inserted into other drawings. For example, in a map showing a city’s water system, a block is inserted on each piece of sewer pipe. The block consists of an arrow showing

70 | Chapter 5 Working with an Oracle Database

the flow direction and three attributes showing the pipe’s diameter, material, and length.

When a user edits the map by inserting the block for a new run of pipe, he or she is prompted to enter the attributes. After insertion, the attributes can be edited in the Block Attribute Manager.

Object Data

Object data is more powerful and flexible than block attributes because it can be attached to any object in the drawing, not just to blocks. Object data allows the user to create a simple database in the drawing which can be queried. Object data is only available within Autodesk Map. You have to start Autodesk Map to edit or view the object data.

Block as it appears when selected in the drawing

Object data attached to this pipe

Information for the Database Administrator | 71

For example, in a city water system, the diameters of the water mains are stored as object data for easy retrieval.

Database Tables

Larger amounts of data or data that is also accessed by other applications is usually stored in an external database. The records in the database are then linked to the objects in the drawing. For example, a city keeps its land parcel drawings as Autodesk Map drawings, and ownership and taxation records in


a separate database. The linked data can be viewed and edited from within Autodesk Map.

Setting Up the Schema

Before exporting data from Autodesk Map, you need to prepare the schema by giving it a name and allocating sufficient space. “How the Schema Orga-nizes Data Exported from Autodesk Map” on page 76 shows the tables that Autodesk Map creates in the schema when data is exported to Oracle.

In this release of Autodesk Map, it is recommended that users export all draw-ings to the same schema to create a seamless database. If you follow this recommendation, you will want to allocate space in the database for all the drawings that users may want to query at the same time. For example, parcels, streets, and water/sewer lines may be stored in separate drawing files, but would often be attached to a project and queried together.

An exception to the one-schema rule is if you have drawings with different coordinate systems. They require separate schemas because Autodesk Map does not check for incompatibility in coordinate systems between drawings when it exports the data. Also, if you have drawings with different drawing standards for properties such as layer or block names, you may need to main-tain multiple schemas.


Improving Performance Before Exporting

If you are exporting large amounts of drawing data, you can improve perfor-mance of the export by dropping the primary key and any spatial index that was created.

■ If the index was created by Autodesk Map with the ORAINDEX command, use this SQL:

drop index idx_admpentities[ force];

■ If the index was created by the Spatial Index Advisor, the owner should know the name of the index. In this case, replace idx_admpentities with the index name.

To drop the primary key, use this SQL:

alter table admpentities disable primary key;

After completing the export, recreate the index either with the ORAINDEX command or the Spatial Index Advisor. To restore the primary key, use this SQL:

alter table admpentities enable primary key;

Assigning Roles and Privileges

Typically, one user will log in as the owner of the schema and perform the initial export of the drawing data. The owner will need EXECUTE privileges for MDSYS.SDO_TUNE and UNLIMITED TABLE SPACE. With these privi-leges, the owner of the schema can update existing tables in the selected schema and can also create new tables.

You can also create the following roles for each schema and then assign them to other users of the data:

■ AdMpUpdater—Grant this role to users who need to import data into Autodesk Map, make changes to it, and save the changes back to Oracle. This role needs SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE privileges for the tables in the schema. The role also needs SELECT and ALTER privileges for the DRAWINGIDSEQUENCE and the ENTITYIDSEQUENCE.With these privileges, the updater can update existing tables in the selected schema but cannot create any new tables.


■ AdMpViewer—Grant this role to users who need to import data into Autodesk Map but do not need to make changes to it. This role needs SELECT privileges for the tables in the schema.

A particular user may have an Updater role on one schema and a Viewer role on another schema.

Improving Performance After Exporting

Once the owner of the schema has exported all the data, you can increase performance significantly by creating indexes on the following tables:

■ All ADMPBL.. (block definitions)■ All ADMPOD.. (object-data definitions)■ All ADMPLT.. (link-template definitions)■ ADMPODDEFINITIONS■ ADMPLINKTEMPLATES

You could use similar SQL to the following:

select ’Create index’, ’IDX’||substr(table_name,5), ’on’, table_name, ’(EntityId);’ from user_tableswhere table_name = ’ADMPLINKTEMPLATES’

or table_name like ’ADMPOD%’ or table_name like ’ADMPLT%’ or table_name like ’ADMPBL%’;


How the Schema Organizes Data Exported from Autodesk Map

You have seen how spatial and non-spatial data is stored in Autodesk Map. This section presents a very simple Autodesk Map drawing that contains a few objects and a few items of data and then shows the tables that would be generated in the schema if you were to export that drawing into an Oracle Spatial database.

The drawing contains the following objects and associated data:

■ Line (1)■ Arc (2) with object data■ Block (3) inserted with attributes■ Polyline (4) with database link■ Text (5)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)


Table Name: ADMPENTITIES

ADMPENTITIES (continued)


Drawing Id Entity Id Entity Type

1 1 AcDbLine

1 2 AcDbArc

1 3 AcDbBlockReference

1 4 AcDbPolyline

1 5 AcDbText

Layer Color Linetype Lineweight

Sw_pipes BYLAYER Dashed BYLAYER

Street 176 BYLAYER 0.5

Sw_valves BYBLOCK BYLAYER BYLAYER

WaterMain Magenta BYLAYER BYLAYER

Pipe_Annot BYLAYER BYLAYER BYLAYER

Thickness Plot Style Hyperlink Linetype Scale

Blockname Text Content

BYLAYER 1

0 BYLAYER 0.01

0 BlockStyle 1 SW-VALVE

1 BYLAYER 1

0 BYLAYER 1 water main



Table Name: ADMPDRAWINGNAMES

Table Name: ADMPLINKTEMPLATES

Table Name: ADMPLTUDL___WTABLE_W

Table Name: ADMPBLSW_VALVE

Rotation Text Style

Text Height

Justific-ation

Closed Global Width

0 0

45 standard 0.391 0 1

Drawing Name Drawing Id Drawing CScode

Some Map.dwg 1

Entity Id Link Template Name

4 water.udl...WTable(WDATA_TEMPLATE)

Entity Id A_SEC_ID

4 47724

Entity ID A_VALVE_ID A_TYPE

1 4721 lead

78

Table Name: ADMPODDEFINITIONS

Table Name: ADMPODSTREET_DATA

Table Name: ADMPLAYERDEFINITIONS

Information for Autodesk Map Users

As an Autodesk Map user, you may not have used an Oracle Spatial database before. Using Oracle to store data for your drawing data offers great advan-tages of convenience and ease of access. However, it may also involve some changes to the way that you work. This section introduces some methods and practices that will help you make the most of Oracle in your map editing and maintenance tasks:

■ Using a drawing as a template ■ Managing drawing standards and coordinate systems■ General tips and suggestions

Entity Id Object Data Table Name

2 Street_Data

Entity Id A_NAME A_WIDTH

2 Main Street 24

Layer Linetype Color Plot Style

Sw_Pipes ACAD_ISO02W100 76 Thin_Pipes

Street CONTINUOUS Blue BYLAYER

Sw_Valves CONTINUOUS 3 BYLAYER

WaterMain CONTINUOUS 97 BYLAYER

Pipe_Annot CONTINUOUS 254 BYLAYER

Information for Autodesk Map Users | 79

Using a Drawing as a Template

You create the database by exporting the contents of a drawing or multiple drawings to an Oracle Spatial database schema that has been previously defined by the database administrator. You have the option of erasing the exported objects from the drawing. Erasing the objects prevents duplicate objects in the schema tables and essentially creates a blank “template” drawing that you can then open whenever you want to import and edit the data. You may want to leave some objects, such as a grid, in the drawing so that you know where to find the objects you want to import. Leaving objects that do not change, such as city boundaries or rivers, in the drawing can also help you locate the objects you want to import.

When you need to edit a drawing, you import the objects you want from Oracle into Autodesk Map with a location-based query or with a query based on a display property, such as a layer. You can also type in or paste in SQL conditions.

([SRUW

Data is exported to the schema and erased from the drawing,leaving the template drawing empty except for the grid.

��

,PSRUW

Selected data is queried into the template drawingfrom the schema.

��


When you have made the changes, you can update the database, erasing the changed objects from the drawing again.

Typically, you begin by exporting data from one drawing into the Oracle Spatial database. You then append data from other drawings to the same schema by running the Export command from within those drawings.

Drawing Standards and Coordinate Systems

It is recommended that you export all drawing data to a single schema. The main reason for this recommendation is that Autodesk Map only queries and allows updates to one schema at a time. If you have more than one schema, you will have to close one connection and then open another one to get at the data stored in that schema. Therefore you will find it more convenient in most situations to maintain one seamless database for all your drawing data.

In some circumstances, you may need to maintain multiple schemas:

■ If you have drawings with different coordinate systems. Autodesk Map does not check or convert coordinate systems when exporting to, or importing from, Oracle. Put data from each coordinate system into a dif-ferent schema.

■ If you have drawings with different drawing standards for properties such as layer names and definitions or linetypes. To avoid conflicts, make sure that all the drawings in the same schema use the same drawing standards.

8SGDWH

Edited objects are written back to the schema and erased from the drawing,leaving the template drawing empty except for the grid.

��

Information for Autodesk Map Users | 81

General Tips and Suggestions

This section contains suggestions to help you get the best results when you use Autodesk Map with Oracle.

■ Make sure that your drawings all have the same definitions for layers, blocks, object-data tables and other symbol tables before you start export-ing them to Oracle Spatial. If a drawing has definitions that are not the same as those already in the schema, the conflicts will stop the export.

■ When you import data from the database, aim to import just the data you need to work on. Use a location-based query in conjunction with a query on display properties to limit the number of records retrieved.

■ The Export command is not intended to be used to update the database and in fact it does not update existing records. Once you have exported drawing data from a drawing, do not run Export again, as doing so will result in duplicate records in the database. When you want to update objects that have previously been exported, use the Update command.

■ To improve performance, detach your source drawings before exporting or importing. The database connectivity established through the attached drawings slows down the process. Also, if you are exporting large amounts of data in batches, do not index the schema in between exports as this slows down the export process.

■ Make sure that the drawing is properly cleaned up before you export it the first time. This is much more efficient than importing data, cleaning it up, and then saving it back to Oracle.

■ Topologies are defined as object-data. If topology is the only object data you have in a drawing, you can save time and space in the database by excluding object data from the export with an option in the Export dialog box.

■ Bear in mind that when you import records from the database and are editing that data, there is no guarantee that another user is not updating the data at the same time. You cannot lock the database in this release of Autodesk Map. Having a workflow system in place to control who edits the data, such as the allocation of work orders, is the best way to avoid this potential problem.


In This Chapter

■ Understanding drawing cleanup

■ Understanding editing in AutodeMap

■ Creating closed polylines from a topology

6

Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools

sk

Autodesk® Map provides several tools for turning

digitized or inaccurately drawn data into complete

data suitable for mapping and topology purposes.

You can also use these tools to remove unnecessary

detail from your maps or to make adjacent maps

align correctly.

83

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understan

Understanding Drawing Cleanup

You might need to cleanup data that is digitized, imported from other file formats, or derived from inaccurately drawn maps. Sometimes maps contain inaccuracies resulting from surveying, digitizing, or scanning errors. Parcel boundaries may not align correctly, highway junctions might not meet (undershoot) or might extend beyond the correct alignment (overshoot).

To improve the accuracy of your maps, you can use the Autodesk Map drawing cleanup tools. If you want to use topology, you must clean up your drawings before you define a topology. See Chapter 12 “Creating Map Topology.”

This section uses the term linear object to refer to lines, polylines, and arcs in a drawing and the term node to refer to the connection point between linear objects. The term tolerance refers to the distance used to determine if an error exists.

Common kinds of problems are shown in the following illustration.

elp Indexanup, ding

Linear object

Node

Undershootsand overshoots

Overdigitized

Incomplete polygons

Undershoot

County line

State line

Unwanteddangles

Overshoot

Double digitized

84 | Chapter 6 Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools

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performin

Online Hdrawing cle

preparing

Common problems include the following:

■ Overdigitized maps—See “Simplifying Linear Objects” on page 91.

■ Undershoots, overshoots, or unwanted dangles—See “Break Crossing Objects” on page 89, “Erase Short Objects” on page 88, “Extend Under-shoots” on page 90, and “Erase Dangling Objects” on page 90.

■ Open and incomplete polygons or polylines—Land forms such as lakes or islands might be left open (with gaps at edges). Often, openings are not apparent until you try to get a value for an area or fill an area with a hatch. Topology features do not work if you have incomplete polygons or polylines. See “Extend Undershoots” on page 90 and “Correcting Nodes” on page 93.

■ Double-digitized linework—See “Delete Duplicate Objects” on page 87.

■ Short Objects—See “Erase Short Objects” on page 88.

■ Pseudo Nodes—See “Correcting Nodes” on page 93.

■ Nonmatching edges—See “Edge Matching” on page 95.

■ Unconverted objects.

Note It is highly recommended that you save a backup copy of your map before using the cleanup tools.

After you complete the cleanup operation, run the operation again to verify that you corrected all existing errors. A message appears if errors remain. Cleaning up the geometry in the drawing creates new geometry and new relationships between the objects, and each iteration will create new rela-tionships, so you might need to run the cleanup operation several times.

You can specify how to treat the original linear objects in the drawing after the cleanup operation is complete.

■ Modify Original Objects—Uses the original layer and as much of the original data as possible. For example, linear objects are extended where necessary.

■ Retain Original and Create New Objects—Keeps the original linear objects. Creates new linear objects on a layer you specify. For example, to extend an undershoot, new linear objects are created on the specified layer for the undershoot and target linear objects, and the originals are retained.

■ Delete Original and Create New Objects—Deletes all the original linear objects and creates new linear objects on a layer you specify. For example, the original undershoot is deleted, and a new linear object is created that extends to the required location.

elp Indexanup, g

elp Indexanup, for

Understanding Drawing Cleanup | 85

Specifying Markers

You can preview the changes that the Drawing Cleanup function will make. When you choose this option, Autodesk Map evaluates where cleanup will take place and prompts you to place a marker at each location that might require correction. You can examine each location and accept or reject the correction. You can repeat this process multiple times, each time removing markers from earlier operations.

Map Cleanup Processes

The following sections describe the cleanup tools available in Autodesk Map.

Cleanup Order

There are four approaches you can take to cleaning up maps. You can use cleanup to do any of the following:

■ Mark all the errors in a map, then use manual editing methods to correct the errors.

■ Mark all the errors in a map, then use the command line methods to correct each error.

■ Identify one type of error, fix that error, then identify and fix other errors on a one-by-one basis.

■ Identify and automatically correct all errors.

If you choose to correct all errors automatically, cleanup operations are performed in the following order:

■ Delete previous markers■ Simplify linear objects■ Extend undershoots■ Snap clustered nodes■ Break crossing objects■ Erase dangling objects■ Erase short objects■ Dissolve pseudo nodes■ Delete duplicate objects

The order in which you carry out cleanup operations can have different results. For example, see “Erase Dangling Objects” on page 90, where the order in which you break crossing objects and erase dangling objects gives different results.


Delete Duplicate Objects

You can delete duplicate objects in order to clean up data for topologies, plot-ting, or thematic mapping. Points, text, and blocks are not included in delete duplicate calculations. The coordinate locations of objects and the number of vertices are considered, but objects with directions, objects of different types (for example, lines and polylines), and objects with different properties (for example, linetype and color) can be considered as duplicates.

Note Objects with the same geometry, but on different layers, are considered as duplicates. If your map has coincident objects on different layers, you should work with one layer at a time.

Objects within the tolerance distance of each other can be considered duplicates as shown in the following illustration. In most cases, you should keep the tolerance value very small when deleting duplicate objects.

The following illustration shows an example of two closed polylines that share a common boundary or edge, and duplicate linear objects that share the same start and end nodes.

When you use Delete Duplicate Objects with Break Crossing Objects, the closed polylines (A and B) are broken into two open polylines (T and V) with no duplicate edges. A third open polyline (U) represents the edge.

Duplicate objects

Before cleanup After cleanup

Tolerance

After deleting duplicatesBefore deleting duplicates


When deleting duplicate edges that are polyline segments, the command deletes lines and arcs before breaking polylines. The function removes only objects with the same properties and geometry, even if the objects are on different layers. Direction is not considered.

Do not use the Delete Duplicate Objects option with polygon topology because this function deletes important topology data.

Erase Short Objects

You can reduce the number of unnecessary linear objects and nodes in a map by removing short isolated linear objects and short linear objects that are part of a polyline as shown in the following illustration. This deletion increases performance and decreases file size.

This function is similar to dissolve pseudo nodes, except erasing short objects removes both the linear object and associated nodes. See “Correcting Nodes” on page 93.

Depending on your data, you might want to snap clustered nodes afterwards to correct errors that can result from erasing short objects. The following illustration shows the type of error that might be introduced and how you can correct them by snapping clustered nodes. See “Snap Clustered Nodes” on page 93.

Note Set the tolerance distance to a value slightly smaller than the shortest object length you want to retain.

Before Erase Short Objects After Erase Short Objects

Before Erase Short Objects

After Erase Short Objects

After Snap Clustered Nodes


Break Crossing Objects

This function takes a complex system of lines, arcs, circles, and polylines and breaks them at intersections into single, unambiguous objects. You can break objects that intersect into two pieces at the intersection.

This function is important when you are establishing network topology or working with topographic contours. In the illustration below, the first example shows four linear objects in a network topology that were digitized as two linear objects; after you break crossing objects, the linear objects are four separate objects that intersect at a common point. Linear objects that do not intersect, because of digitizing (or other) errors, can be corrected by setting a suitable tolerance distance.

Note The Break Crossing Objects option corrects apparent problems across lay-ers and may break lines meant to indicate separate objects, such as rivers and roads. Use Break Crossing Objects with one layer at a time to avoid this problem.

Closed objects, such as contours and lakes, can be cleaned up with the Break Crossing Objects and Erase Dangling Objects options. Use Break Crossing Objects to create separate objects, and then use Erase Dangling Objects, explained in “Erase Dangling Objects” on page 90, or the ERASE command. Verify that the shape created after editing reflects the intended shape and that a distorted closed area is not created.

Note Using the Break Crossing Objects option on an arc whose endpoints are very close, may result in the duplication or extension of the arc.

Before Break Crossing Objects After Break Crossing Objects Cleanup with Break Crossing Objectsand Erase Dangling Objects


Extend Undershoots

Undershoots are often caused by inaccurate digitizing or by converting scanned data. The illustration shows two examples often found in road maps. The undershoots fall short of the target linear objects.

Undershoots are often found in the same drawing as dangles. Dangles, or overshoots, are caused by a linear object going beyond an intersection with a target linear object. See the next section, “Erase Dangling Objects.”

The Extend Undershoots option works in the same way as Break Crossing Objects works with undershoots, except the target linear object is not broken at the intersection.

Note Using the Extend Undershoots option on an arc whose endpoints are very close, may result in the duplication or extension of the arc.

Erase Dangling Objects

The Erase Dangling Objects option searches for and deletes all line, arc, and polyline dangling edges, and nodes. Often, inaccurate digitizing causes a dangle, extending an object beyond its intended intersection with a target object. Usually you should use Break Crossing Objects before using Erase Dangling Objects.

As shown in the following illustration, if you run Erase Dangling Objects first, the whole of B is considered a dangling object and is deleted.

Target linear object

Undershoot

A

B

Dangling linear object After dangling object erased

A


As shown in the following illustration, if you use Break Crossing Objects first, you create two lines C and D from object B. Then using Erase Dangling Objects deletes only the short object D, leaving object C.

Set the tolerance distance to a value larger than the largest object you want to delete.

Simplifying Linear Objects

Overdigitizing occurs when a large area is digitized with a high degree of detail and the map is represented at a small scale. For example, a map might show tiny irregularities in a stream, which are not visible when looking at a city-wide map. Also, the resulting map has a large file size, is slow to work with and plot, and for many applications, you do not need that level of detail. You can use the Simplify Linear Objects option to reduce unnecessary complexity in contour lines, rivers, and coastlines. Simplifying objects, also known as generalizing, or weeding, reduces the number of points on a complex line. You should delete duplicate objects before simplifying linear objects because duplicate lines can cause inconsistent results. See “Delete Duplicate Objects” on page 87.

If you think you need both detailed and coarse data, save the original drawing with a different name; then use the drawing cleanup tools to reduce line and polyline complexity by simplifying linear objects. You can then save the map again.

The Simplify Linear Objects option reduces file size and improves performance but also reduces the resolution of the data and removes width from polylines. Make sure you save your map before you simplify linear objects, so you can return to the original lines if necessary.

A

B

Dangling object After dangling object erased

AA

C

After dangling object broken

C

Break point

D


Autodesk Map converts a set of connected line, arc, and polyline segments within the same tolerance into a single polyline. You specify the tolerance width. The tolerance values vary according to the scale of the map; maps with coordinate values of millions use larger values than those using hundreds.

Simplifying linear objects removes as many points as possible from a polyline while keeping it within the original tolerance corridor. You cannot simplify branching points, dead-ends, or endpoints of polylines.

The following illustration shows a coastline simplified at different tolerance settings.

ToleranceBefore

After

simplifying linear objects

simplifying linear objects

No linear objects simplified Linear objects simplified (tolerance 0.1)

Linear objects simplified (tolerance 0.2)

Linear objects simplified(tolerance 0.5)


Correcting Nodes

If your map contains multiple nodes near the same point (clusters), nodes that join only two linear objects (pseudo nodes), or nodes at the end of linear objects that are not attached to any other linear objects (dangles), you can use options in the Cleanup Options dialog box to correct them.

For each option, use the Object Selection dialog box to choose the nodes you want to correct.

To correct nodes, clear all other options in the Cleanup Options dialog box, and choose either Snap Clustered Nodes or Dissolve Pseudo Nodes.

Snap Clustered Nodes

Set the tolerance to a value slightly higher than the radius of a circle that includes the nodes. The nodes are snapped to the node that is shared by most vectors within the circle of tolerance. One node remains at the new intersec-tion.

With this option, tolerance is the radial search distance for locating geometric errors during the cleanup process.

Nodecluster

Pseudo node

Dangling node

Required tolerance(radius) value

Most central node


Dissolve Pseudo Nodes

This option removes nodes that are at the intersection of two linear objects, but leaves the vertex in place as shown in the following illustration.

Note Autodesk Map does not refer to a tolerance value when dissolving pseudo nodes.

If you want to remove short linear objects and their associated nodes completely, use the Erase Short Objects option. See “Erase Short Objects” on page 88. See also “Snap Clustered Nodes” on page 93.

The Dissolve Pseudo Nodes option joins objects when two linear objects end at the same location. You can also use this option to remove pseudo nodes in conjunction with simplifying linear objects, converting a set of connected line, arc, and polyline segments within the same tolerance into a single polyline. See “Simplifying Linear Objects” on page 91.

When you dissolve a pseudo node on a 2D polyline with different Z values, the first Z-value on the object is used. On a 3D polyline, the Z-value on the first vertex is used. The object remains a 3D polyline. For all other properties, the values on the first object are used.

Note Using the Dissolve Pseudo Nodes option may result in the loss of certain types of data. For example, if two lines have object data attached, the resulting single polyline retains object data from only one of the lines. Similarly, if two lines on different layers share an end point, the resulting polyline will reside on only one of the layers.

Polyline on layer CYAN

Polyline on layer REDOne polyline on layer CYAN


Edge Matching

Maps that are digitized at different times or that use different coordinate systems often appear distorted at their edges. Objects, such as roads, pipelines, and topographic features, that cross from one map area to another, can appear discontinuous or irregular. Distortion results from digitizing errors caused by:

■ Changes in humidity that distort the size and shape of the map■ Inherent digitizer tablet inaccuracies■ Missing or overlapping map coverage

Edge matching is the term given to the process that attempts to create a seamless join across two or more maps. To correct these ambiguities, you define a Location query with the Buffer Fence option (see “Finding Objects Based on Location” on page 141), and then use the Snap Clustered Nodes option with a tolerance that causes the objects to join.

Use the edge-matching process on one layer at a time. For example, you might edge match the roads on the two maps first. You need to define a loca-tion query that includes all the objects in the distorted area, and then select those objects for editing and save back to source drawings.

One way to avoid the need to use edge matching is to digitize a complete map in one session rather than breaking the map into smaller sections. If you have to digitize a map in sections, allow a 3–5 percent overlap along the edges of a map tile and digitize both linear and point features on each tile that are common to both tiles of the map.

If you are using different coordinate systems for the tiled maps, establish a base map in the current drawing and then perform location queries to retrieve the maps using different systems.

Location query using buffer fence to Adjacent maps showing Adjacent maps aligned retrieve roads from adjacent maps after edge matchingdistortion


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Understanding Editing in Autodesk Map

When you use Autodesk Map with multiple drawings, you usually want to perform one of two operations: review source drawings and create new draw-ings, or edit source drawings. The following descriptions will help you decide which of these two operations you want to perform.

■ To create new drawings from objects in source drawings, you perform one or more queries to copy selected objects from the source drawing files. If you want, you can modify the objects using Autodesk Map property alteration or standard AutoCAD® editing commands. You can then save your changes in the project file or use the Save As command to create a new file. You do not save the modified objects back to the source draw-ings; the source drawings remain unchanged.

■ To edit source drawings, you perform queries to retrieve the objects that you want to modify or you create new objects in the project drawing. You tell Autodesk Map which objects to save back to the source drawings by adding those objects to the save set. Only objects in the save set are saved back to the source drawings. For information about save sets, see Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

Using Autodesk Map Editing Tools

In addition to the editing commands on the Modify menu, you can use Autodesk Map editing tools on the Map menu to perform several editing operations.

You use the editing tools on the Map menu to modify maps in order to reduce unnecessary detail, correct digitizing and scanning errors, and match maps with different scales. These tools can also prepare maps for topology creation.

When you modify an object in a map, the original object can be deleted, and a new object created in its place. Each new object inherits the properties of the original object, including object data and links to external databases. However, polyline vertices do not retain curve data, and the polyline cannot subsequently be decurved. Polyline width is set to a constant width equal to the end width of the original polyline.

The tools work in two dimensions only and ignore Z-values. When you use the tools, Z data (indicating elevations) might be lost when processing objects at different elevations. If data is lost, a warning message appears and you can use the UNDO command to restore the information.

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Do not use any of the methods described in this chapter to edit existing topolo-gies; you might make a topology invalid and not be able to recreate it. To edit topologies, use the topology editing functions described in “Editing Topology” on page 177.

Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects

Transformation is the uniform adjustment of a data set based on the new locations of known control points. Transformations move, rotate, and scale data without compromising the relative accuracy of the data. Transforma-tions do not change the angle and relative distance between features. For example, in digitizing a quarter-section parcel map in which you have predefined known coordinates in all four corners, the software makes the digitized material fit relative to the four registration points during or after the digitizing process.

Autodesk Map uses four points to transform the objects. The objects are moved, rotated, and scaled based on two source and two destination points.

The Transform editing tool works very differently from the Simple Transfor-mation settings in the Drawing Settings dialog box. These settings tempo-rarily adjust the position of objects as they are retrieved during the query process. Autodesk Map reverses these transformations during save back.The Transform editing tool permanently scales, moves, and rotates objects within the project.

For more information, see “Setting Scale, Rotation, and Offset” on page 30.

Note When you use Autodesk Map’s global coordinate systems with your map, the Transformation options are not available.


1st source point

1st destination point

2nd source point

2nd destination point

Objects scaled, rotated, and moved

A

B

A B

Objects before transformation

Understanding Editing in Autodesk Map | 97

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objects

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tools

Defining Text Insertion Points

You add text to objects using the Alter Properties feature in the Define Query dialog box. By default, Autodesk Map positions the text at the centroid of the object.

The following illustration shows the centroid of various shapes.

The text position relative to the object is called the label point. You can rede-fine the default label point using the Define Text Location feature.

Related To use this insertion point, choose the .LABELPT dot variable in the Define Text dialog box when you create the Property Alteration definition in the Define Query dialog box.

Filling Polygons

You can fill polygons in your drawing with solid fills and hatch patterns to clearly differentiate them. For example, you can use one hatch pattern to show properties with a value between $200,000 and $300,000 and another hatch pattern to show properties over $300,000.

elpion point

centroid and default label point

new default label point

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retrieved

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tools

The ADEFILLPOLYG command always creates a hatch object with the solid fill hatch style.

Related You can also use the BHATCH command to fill polygons.

Note If you move polygons that you filled using ADEFILLPOLYG, you must move the hatch object as well. Autodesk Map considers the polygon and the hatch object as separate objects.

Also, if you set the Create Associative Hatch Objects option on the Query tab of the Autodesk Map Options dialog box, Autodesk Map creates associative hatch objects when you use the ADEFILLPOLYG command, the ADEQUERY command (using Alter Properties), or the MAPTHEMATIC command (using a fill) to fill polygons.

To fill polygons automatically with hatch patterns or solid fills when performing queries, use the Alter Properties feature in the Define Query dialog box. For more information, see “Altering the Properties of Queried Objects” on page 152.

Rubber Sheeting

Rubber sheeting is a nonuniform adjustment of a data set based on the movement of known control points to new locations. For example, data collected by aerial survey may be inaccurate because of flight alignment and camera inaccuracies. By comparing this data with accurate ground survey data, the aerial data can be stretched or rubber sheeted over the accurate data using control points and monuments common to both data sets.

Use rubber sheeting only when absolutely necessary because it can severely com-promise the accuracy of the data. Use rubber sheeting as a last resort after exhausting other methods of object editing and coordinate adjustment.

Use rubber sheeting when attempting to get two or more different data sets from different sources to align geographically. For example, when stretching a new subdivision map into a preexisting parcel map. However, rubber sheeting should not be used to match maps of different scales.

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In the following illustration the second map has become distorted. Data on the second map will be rubber sheeted to match the data on the first map.

Note Because rubber sheeting is not a linear transformation, it is difficult to reverse the effects of the transformation and return a drawing to its original sta-tus. You should save your drawing before you perform a rubber sheet operation.

Autodesk Map performs rubber sheeting by moving base points that you specify to new points that you specify. The more base points you use, the more accurate the results. You can select objects manually, or you can select all objects that cross the original sheet area. As a rule of thumb for complex curved figures, the more vertices you enter, the more accurate the propor-tionate stretching will be. Note that AutoCAD entities that have a given shape, such as circles, arcs, and ellipses, retain their original shape.

Rubber sheeting works only on objects in the project.

Rubber sheet the less accurate data to fit the more accurate data. Perform a query to bring in the source drawing and apply rubber sheeting to the two maps. If you have set up a system of control points, or monuments, use this data as the reference to which you rubber sheet other maps.

Breaking Objects at Map Boundaries

Using the Boundary Break option on the Map ➤ Tools menu, you can break any objects that cross a given line. This capability lets you save maps back to source drawings with clean edges or plot maps without overlapping borders. It functions like the AutoCAD BREAK command for a selected set of objects and a polyline boundary.

Map 1 (not distorted) with three reference points

Map 2 (stretched) with three base points

After rubber sheetingto match maps

elp Indextips



The following illustration shows the behavior of objects after you cut the boundaries of a map using the Boundary Break option. The map of the lake is broken into three areas. The resulting maps are shown as separated plots for clarity although the command does not move the map sections.

The Boundary Break option

■ Breaks vectors and edge objects with start and end points that straddle a cutting edge.

■ Does not break objects such as blocks, text, hatch patterns, and other objects with a single insertion point that do not form edges; the insertion point determines which map contains the object.

Note that the text “Thonon-les-Bains” remains in the central map because the text has a MiddleCenter justification and insertion point.

The edges of the boundary do not have to form a rectilinear shape. If you are breaking using lines of latitude and longitude, the edges are, at best, trapezoidal. You can use existing boundaries or define the boundaries once you start the command.

Once the objects are broken, you can save the data back to the source draw-ings. For information on saving back, see Chapter 7 “Sharing and Saving Drawings.” You can erase objects outside the required area and plot the data inside the boundary. You can also use the WBLOCK command with the same boundary to create a new DWK of the area you break. For information about plotting maps, see Chapter 16 “Plotting Maps.”

After boundarybreak

Before boundarybreak


You can also use Boundary Break to show an enlargement of a selected area. In the following illustration, a rectangle with a dashed line was drawn, boundaries were broken inside the rectangle and the objects from the enclosed area were copied and then rescaled. The rectangle is offset to emphasize the inset.

Adding an inset to a map avoids using two maps to illustrate one feature and communicates the focus of the map better.

Trimming Objects Using a Closed Boundary

Using the Boundary Trim option on the Map ➤ Tools menu, you can specify a closed boundary as a trimming edge for a selected set of objects. You can use this option to trim objects inside or outside a boundary. Use Boundary Trim to quickly clear a circular or rectilinear area in a complex map in order to insert a legend or label.

You can use this command to enhance plotted maps. An example of this is shown in the following illustration. A rectangle is drawn in an area where


text annotation is required; after trimming objects inside the area, you can add text that will not be obscured.

You can use a boundary to trim all objects within (inside) the boundary or outside the boundary. The following illustration shows two lines running through a lake. The lake is the boundary. If the lines indicate zones inside the lake, such as areas of contamination, you use the Trim Outside Boundary option in the Trim Objects At Boundary dialog box to retain the boundaries inside the lake. If you want to show boundaries that cross the lake, such as soil types or solid geology, use the Trim Inside Boundary option to show that the boundaries end at the lake.

Rectangle showing areato be trimmed

Text in trimmed area

Trim outside boundary

Trim inside boundary

Boundary

Line objects


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polygons

Creating Closed Polylines from a Topology

You can create closed polylines from polygon topology. Use the Create Closed Polylines function when you have created a polygon topology and you want to

■ Give data to an AutoCAD user so the user can hatch polygonal areas.■ Export data to an external file format that does not support topologies.

While creating closed polygons from polygon topology, you have the option to create a group containing all the elements of complex areas, such as islands. If the islands themselves have nested islands or other polygons, these nested polygons will form a separate grouping automatically, creating different levels of grouping. If two or more inner polygons are not nested but share the same outer boundary, they will be treated as one group.

You can manipulate grouped data with the GROUP command as described in “Editing Drawings” of the online AutoCAD User’s Guide. You can also copy the object data and external database links held in the centroids to the closed polylines.

For more information about topologies, see “Understanding Topology Func-tions” on page 166.

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In This Chapter

■ Understanding sasets

■ Sharing drawingswith other users

7

Sharing and Saving Drawings

ve

With Autodesk® Map, you can work with more

than one source drawing at a time, using only the

parts of the drawings that you need. For example,

if you want to work on objects at the intersection

of four tiled drawings, you can execute a location

query that spans the intersection and retrieve only

the objects you need, regardless of drawing

boundaries.

You can edit queried objects, create new objects,

and then save your changes back to the source

drawings. You can also choose not to save your

changes back to the source drawings.

Multiple users in a network environment can share

drawings.

105

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Understanding Save Sets

If you intend to edit queried objects and then save them back to source draw-ings, you must specify the objects you want to save back to source drawings by adding them to the save set. Then, when you save the project drawing, Autodesk Map prompts you to save the objects in the save set back to their source drawings. If you have not added modified objects to the save set, you can save the modifications to the project drawing or to a new drawing, but the changes are not saved back to the source drawings.

elp Index

Define a query

Reviewing and working with source drawings without modifying them

Editing source drawings

Review, modify, add, and delete objects

Save the drawing with a new name or plot the results

Modify, add, and delete objects

Select objects for save back (create save set)

Save changes and new objects back to the source drawings

Execute a Draw mode query

106 | Chapter 7 Sharing and Saving Drawings

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The editing process involves the following general steps:

1 Use the query feature to retrieve objects for editing. For information on defining and running queries, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”

2 Modify, add, or delete objects.

3 Add the objects to the save set. For information, see “Adding Objects to the Save Set” in the following section.

Note If you are sharing source drawings with other users, you need to add the objects to the save set before you modify them. This locks the objects so other users can’t edit them at the same time as you.

For more information on locking objects, see “Sharing Drawings with Other Users” on page 109.

4 Save the objects back to the source drawings. For information, see “Saving Your Changes” on page 108.

Adding Objects to the Save Set

You can either add objects to the save set automatically when you modify them or manually select objects to add to the save set.

■ Any time you edit a queried object, Autodesk Map asks if you want to add the object to the save set. If you intend to save the object back to the source drawing and you want to lock the object, choose Yes. If you choose No, any changes will not be saved back to source drawings.

■ You can manually add an object to the save set.

■ When you create a new object, Autodesk Map does not prompt you to add the object to the save set. If you want to save new objects to source draw-ings, you can manually add them to the save set or save them directly to the source drawings.

After you add objects to the save set, you can view the objects currently in the save set, and remove objects from the save set if you want.

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Understanding Save Sets | 107

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Saving Your Changes

When you finish editing, you can save your changes, additions, and dele-tions back to the source drawings. When you save the objects, you have a number of options.

■ You can save the changes to the source drawings, to the project drawing, or to both.

■ You can save modified objects, new objects, or both new and modified objects.

■ When you save new objects to the source drawing, you must specify which drawing to save them to. (Modified objects are saved back to their original source drawing.)

You can set additional options related to the save back operation. For example, you can delete saved objects from the project after you save them.

If you are working with a source drawing from a previous release and save back your changes, Autodesk Map updates the source drawing to the current format. If you want to retain the source drawing as a previous release, do not save back your changes.

You can use the SAVE, QUIT, NEW, and OPEN commands to end the current session and display the Save Objects To Source Drawings dialog box. The commands QUIT, NEW, and OPEN give you the opportunity to save changes or discard edits. If you choose to save your changes, the Save Objects To Source Drawings dialog box appears. If you want to save your changes to the project drawing only and not to the source drawings, cancel the Save Objects To Source Drawings dialog box.

If you have enabled the automatic save option, you will be prompted to save objects to the source drawings if there are objects in the save set. If you do not save back when prompted, Autodesk Map creates an automatic save file called autoX.sv$ for the project. The automatic save does not maintain the association between the source drawings and the project.

Once you have saved changes back to the source drawings, you cannot undo the operation. Therefore, you should make back up copies of the source drawings before you begin working with them.

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Sharing Drawings with Other Users

Using Autodesk Map, multiple users in a network environment can share drawings, and if a superuser enables object locking on your system, edit different objects in the same drawing at the same time. In addition, Autodesk Map’s internal file locking mechanism tracks and controls file access so that multiple users can open, activate, query, save back objects, and perform other tasks without losing data.

Autodesk Map creates a DWK file for each attached source drawing you acti-vate. While a DWK file exists, no other user can open the associated drawing file. The DWK file has the same base file name as the DWG file and contains information about the users working with the drawing, drawing status, and so on. When all users deactivate the source drawing, Autodesk Map deletes the DWK file.

Do not delete the DWK file unless there is a system crash and you are unable to access the drawings. Be sure that no one else has activated the source draw-ings in the directory in the meantime.

Understanding File Locking

Autodesk Map’s internal locking mechanism controls access by other users to your open drawing files and the active source files attached to open projects. The following cases describe Autodesk Map’s response as you work with these files.

■ If a drawing file is open, using File ➤ Open, you and other users can attach the drawing to a project, but cannot activate that drawing.

■ If a drawing file is attached to a project and active, you and other users can use File ➤ Open to open the file as read-only, but cannot insert or exter-nally reference the drawing.

■ If a drawing file is attached to a project and not active, you and other users can use File ➤ Open to open the drawing, or can activate the drawing from a different project file.

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Sharing Drawings with Other Users | 109

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Online Hlocking obj

Enabling Object Locking

The object locking feature lets multiple network users simultaneously retrieve, edit, and save back different objects while working in the same source drawing. If object locking is not selected, only one user can have write access to an active drawing.

If object locking is enabled, two network Autodesk Map users can edit different objects in the same drawing at the same time, but cannot edit the same object at the same time.

Only a superuser can change object locking settings.

Note You cannot disable object locking while drawings are active.

Editing Drawings in a Multi-User Environment

When you share a source drawing with other users who are making changes and saving them back to the source drawing, you must make sure you have the latest version of the objects you plan to edit. If you and another user retrieve the same objects from a source drawing and the other user changes them, adds them to the save set, and saves them back, your project will not reflect those changes.

When you add objects to the save set, Autodesk Map notifies you that the drawing has been changed by another user since you performed your query. To ensure that you have the most current version of all objects, perform a Draw query just before you add objects to the save set.

Note If you plan to modify an object, add the object to the save set before you begin your modifications. This locks the object and prevents other users from adding it to their own save sets.

If another user is in the process of retrieving objects or saving changes to source drawings at exactly the same time you try to add objects to the save set, Autodesk Map will notify you if it is unable either to add the objects to the save set or save back, and presents three options:

■ Retry—Lets you wait until the drawing is free and retry the save back.

■ Skip—Lets you skip to the next drawing if you are processing objects from more than one source drawing and you reach a drawing that is locked.

■ Cancel—Cancels the save back.

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Online Hlocking obj

lock owne

Online Hlocking obj

locks

Identifying the User Who Has an Object Locked

Autodesk Map prevents you from editing locked objects in the following circumstances:

■ If you attempt to edit an object in a file locked by another user, Autodesk Map warns you that the file is locked and identifies the user. Autodesk Map presents you with three options: Retry, Skip, and Cancel.

■ If you attempt to edit an object that was locked by another user, Autodesk Map displays a message that the object has been locked when you try to add the object to the save set.

You can use the Who Has It operation at any time to find out who locked an object.

Note If the DWK file has been deleted, user names are no longer available. When this happens, Autodesk Map displays user names and project names as *UNKNOWN*.

Releasing Locked Objects

If a system failure occurs while objects are locked, you must manually release the object locks. However, only a superuser can remove locks set by other users.

Note If a drawing is activated in another user’s project, you will not be able to release locks in that drawing.

When you remove locks, the object is also removed from the save set. You can restore the locks by adding the objects to the save set again.

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Sharing Drawings with Other Users | 111

In This Chapter

■ Understanding obdata

■ Defining object dtables

■ Attaching object to objects

■ Editing object da

■ Using object dataqueries

8

Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing

ject

ata

data

ta

in

Autodesk® Map can store related information with

every object in a drawing, such as the color, line-

type, layer, etc. of the object. Autodesk Map can

also store user-defined attribute data with each

object in a drawing. When stored in the drawing,

this attribute data is called object data and can

include property values, installation dates, etc.

After you add object data, you can use queries to

retrieve objects and perform property alteration

based on object data values.

113

Understanding Object Data

Object data allows you to create a simple database in a drawing and store text and numeric data in your drawings directly attached to any object. It is far more powerful than block attributes because object data works with any object, not just blocks.

Using object data, you can use your maps for decision making and analysis. You can define queries to retrieve objects based on their object data values, for example, retrieving all properties with an assessed value greater than $100,000, or all pipes installed before 1993. You can also use object data to create thematic maps, showing, for example, all paved roads as solid lines and all gravel roads as dotted lines. Object data can associate an object with documents from other applications. For example, a parcel number can be linked to land record documents, tax assessments, scanned images, pictures, or video clips. You can select an object and view the attached documents.

You can also write applications that move data into and out of object data. Object data can serve as an Autodesk Map database for many applications.

You can define object data by creating and defining object data tables that can include any information you want, such as property values, installation date, flow direction, soil type, and so on. The data is easy to view and edit.

When you define an object data table, you specify what fields it should have and what type of information each field will contain. You can even specify a default value for each field. When you attach object data to an object, Autodesk Map creates a new record in the selected table and attaches it to the object. You can use the default values or enter new values for the object. You can attach more than one record to an object, either from the same table or from different tables.

Autodesk Map makes it easy to create object data for any object or set of objects. Creating object data is a two-step process:

■ Define object data by creating object data tables.■ Attach the object data to objects in your drawings.

After you define and attach object data, you can edit it as necessary.

114 | Chapter 8 Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing

The following table shows the field definitions for an object data table called HOUSES.

This table has four fields: OWNER, FLOORS, VALUE, and DATE. When you attach this object data table to an object in your drawing, you can use the default value or specify a new value to use for each field. The following illus-tration shows the data attached to three house objects.

The following table shows these records in the HOUSES object data table.

Note Autodesk Map works with object data created only in Autodesk Map and does not recognize object data from other applications, including AutoCAD®.

Field definitions for the HOUSES table

Field Description Type Default

OWNER Owner name Character

FLOORS Number of floors Integer 2

VALUE House value Integer 100000

DATE Date assessed Integer

HOUSES object data table

Owner Floors Value Date

Smith 2 142000 1955

Ames 1 197000 1993

Jones 2 173000 1972

Smith21420001955

Ames11970001993

Jones21730001972

Understanding Object Data | 115

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tables

Defining Object Data Tables

When you define an object data table, you specify a set of fields for the table and assign a name, description, data type, and default value to each field. After you define an object data table, you use a separate procedure to attach a record from the table to an object.

You can create multiple object data tables in a single drawing. For example, you can create one table with pipe flow information and a separate table with inspection information.

If you plan to use multiple applications with the same drawings or objects, create an object data table for each application. Because each application may use different data, you can avoid conflicts by using separate tables.

Take care when naming your tables. If you use the same table name in more than one drawing, be sure the table definition (or structure) is the same in all the drawings. If your project has more than one source drawing, Autodesk Map uses the object table definition for the first drawing that you activate.

When you perform an object data query, Autodesk Map warns that it is ignoring duplicate definitions. (See “Finding Objects Based on Internal Data” on page 142.)

The definition you want might not be the definition that Autodesk Map retrieves. To prevent this problem from occurring, be sure that all tables with same name have the same definition. If necessary, you can rename or rede-fine an object data table.

Renaming and Deleting Object Data Tables

You can rename or delete object data tables if you have superuser privilege, but you cannot rename or delete an object data table if you have already queried any object from a source drawing.

If you rename a table, the new name must not duplicate an existing table name.

Note When you delete an object data table from a project, the table is deleted from all attached, active source drawings.

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tables

Online Hobject data

objects

Modifying an Object Data Table

You can modify an object data table by adding, modifying, and deleting fields in the table; however, you must have superuser privilege, and you cannot modify an object data table if you have already queried any object from a source drawing.

When you modify an object data field, Autodesk Map updates all instances of the field attached to objects. If the object data table is large, this process may take a long time.

Attaching Object Data to Objects

After you define an object data table, you can associate it with one or more objects. When you attach object data to an object, Autodesk Map creates a new record for the selected table and attaches the record to the object. You can create more than one record for each object, and you can attach records from more than one table to an object.

You can attach object data in these ways:

■ Attach object data manually to selected objects by specifying the data val-ues for each object.

■ Automatically create and attach object data based on existing block attributes or text in the drawing.

■ Attach object data as you digitize objects.

When you attach object data to queried objects, Autodesk Map prompts you to add the object to the save set.

Editing Objects with Attached Object Data

Keep these points in mind:

■ When you edit an object with object data using the BREAK or TRIM com-mand, and break the object into multiple segments, the object data remains with only the one segment that contains the start point of the original object.

■ When you copy an object that has object data attached, the object data is also copied.

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Attaching Object Data to Objects | 117

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■ If you place an object with object data inside a block, the object data remains attached to the object that is placed into the block. You can access the object data by selecting the Nested Data option.

After you attach object data to an object, you can edit it or detach it at any time.

Editing Object Data

After you attach object data to an object, you can edit the object data record, add another record to the same object, or delete a record from an object. You must have Edit Drawing privilege to edit object data.

By adding multiple records for the same object, you can keep track of histor-ical information related to the object. For example, if you have a table called PipeMaintenance, with fields called Inspector, InspectionDate, and Condi-tion, you might have the following records attached to a single pipe object:

If you select a nested object, such as a line within a block, the Nested Data check box is selected and the type of nested object appears in the list.

PipeMaintenance table

Inspector McGovern

Inspection-Date 11-08-95

Condition Satisfactory

PipeMaintenance table

Inspector Shen

Inspection-Date 01-20-96

Condition Replace

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of retriev

Using Object Data in Queries

Once you have attached object data to objects, you can define query condi-tions that retrieve objects based on the object data. For example, if you have attached object data to all the nodes that represent wells in your drawing, you can define a data query condition that retrieves all wells with a depth greater than 100 feet.

See “Defining Queries” on page 140.

Using Object Data with Property Alteration

You can also use object data with the Property Alteration feature to modify objects based on their attached data. For example, you could define a query to retrieve all pipes in a selected location, then alter the line width of the pipe in the drawing based on the pipe diameter information stored in the attached data file.

For more information on Property Alteration and range tables, see “Altering the Properties of Queried Objects” on page 152. See also “Creating Advanced Thematic Maps” on page 163.

Note Using the automated thematic map design capabilities of Autodesk Map is one method of creating thematic maps. For more information, see “Creating Thematic Maps” on page 158.

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Using Object Data in Queries | 119

In This Chapter

■ Understanding databases

■ Attaching data sources to a proje

■ Viewing tables inData View

■ Using the Data V

■ Linking databaserecords to drawinobjects

9

Saving Attribute Data in External Databases

ct

the

iew

g

Using Autodesk® Map, you can link information

from an external database to objects in your draw-

ing, and then retrieve objects from source draw-

ings, using the linked information.

After creating the links, you can use the Data View

to select, highlight, view, and edit records in the

database table. Saving the project saves the connec-

tion to the external databases.

121

Understanding Databases

When you have additional information about objects in your drawing, you can store this information in an external database table and link the data in the table to objects in your drawing. Then, you can view and query the data, display it in the drawing, or find objects based on the data linked to them.

Because of the way Autodesk Map connects to the data, you can work with an external database table without using the database application itself. You do not even have to have the database software installed on your computer.

Note Autodesk Map supports two methods for connecting to external data-bases: the Data Source ➤ Attach command on the Map menu and the dbConnect command. To use the features described in this chapter, you must connect data-bases using the Data Source ➤ Attach command on the Map menu (which is also activated by dragging and dropping a database onto the Project Workspace).

For information on using the dbConnect command and features, refer to “Accessing External Databases” in the online AutoCAD® User’s Guide.

What Is a Data Source?

A data source is a database table or a set of tables containing logically related information. The table below illustrates a simple data source that might be used by the Public Works department to schedule road maintenance.

ID Route Number

Width Traffic Volume

Last Maintenance Project

Notes

I25_W I25 6 42000 95-1604A

I40_D I40 4 27045 90-4001

US_8517 US85 2 19822 96-0147

US_8569 US85 2 16487 92-1131

SFC_66 0066 1 210 Graded gravel

122 | Chapter 9 Saving Attribute Data in External Databases

This table consists of six columns, or fields, labeled ID, Route Number, Width, Traffic Volume, Last Maintenance Project, and Notes, and one or more indi-vidual rows, or records, that contain the information for a specific road. Each box, or cell, contains the value for a specific field of a specific record.

With most databases, database tables can be easily modified. You can add new fields or delete existing fields, add or delete records, and edit existing records. You can also define relationships between multiple tables. For example, if you have two tables that share a common field, Room ID, you can effectively join these two tables using their common field. Using a relational database helps you avoid having to maintain and input duplicate data across multiple tables.

Benefits of Linking External Data to Objects

You can use Autodesk Map to associate data contained in an external data-base table with graphical objects in your drawing through the process of linking. Links are pointers to specific records in a database table.

Here are some examples of linking objects to database records:

■ Linking oil or water wells to a database of information such as aquifer depth, type, volume, and water quality.

■ Linking parcel lots in a drawing with a tax assessor database.

■ Linking transformers and utility poles in a drawing to a database of main-tenance information.

When you link data in an external database to objects in your drawing, you add intelligence to the map; instead of simply producing maps, you can use your maps for decision making and analysis. For more information, see “Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects” on page 132.

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Data Sources and the Project Workspace

The Project Workspace includes nodes that list data sources attached to the project, as well as link templates for those data sources. Using the Project Workspace, you can open the Data View to view or edit a database table.

The Project Workspace contains the following data source related nodes:

Data Sources Node

Displays all data sources attached to the active project. and lists the tables and queries for each data source. An unconnected data source has a red ‘x’ on its icon.

Link Templates Node

Displays link templates defined in the active project or attached to objects in the drawing.

For information about an item listed in the Project Workspace, right-click the item, and then choose Properties from the shortcut menu. For example, right-click a table and choose Properties to display the Table Properties dialog box, which lists the column names and types for the selected table.

To open a table or database query, double-click the item. To open a linked table or query, double-click the link template name.

If the Project Workspace does not immediately display a data source or link template, right-click on a blank space in the Project Workspace and choose Refresh from the shortcut menu.

Database tables

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Attaching Data Sources to a Project

When you attach a data source to a project, the data source is listed in the Project Workspace in the same way an attached drawing is listed. Once a data source is attached, the attachment is saved with the project. Whenever you open that project again, the attached data source is displayed.

In addition to attaching the data source to the project, you also need to connect to the data source. Connecting to a data source opens a channel of communication between Autodesk Map and the data source. Some Database Management Systems (DBMS) limit the number of database connections you can open, so you might want to connect only when you want to run a query or edit the data in the table. Some DBMS require that you obtain access privileges before you can connect to a data source. They may prompt you for a user name and a password. For information on obtaining a password, refer to the documentation for your DBMS, or check with your database administrator.

For most DBMS, you can attach a data source to an Autodesk Map project by simply dragging the database file onto the Project Workspace, and Autodesk Map will automatically create the files it needs to communicate with the DBMS. However, for some database types, you will need to create some of these files yourself.

Autodesk Map can use information from many different DBMS. To read these external data files, Autodesk Map uses drivers that translate the data to a stan-dard format. If you make changes to the data from inside Autodesk Map, these drivers translate the data back to the database format. The first time you use a data source with Autodesk Map, Autodesk Map determines the appropriate driver for the data source. It stores this information, along with the location and data type of the data source, in a Universal Data Link (UDL) file.

Autodesk Map supports these drivers: the Jet provider, which works with Microsoft Access database files, the SQL Server provider, the Oracle provider, and the ODBC driver, which works with ODBC-compliant databases. These drivers are installed with Autodesk Map.

Because the ODBC driver works with many different database types, it requires additional information about each specific DBMS. It gets this infor-mation from a Data Source Name (DSN) that registers information about your DBMS. You need only one DSN for each database type.

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For the following ODBC-compliant databases, Autodesk Map creates a DSN for you when you attach the database:

■ dBASE® 3 and 5■ Microsoft Excel® 97■ Paradox® 7.0■ Microsoft® Visual FoxPro® 5.0

For other ODBC-compliant databases, you need to create the DSN yourself and enter the settings manually before you can connect. The following data-base types require manual configuration:

■ Oracle® 7.3 and 8.0■ SQL Server® 6.5

By default, Autodesk Map connects to Microsoft Access® 97 using the Jet provider, which does not require a DSN. If you want to connect to Microsoft Access using the ODBC driver, you must create a DSN.

For information on creating a DSN, refer to your Microsoft Windows® documentation.

Universal Data Link (UDL) Files

Microsoft Windows uses a UDL file as a pointer to a specific data source. The UDL file lists the location of the data, the type of database, the version of the database, and the appropriate database driver. For each data source that you use with Autodesk Map, you must have a UDL file.

Autodesk Map uses these UDL files as shortcuts to open a data source. For each data source you use, you must have a UDL file in the Autodesk Map data source directory. Once the UDL file exists in the data source directory, you can use the UDL file at any time to attach the data source to a project.

For most data sources, Autodesk Map creates this UDL file automatically when you attach a database, and for Access and Excel files, gives the UDL file the same name as the database file. For other database types, Autodesk Map gives the UDL file the same name as the directory containing the selected database file. For some database types, you will need to manually create the UDL file.

When you edit or create a UDL file, you use the Microsoft Windows Data Link Properties dialog box. For more information on using this dialog box, refer to your Microsoft Windows documentation.

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Connecting and Disconnecting Data Sources

To free up memory or database connections, you can disconnect a data source but keep it attached to the project. When you want to use the data source, reconnecting is a one-step process.

You can also set an option to connect automatically to all attached data sources each time you open a project.

Viewing Tables in the Data View

Once you have attached and connected a data source, you can use the Data View to view the database tables. The Data View provides two modes for opening tables.

View mode You can change the way the table looks on screen by for-matting columns, sorting records, or filtering records, and you can create links between the data and objects in your drawing. You cannot edit the contents of the database table.

When you open a table in View mode, the table has a grey background and the words ‘Read Only’ appear in the Data View title bar.

Edit mode In addition to formatting the table onscreen, you can edit the data in the table and add or delete records.

You can also use the Data View to create links from database records to graph-ical objects in your drawing, then highlight records in the database that are linked to selected objects in your drawing.

For information on creating links, see “Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects” on page 132.

In the Project Workspace, each data source lists the tables and queries defined for that data source. You can

■ Open a table to view all the data in a single table

■ Open a query (sometimes called a view or a join) to view a part of a table or a combination of tables

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Viewing Database Queries

Some Database Management Systems (DBMS) support the use of database queries or views. Database queries can determine which data from a table displays and how that data displays. For example, you can use a database query to limit the displayed columns to a subset of the overall table. You can also use database queries to define relationships between tables, effectively creating a new table that displays records from the original tables.

Autodesk Map can reference an existing database query, but it cannot create a new one. To create a database query, refer to the documentation for your DBMS.

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Using the Data View

The Data View displays the data source table’s records in a spreadsheet-like window. You use the scroll bar or the buttons on the navigation bar to move through the records.

The table grid in the Data View contains the following elements:

■ Column header—Click to select an individual column.■ Record header—Click to select an individual record.■ Grid cells—Click to select one cell of a given record.■ Grid header—Click to display the table shortcut menu.

You can select single and multiple records and make any record current.

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Go to last record

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Formatting Columns

You can move and resize the Data View as you would any standard window. In addition, you can change the width of the columns and customize column formatting.

Freezing and Hiding Columns

You may have some columns in your Data View that you want to display at all times, such as the parcel owner’s name, while hiding other columns. For example, you could hide maintenance comments when you print the table.

■ If you have columns that you want to remain visible at all times, no mat-ter where you scroll in the Data View, freeze the columns. The selected col-umns move and become the left-most columns in the Data View. They are ‘frozen’ in that position and do not scroll off the screen.

■ If you don’t want to display or print columns, hide the columns. The col-umns remain part of the database, and you can redisplay them at any time.

Sorting Records in the Data View

You can sort the records in a table based on a single column or on multiple columns.

You can sort in ascending order (1, 2, 3, ..., A, B, C, ...) or in descending order (Z, Y, X, ..., 9, 8, 7, ...).

If you sort based on multiple columns, you can select ascending or descending order for each column. For example, you might select the Street Name column to be sorted in ascending order, and the Property Value column to be sorted in descending order. These selections would produce a table in which the records are sorted alphabetically by street name; and within each street grouping, properties are sorted by value, with the most expensive listed first.

Filtering Records in the Data View

You can filter, or limit, the data displayed in the Data View. Filters let you view only the records you want. This can improve performance in scrolling

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through many records or in highlighting records. You can filter your data in the following two ways:

■ Filter records based on the data in the record.

Use an SQL filter to display only records whose data matches the condi-tions you specify. For example, you can view only records with a specific street name or records where the property value is over a specific amount. A SQL filter is similar to a database query, except that when you use a SQL filter, you can edit the resulting table.

■ Filter records based on the objects to which they are linked.

Use a spatial filter to display only the records that are linked to objects you select in your drawing.

You can use SQL filters and spatial filters individually, or you can combine them. If you define both a SQL filter and a spatial filter, the Data View displays only those records that match both filters.

Editing Tables in the Data View

You can edit a table in the Data View as you would any database table. You can add or delete records, or edit a record’s values. You can also search a particular column for occurrences of a specific value or find and replace data within the current column. To edit the values in the table, you must have the proper user authorizations, and you must have opened the table in Edit mode.

Printing Reports from the Data View

You can print the active table. Before you print, you can set a number of print options. If you have filters in effect, only the records that match the filter are printed.

Exporting Data from the Data View

You can copy the contents of the Data View to the Windows Clipboard and paste it into an external program, such as Microsoft Excel, using the standard Windows Copy and Paste commands.

The data is inserted into the external program in tab-delimited format.

You can also export a report of records that are linked to selected objects in your drawing.

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Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects

You can create a link between a record in an external database and an object in your drawing, and once this link exists, use the information in the data-base to help you analyze, select, and display objects in your drawing. Note that you cannot create links for nongraphical objects such as layers and line-types.

For example, if you have a database containing property parcel information and a drawing that shows parcel boundaries, you can link a specific parcel in the drawing to the record in the database that contains ownership, zoning, and land value information for that parcel.

You establish the association between the object and the database table by creating a link, which points to one or more records stored in the table. Once this link exists, you can use the information in the database to select objects in the drawing or find all records in the database that are linked to selected objects in the drawing. Using the Autodesk Map query feature, you can also create SQL conditions that retrieve objects based on linked data in the table and combine them with other types of conditions, such as object property or location conditions. For more information, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.”


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Note AutoCAD Map® Release 1 through AutoCAD Map Release 3 communicated with external databases using ASE (AutoCAD SQL Environment). Beginning with AutoCAD Map 2000, the program uses Microsoft Windows standards for communicating with a database.

If you are using drawings from a previous release of Autodesk Map, be sure to look up “database tables, migrating” in the Autodesk Map online Help Index.

When you create a link, the information about that link is stored on the object in the drawing. If you move or copy the object, the link data is moved or copied with it. If you delete the object, the link information is also deleted. However, deleting the object and its link information does not affect the data in the table.

You can view the link data attached to an object, modify the link data value for an object, or delete links from an object. You can also export links, which creates a report of all the records linked to selected objects in your drawing.

Whenever you open a drawing that includes database links, Autodesk Map automatically creates a database link index and keeps it in memory. This feature is especially useful when you edit your source drawings directly. To save this database index in the drawing, select Options from the Tools menu, and then click the System tab. Select the Store Links Index In Drawing File option.

Understanding Links and Link Templates

When you link an object in a drawing to a record in a database, link data is stored on the object, creating a relationship between the database table and the object. When you update the table, the changes are immediately avail-able to the drawing object.

Autodesk Map needs some way to track which database record is linked to the object. It does this by comparing the link data stored on the object with a specified column in the table. When it finds a match to the link data in the specified column, it links the record to the object. To set up this checking system, you must do the following:

■ Create a link template that specifies which data source, table, and column to check. The column is called the key column. Ideally, a key column has a unique value for each record.

The link template is stored in the project drawing and appears in the Project Workspace. You can edit link templates, delete them from a project, and import them into or export them from a project. For informa-tion about link templates, refer to the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

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Linking Database Records to Drawing Objects | 133

■ Specify the value to look for in the key column.

For example, suppose you have a drawing of a county and a database of tourist information that lists the hotels in the county, including the hotel ID, the name of the hotel, the town in which the hotel is located, and the room rate. You want to link buildings in the drawing to the appropriate records in the table.

You create a link template that includes the name of the data source and the table, and specifies “Hotel_ID” as the key column. Use Hotel_ID as the key column because each value in the column is unique. You can then create a link between a specific building in the drawing and the appropriate record in the table.

The link data stored on the object has two parts: the name of the link template to use (which specifies where to look) and the actual value (which specifies what to look for). For example, the Hotel_LT link template in the example below tells Autodesk Map to look in the Hotels data source and the Location table and check the “Hotel_ID” column. The “value” part of the link data tells Autodesk Map to look for the value WA024.

Once the link has been established, the object is linked to the whole record, not just that key column. In the example on the next page, the hotel ID was used to create a link between the data source record and the drawing object. But the object is linked to all the columns in the record. So you can search for all the hotels in Fairfax and highlight them in your drawing.


You can link more than one record in the table to an object. Also, you can link a single record in the table to more than one object.

Linking Objects to Data

You can connect or link objects in your drawings with information in an external database in several ways. You can

■ Connect objects and records manually, one object and one record at a time. See “Linking Data to Objects Manually” in the following section.

■ Create links automatically if information in your drawing matches the values in the data source table. See “Linking Data to Objects Automati-cally” on page 136.

■ Create links while digitizing. See “Linking Data to Objects While Digitiz-ing” on page 136.

■ Convert existing object data to linked external database tables. See “Con-verting Object Data to External Database Tables” on page 137.

Hotel_ID Name Location

WA024 Hotel Christopher Fairfax

WA016 Megan’s Inn Fairfax

WA045 Redwood Lodge San Francisco

Link Template

Data Source

Table Key Column

Hotel_LT = Hotels Location Hotel_ID

Autodesk Map drawing with link data

ObjectLink template

Hotel_LT WA024

Unique value inkey column

Link data = Link template + Unique value in key column

Location table


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Linking Data to Objects Manually

You can select a specific record in your table to link with a specific object in your drawing.

For example, you might want to link a record with a specific key field value with the drawing object identified by the same number. See “Linking Data-base Records to Drawing Objects” on page 132 for an illustration.

Linking Data to Objects Automatically

If information in your drawing, such as text or block attribute data, matches information in a table, you can automatically create links from each selected object to a matching record in the table.

For example, you might have a district code stored as block attribute data or printed in each district of a map. If you also have a table that has a column for district codes, you can automatically link each code in the map to the corresponding record in the table.

You can create a link between the text printed in the drawing and the matching text in the database table record.

Linking Data to Objects While Digitizing

You use the Attach Data option in the Digitize Setup dialog box to attach data in an external database to objects as you digitize. You can select one link template for nodes and another for links. Before you begin this process, be sure the link templates already exist.

When you begin digitizing, Autodesk Map will prompt you for a key value for each object. The database validation option you select determines what happens as you enter a value for each digitized object.

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District Name Population Schools Code

NorthWest 15254 4 NW

NorthEast 2469 1 NE

SouthWest 10957 3 SW

SouthEast 16637 6 SE

District table

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Highlighting Objects Linked to Selected Records

After you link your database records to objects in your drawing, you can highlight objects in the drawing that are linked to selected records in the database table.

You can set options to have Autodesk Map automatically highlight objects linked to the records you select, automatically zoom in on highlighted objects, or automatically create a selection set of highlighted objects.

Highlighting Records Linked to Selected Objects

After you link your database records to objects in your drawing, you can highlight records in the database table that are linked to selected objects in the drawing.

You can navigate through all highlighted records using the options on the Data View Highlight menu or using the highlighted records toolbar that appears on the right side of the Data View.

Converting Object Data to External Database Tables

Object data is an efficient method of storing smaller amounts of attribute data that you want to associate with objects in a drawing, but external data-bases store larger amounts of data more efficiently, and allow for more complex queries.

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With Autodesk Map, you can convert object data into a linked database table that has the same data structure as the object data table. For each object containing object data in the specified table, Autodesk Map does the following:

■ Reads the object data.■ Creates a new record in the external database table.■ Attaches link data to the object that links the object to the record.


In This Chapter

■ Understanding queries

■ Defining queries

■ Understanding indexing

■ Editing queries

■ Executing querie

■ Altering the properties of queobjects

■ Saving queries

■ Troubleshooting

10

Using Queries to Analyze Data

s

ried

With Autodesk® Map, you can create queries that

retrieve a subset of objects and related information

from source drawings for use in a single project. By

defining a subset of objects, you can also retrieve

information that is linked to objects and stored in

external databases. You can save and revise query

definitions, edit them, and supplement them using

property alteration.

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Understanding Queries

A query uses a set of conditions to search the active source drawings, select the objects that match the set of conditions you specify, and place the retrieved objects in the project drawing.

When you define a query, you set the criteria for selecting objects. Queries retrieve objects based on the criteria. You can use four types of criteria: loca-tion, property, data, and SQL.

■ Location—Use the location in the source drawing. For example, use a loca-tion query to retrieve all the buildings within a circular region that you specify.

■ Property—Use object properties. For example, use a property query to retrieve all the objects on a specific layer or of a specific color.

■ Data—Use information stored as nongraphic object data in a drawing file. For example, if you store pipe diameters in object data, use a data query to retrieve all pipes of a specific diameter.

■ SQL—Use information in linked external database tables. For example, if you store valve information including valve type in an external database, use a SQL query to retrieve valves of the type you specify.

You can also use combinations of these query types to create compound queries.

Note Only objects in the Model Tab (model space) are queried. Objects from the Layout Tab (paper space) are ignored.

If you plan to use SQL information, you must first connect to the data source. See Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.” For informa-tion on queries based on topology data, see “Querying Topology Data” on page 187.

Defining Queries

After you define the query you can execute it immediately or save it in the Query Library. See “Executing Queries” on page 149, “Saving Queries” on page 153, and “Using Saved Queries” on page 153.

Note When querying nonindexed drawings, Autodesk Map displays a status message as it processes each drawing.

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Finding Objects Based on Location

Location conditions retrieve objects in a specified location in the source draw-ings. The location can be relative to a specific point or drawing element, or within a specified area. For example, you can search for objects that lie within a given radius of a specified point or within a given distance on either side of a specified line.

The Location Condition dialog box provides a number of ways to specify the location you want to query. The following illustration shows some of them. The objects shown in dashed lines are retrieved by the specified location query. Objects shown in solid lines are not retrieved by the specified location query.

Finding Objects Based on Properties

Property conditions retrieve objects based on Autodesk Map object properties such as color, elevation, layer, linetype, and so on. For example, you can search for objects on a given layer or of a specified color. You can use more than one object property in a query, but you must define them one condition at a time.

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In the Property Condition dialog box, select the property you want to query, an operator, such as = or <, and the value the selected property must match to be selected by the condition. You can enter a value in the Value box, or click Values to display a list of available values for the selected property.

You can use wild-card characters to enter values for the following properties: Block Name, Color, Object Type, Group, Layer, Linetype, and Text Style.

Note If you query against Object Type and click Values, although you have a ras-ter image in an attached drawing you might not see IMAGE listed in the Select dialog box. You must have an Image command loaded. You do not need to attach an image. Simply exit the query dialog boxes and choose Image Manager from the Insert menu. In the Image Manager dialog box, click OK. Then define the query again.

When you click OK, the property query you just defined appears under Current Query in the Define Query dialog box.

If the property query you define uses text values, you can set an option to specify case-sensitive text.

Defining Numeric Range Property Queries

To define a numeric range property condition, combine condition statements that define the upper and lower limit of the range. For example, to define an elevation between 21.0 and 47.0, use the following condition statements:

Property: ELEVATION > 21AND Property: ELEVATION < 47

For information on creating multiple conditions and combining them in one query, see “Combining Criteria to Create Compound Queries” on page 145.

Finding Objects Based on Internal Data

Data conditions retrieve objects based on nongraphic information. To define a data condition, you first specify the type of data to query (Attribute, Data-base Link, or Object Data). Then you specify the information to query, such as a specific field in an object data table. Finally, you create an expression that specifies the condition that data must match in order to meet the query criteria. For example, to find all pipes wider than four feet, select the object data table and field that contains pipe diameter information. In the expres-sion area, specify > 4.

You can also use data conditions to retrieve objects based on block attributes and database link data. To retrieve objects based on block attributes, you specify a block attribute tag. To retrieve objects based on database link data,

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you specify a link template and key column. You cannot retrieve objects based on constant block attributes.

You must define and attach object data to objects in the source drawings before you can use an object data query. For example, in a map that contains several streets, you can store the width for each street segment as object data. See Chapter 8, “Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing.”

Finding Objects Based on External SQL Data

SQL conditions retrieve information from external databases. You can use information stored in external Structured Query Language (SQL) databases to specify the set of objects you want to retrieve. For example, if a database table stores information on supplier, owner, and cost of furniture in a set of draw-ings, you can define a query to show all chairs purchased from a specific supplier.

For more information about connecting to external databases and editing information in external databases, see Chapter 9, “Saving Attribute Data in External Databases.”

Using SQL Conditions in Map Queries

After you link objects in the drawing to information in external tables, you can use the information in the tables to find the objects you want in the drawing. To locate and retrieve objects, you create a Structured Query Language (SQL) condition in a Map query. A SQL query condition looks for specific values in an external table, then finds and displays all the objects linked to those values.

You can search for all records that exactly match a specified value or a range of values, or that do not match the specified value.

SQL query conditions can be combined with other SQL conditions, Location conditions, Property conditions, and Data conditions.

Before you can run SQL queries on external databases, you must set up the databases for your project. Start by reviewing the databases associated with the source drawings attached to the project. Determine which databases you will use with this project and which link templates you will use with those databases. Then attach the selected data sources to this project.

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Creating a SQL Condition

Once you link objects to information in the database, you can retrieve objects based on that information. Autodesk Map supports standard SQL syntax as formally defined in the ISO/IEC 9075 standard, 1992. However, you don’t have to know SQL syntax to create a SQL condition; instead, you use the SQL Link Condition dialog box to create the SQL conditions (criteria) for your query. You choose the column you want to search, enter a value, and specify how the data in the column should match that value. For example, you might specify that the data be equal to the value, or be greater than or less than the value.

Note Queries are used to retrieve objects from source drawings. They do not apply to objects that are already in the project drawing. For this reason, you can query data linked to objects in an active source drawing, not data linked to objects in the project drawing.

Combining SQL Conditions with Other Conditions

You can combine a SQL condition with any other condition.

For example, you could combine a Property condition to find all objects on the CONTROL layer with a SQL condition to find traffic signals installed before 1987; or you might combine a Location condition to find all homes within three miles of a proposed new school with a SQL condition to select those homes with children under 18.

For information on creating and combining Location, Property, and Object Data conditions, see “Defining Queries” on page 140.

Typing a SQL Condition

If you are familiar with SQL syntax, you can type a condition directly. Autodesk Map automatically supplies most of the condition. You type only the column name, the operator, and the value.

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Combining Criteria to Create Compound Queries

You can combine location, property, object data, and SQL conditions to form compound criteria queries, for example, to retrieve all red objects in a speci-fied area. The combination can include more than one instance of a query type. For example, you can specify more than one location condition in addi-tion to the conditions for any other query type.

The result of a compound query is a list of query conditions linked by one of the joining operators And or Or. You can also combine Not with either of these operators to create conditions that exclude certain objects from the query.

The following illustrations describe how And, Or, and Not join single query conditions into compound query conditions.

A BU

AU

BA And Not B—all objectsthat are in A but excluding any objects that are in B

A Or Not B—all objects that are in A or all objects that are not in B

BU A And B—only objects

in both A and BAA

A BU A Or B—all objects in

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Grouping Compound Query Conditions

If you have more than two conditions in a compound query, you can group conditions using parentheses to specify how Autodesk Map should evaluate them. If you don’t group conditions, Autodesk Map gives precedence to the following operators:

■ And takes precedence over Or.■ Not takes precedence over And and Or.

This means that when Autodesk Map evaluates a query containing both an And operator and an Or operator, the program performs the And operation before it performs the Or operation. For example, you might use the following query:

Location: CROSSING CIRCLEAND Property: LAYER = SEWER

OR Property: LAYER = VALVE

Autodesk Map retrieves objects in this order: objects that meet the two conditions joined by And (objects that are in or crossing the specified circle and are also on the SEWER layer); objects that meet the condition joined by Or (objects on the VALVE layer).

If you group the conditions in the above query, you could create the following query:

Location: CROSSING CIRCLEAND (Property: LAYER = SEWER

OR Property: LAYER = VALVE)

Autodesk Map evaluates the grouped conditions first. In the previous example, it retrieves all the objects that are in or crossing the specified circle and that are also on either the SEWER or the VALVE layer. Therefore, even though Autodesk Map gives precedence to the And operator over the Or

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operator, Autodesk Map evaluates the conditions joined by Or first, because they are grouped.

You can create a nested group, which is a group within a group. The following sample query illustrates a nested group.

((Property: LAYER = SEWEROR Property: LENGTH > 5)

AND Location: CROSSING CIRCLE)AND NOT Property: LAYER = STREETS

To make a group, you must select at least two conditions. You cannot group conditions that are part of other groups without first ungrouping them.

Understanding Indexing

Autodesk Map executes most queries more quickly if you create indexes. Instead of searching all location, property, object data, or database links to find matching data, Autodesk Map searches only the relevant index. You can create indexes for Location, Property, Data, and SQL queries. However, creating indexes takes time and disk space. To find out if creating an index would be useful, create one; if it doesn’t significantly improve performance, remove it from the drawing file. Autodesk Map stores indexes in the source drawing file. You must have write permission for the drawing file if you want to create indexes.

Note Creating indexes requires additional memory. If memory is low, Autodesk Map might be unable to create the index. Increase memory and recreate the index. Refer to the online AutoCAD Customization Guide, which can be found by opening Autodesk Map Help, choosing the Contents tab, and then choosing AutoCAD Online Manuals > Customization Guide > Customization Basics > Opti-mize AutoCAD.

When you save changes back to source drawings, Autodesk Map updates the existing indexes. However, if you use the Open command on the File menu to open and modify a source drawing, the index is no longer valid. When you execute a query, Autodesk Map notifies you if the index is no longer valid and executes the query without the index. To use the index you must recreate it.

To improve the performance of Data and SQL queries, create object data and SQL indexes for all drawings in the data set, even if they don’t contain object data or SQL link information.

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drawings

Note With queries that involve all or almost all the objects in a drawing, for example, a Location All query, indexing does not improve performance.

As you query, edit, and save back over time, indexes can degenerate causing a loss of performance. If you execute queries that previously ran faster but now run more slowly than you expect, regenerate the index. You should see an improvement in performance.

Checking a Drawing for Indexes

Before you create an index for a drawing you should verify that a current index does not already exist.

If the selected drawing does not have an index or the index is out of date, the check box beside the index type under Generate Index is selected. If you select more than one source drawing, all the check boxes are selected.

Creating Indexes

You need to create an index for the type of query you plan to execute.

You can create the following kinds of index.

■ Location—Divides drawings into regions. Autodesk Map queries only the regions you specify.

■ Property—Organizes object properties. Autodesk Map queries only the objects with the properties you specify.

■ SQL Links—Organizes the drawing’s link templates and key fields. Autodesk Map queries only the objects with the link templates and key field values you specify.

■ EED—Organizes Extended Entity Data (EED) attached to objects in draw-ings created in AutoCAD Data Extension® (ADE) 1.0. You cannot create EED in Autodesk Map 5.

■ Object Data—Organizes object data. Autodesk Map queries only the objects with the object data you specify.

After you generate an object data index, a status message appears beside each indexed field name. The status “Current” means that the object data index on that field is valid and consistent with the attached object data. The status “Out-of-Date” means that the object data index on that field is not consistent with the attached object data. An index could become out-of-date if you modify objects without first loading Autodesk Map.

Note When you create an index, you may receive a warning message to the effect that Autodesk Map “Can’t calculate object extents.” This indicates that a

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third-party application might have created the object and that the application is not loaded, or the object may not support the geometric extents methodology of Autodesk Map.

Removing Indexes

If you create an index, Autodesk Map updates the index each time you change the drawing and saves it back to the source drawing. If you don’t need the index, you can remove it to reduce drawing size and to reduce the time it takes to perform the save back operation.

Editing Queries

When you edit a query, you can modify a condition but you cannot change its type (location, property, data, or SQL). If you want a different query condi-tion type, you must delete the existing condition and define a new one. You can also change the joining operator (And, Or, Not) for a condition.

Executing Queries

After you define a query you can execute it in Preview, Draw, or Report mode.

■ Preview mode verifies that the query will retrieve the objects you need by simply displaying them instead of copying them into the project.

■ Draw mode retrieves the objects and copies them into the project so you can edit them.

■ Report mode generates an ASCII file that contains the results of the query.

After you execute a query, the query definition remains as the current query in the current mode. You can execute the query in other modes, edit the query, or save the query in the Query Library or to a file for later use.

Once Autodesk Map copies the objects that meet the query criteria into the project, it does not duplicate those objects if you run the query again. If an object meets the criteria of more than one query, Autodesk Map retrieves only one copy of that object. Therefore, you will never have multiple copies of the same object in a project. You can query objects only in the Model Tab, not in the Layout Tab.

Note Before you execute a query you should adjust the project extents to match the extents of the source drawings you are querying. For information, see “Zooming the Project Extents” on page 36.

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Using Preview Mode

Preview mode provides a quick preview of the objects the query will display in the active project. You can run a query in Preview mode and check the objects the query produces. If there are too few or too many objects, or objects are displayed in the wrong location, revise the query as necessary.

Queries in Preview mode show objects on layers that are locked; however, Preview mode does not show objects on layers that are Off or Frozen. Although you see many elements in the project drawing following a Preview query, Autodesk Map treats each set of objects as a single object from each drawing. If you attempt to select several objects, Autodesk Map reports “one object found” for each of the source drawings queried. The display of objects is temporary and disappears when you redraw or regenerate. You can zoom and pan to examine the queried objects, but you cannot edit them.

Using Draw Mode

Draw mode retrieves objects from source drawings and copies them into the project. You can save the objects in your project drawing, or you can edit the objects and save them back to the source drawings. If you decide to edit the queried objects and you have set object locking in System Options, Autodesk Map locks the individual objects so other users cannot edit them.

See “Sharing Drawings with Other Users” on page 109.

Queries in Draw mode retrieve objects from layers that are Off, Locked, or Frozen. Whether the objects remain on layers that are Off, Locked, or Frozen when they are brought into the project depends on the layers in the project: if the layers exist in the project, the objects take on the characteristics of the existing layers; if the layers do not exist, Autodesk Map creates new layers with the characteristics of the source drawing layers.

Autodesk Map preserves the status of objects on locked layers when it copies them into the project. When you retrieve objects that are on locked layers you cannot save changes back to the source drawing. If you want to save changes back, open the source drawing and unlock the layer before performing the query.


Using Report Mode

Report mode saves the results of a query to a text file, which you can use in a spreadsheet program or database. For example, you might want a list of all pipes in a system with their lengths and diameters included. The diameters might be stored in object data. Using Report mode, you can retrieve this information and direct it to a text file. Queries in Report mode retrieve objects from layers that are Off or Frozen.

You control the information that is included in the report by defining a report template. Depending on your use of blocks, layers, object data, links to external databases, block attributes, color, and other Autodesk Map data, you can create various printed reports, for example:

■ Asset management—You can query tax assessment or zoning status based on any graphic or non-graphic parameters.

■ Mailing lists—You can automatically inform landowners in an area about changes in zoning.

■ Event lists—You can list the number of burglaries in a zone or the repairs to light standards over a set period of time.

■ Well locations and groundwater features—You can list toxicity and chem-ical levels.

■ Timber stands—You can show harvest schedule and expected yields.

The output file is in comma-delimited format (CDF). Although this format is ideal for a database, you need to use the Table or Replace function of a word processor or spreadsheet to create columns or cells.

Executing Queries with SQL Conditions

You execute a query with a SQL condition as you would execute any other query type. However, because a SQL condition relies on the ability to connect to a data source, the condition will not work if any part of the connection is broken.

■ The query must specify a valid link template.■ The data source must be attached and connected.■ The data source must be in the same directory as when you connected to

it. (You must not have moved it after connecting.)■ Links must exist between drawing objects and records in the specified data

source.

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Altering the Properties of Queried Objects

Using the property alteration feature, you can modify many of the properties of queried objects as they are queried into the project drawing without affecting source drawings. Whether you are creating a presentation for others or retrieving queried objects for your own use, you can modify object prop-erties such as color, linetype, or polyline width, or added text, to present information more clearly. For example, you might have a set of city maps that show roads as black polylines of the same width. You can plot a map for a contractor that shows the roads to be repaired in red and roads to be inspected in blue. You can alter the width of the polylines to show road widths. You can also add text to identify elements of your drawing.

Property alteration involves the following three general steps:

■ Define the query to retrieve the objects you want to alter.■ Create a property alteration definition.■ Execute the query in Draw mode. You cannot use property alteration in

Preview or Report mode queries.

Autodesk Map performs the query, applies the property alteration definition to the queried objects, and displays the modified objects in the project.

If you want your project drawing to include additional objects that are unal-tered or altered in a different way, remember that the order in which you run the queries is very important. A query will not retrieve objects from source drawings if those objects are already in the project drawing, so the second query you run will not retrieve objects that were retrieved by the first query.

For example, if you have a set of maps that display all the roads in the county and you want to color the roads that need to be repaved, first run a property alteration query to retrieve the roads that need to be repaved and color them red. Then run a second query to retrieve all objects (using a Location:ALL condition). Because the roads that need to be repaved have already been retrieved, the second query will retrieve everything except those roads.

You can define various types of property alterations. A simple property alter-ation modifies every retrieved object in the same way. For example, you could change the color of every queried object to red. To do this, simply enter a value in the Expression box.

An advanced property alteration lets you specify how to alter the selected property based on specified characteristics of the object. For example, you could define a query that retrieved all the lines that represent roads in your map, then specify that every line with a thickness of greater than .5 be colored red while all other retrieved lines be colored black. You can also use



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data attached to the object to determine the modification. For example, if the roads have object data attached to them that specifies the pavement type, you could specify that every line with an attached value of ‘gravel’ be drawn with a dotted line, while roads with an attached value of ‘paved’ be drawn with a solid line.

You can use one or more of the following types of information to create a property alteration definition:

■ Object properties, such as color, layer, block name, and thickness.■ Information attached to the object as object data, such as part number,

material, cost, manufacturer, and supplier.■ Information in a linked external database table.■ Link data stored on the object.■ Block attributes.

Saving Queries

If you plan to use a query more than once, you can save it.

Query categories allow you to organize your queries within a project. You assign a query to a category when you save it. You can change a query’s cate-gory at any time, and add, delete, and rename categories.

You can save the query with the project in the Query Library or to an external file. External queries are easy to share with other users. If you save the query to an external file you can specify a number of additional settings.

If you save the query with the project, you can modify it from within Autodesk Map. If you save the query to a file, it is saved as an AutoLISP® script. Using a text editor, you can modify an external query file and include AutoLISP API commands. For more information, refer to “Using Interface Function ➤ Editing Query Files” in the online AutoLISP/ADSRX Help.

Using Saved Queries

After you save internal queries with the project in the Query Library, you can load, revise, and execute them. You execute external queries using the Run External Query option. After you execute a query, it becomes the current query and appears in the Define Query dialog box. You can then modify it if necessary.

Note Do not set Auto Execute in the Save Current Query dialog box if you want to modify a saved external query before executing it.

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Saving Queries | 153

Troubleshooting

Several issues can arise when you retrieve blocks, text, externally referenced drawings (xrefs), groups, and hatch patterns from drawings. For information about resolving these issues, refer to the online help.


In This Chapter

■ Understanding thematic maps

■ Creating thematimaps

■ Creating thematimaps using themqueries

■ Creating advancethematic maps

11

Thematic Map Design

c

c atic

d

Thematic maps use graphical properties and values,

such as size or color, to represent data on a map.

You can use thematic maps to show the distribu-

tion of data over a physical area, for example, the

distribution of population across a country or the

distribution of property values across a city. Using

the thematic design capabilities of Autodesk® Map,

you can define the data you want to display,

change the properties of the queried data, assign

display parameters, and create a legend.

155

Understanding Thematic Maps

Thematic mapping is the process of displaying the characteristics and data properties of objects using graphic elements. Thematic maps make informa-tion more visible by changing how objects look. You can use thematic maps to tell a story by changing the map colors, linetypes, symbols, text, or other features of your information. For example, use a larger dot to display cities with a larger population, or use a wider line to draw roads with high traffic volume, or color blue all pipes older than 20 years.

You can add a legend to a thematic map to explain the colors, symbols, and other alterations used in the map.

To create a thematic map, you determine the following:

■ What information do you want to emphasize in the map.

For example, if you have a map of roads in an area, you could emphasize information about road widths, about traffic density, about pavement type, about traffic direction, or about any other object data, external database data, or property associated with the roads.

■ How you will display the information.

For example, if you are displaying information about road widths, you could modify the width of the line used to draw the road. To display information about pavement type, you could use different line types, such as solid or dotted, or you could use different colors. To display information about traffic direction, you could add an arrow symbol to show the direction of one-way streets.

You can display information in a thematic map by using color (either out-line, hatched, or filled), line format (line width and linetype), annotation, or symbols (blocks already in the current or attached drawings).

You use a thematic query to retrieve the objects that you want to alter for your map. To include other, unaltered, objects in your map, for example rivers, unmodified roads, or other landmarks, you can also define and run a standard query.

156 | Chapter 11 Thematic Map Design

The following thematic map shows the land use type associated with each polygon by using modified shadings. This map also includes unmodified streams and rivers that were retrieved by a standard query.

Do not include too much data in your thematic maps. They lose effectiveness when they become cluttered and overwhelming. It is better to produce two or more maps showing a series of features than to include everything on one map.

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Creating Thematic Maps

Autodesk Map provides three methods to create thematic maps.

■ The Thematic Wizard provides the fastest and most convenient way to create thematic maps. The wizard steps you through the process of select-ing a datasource, specifying how to display the data, and creating a leg-end. You can create a thematic map based on either objects or topology.

You access the wizard from the Thematic Manager, which provides a cen-tral location in the project workspace for viewing and organizing thematic maps. When you open Map, you will see the Thematic tab in the Project Workspace. Clicking the tab opens the Thematic Manager and gives you access to any themes that have been created and stored in the drawing.

■ The Thematic Query option on the Map menu provides similar features to the wizard. You can run more than one thematic query, and you can com-bine thematic queries with standard queries. See “Creating Advanced The-matic Maps” on page 163.

■ The Property Alteration option of the Define Query command lets you produce more complex thematic maps.

Thematic Queries have the following limitations:

■ You can specify objects only by location, by layer, and by block attributes. You cannot specify the objects you retrieve for the map based on object data, external data, or properties.

■ When specifying the objects you retrieve, you can combine the criteria using only the AND operator, that is, objects must meet all selected crite-ria. You cannot combine criteria using OR and NOT combinations.

■ When selecting the data to use for the object modification, you can select only one SQL expression, object data value, or property. You cannot use multiple data sources.

■ If you modify the objects by adding text, you can add only static text for each range. That is, you can add a specific text string to all the objects that fall within that range. You cannot add variable text that is based on object properties or on data stored in an object data table or an external database table.

■ You can add only one line of text per object. You cannot add multiple lines.

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Creating Thematic Maps Using Thematic Queries

Whether you use the wizard or one of the older methods to create your thematic map, you will need to perform similar tasks.

Selecting Objects of Interest

To create a thematic map, you select the criteria for retrieving the objects that will appear in it. If you select more than one criteria, only objects that meet all criteria will appear. For example, if you specify a location and a layer, the object must be inside the location and on the layer. If you specify a location for a topology query, objects must be in the topology and in the specified location.

You can set a query option to specify how blocks and text are retrieved if you limit by location. You can specify that a block or text object should be retrieved if either its insertion point lies within the query area or its bounding box lies within the query area.

For more information on specifying a location condition, see “Finding Objects Based on Location” on page 141.

Keep in mind that while all objects in the selected location, layer, and block will appear in the thematic map, the objects will be modified only if they fall into one of the categories you define for the display parameters.

Creating a Thematic Expression

You must also specify which property or attached data of the retrieved object you want to use to modify the object. For example, you can modify roads based on data stored in an object data table. You can modify objects based on the following criteria:

■ A property, such as Area, Elevation, Layer, or Object Type■ Object data, block attributes, or database link data■ Linked data in an external database table

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Setting Display Parameters

You also need to specify how to modify the objects:

■ Specify the display property you want to change for the object. For exam-ple, you can change the color, fill, line format, or symbol for the object, or you can add text to the object.

■ Specify whether you want the map to be discrete or continuous.

Discrete information is data where each value is a distinct category, such as pipe material, land use, or pavement type. For example, an agricultural thematic map might show different crops in different colors or shading.

Continuous data is data where the data can be any value along a contin-uum, such as property value, temperature, or population. When you dis-play this type of data, you define ranges for the values. For example, you could divide property values into three ranges: 0 to $50,000, $50,000 to $100,000, and over $100,000.

Optionally, you can create a legend for your thematic map.

Sample Thematic Maps

This section shows some examples of thematic maps.

The following map shows the number of contaminated groundwater loca-tions for each county. The base map was linked to an external database that listed the number of contamination locations for each county.

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To create the previous map, the Thematic Expression used the SQL option to specify the appropriate field and table for the groundwater data. The Display Parameter is Symbol, and each range specified the block name, scale, and color for the symbol, and the description to include in the legend. In the resulting thematic map, the scale and color of the GWATER block is deter-mined by the number of contaminated locations in the county.

The following map shows average traffic counts for roads in a city. Object data is attached to each segment of the highway.

To create the previous map, the Objects of Interest were limited to the STREETS layer. The Thematic Expression used the Data option to specify the appropriate field and table for the traffic counts. The Display Parameter is Line Format, and for each range the user has specified the linetype, width, and color for the line.

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In the following illustration, earthquake risk in the USA is shown by different shading density.

The following map is a work order showing the street locations of valves that need to be replaced with a newer version.

To create the previous map, a standard query was used to retrieve the streets. Then a thematic query was used to retrieve the valve blocks. The Thematic Expression used the Property option to specify Block Name. The Display Parameter was Text and the range table had one line, specifying that blocks named VALVE be annotated with the text string “ID 4715.”



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Creating Advanced Thematic Maps

This section provides some examples of advanced thematic maps you can create using the wizard or the Property Alteration feature. For information on creating queries, see Chapter 10, “Using Queries to Analyze Data.” See espe-cially “Altering the Properties of Queried Objects” on page 152.

Note As with the Thematic Query feature, the Property Alteration feature does not modify the original objects in the source drawings. It modifies only the copies of the objects that are retrieved into the project drawing. If you wish, you can save these modifications back to the source drawings.

Here are some of the things you can do in advanced thematic maps:

■ In addition to retrieving objects based on their location, you can retrieve objects based on their properties or on data associated with the object in an object data table or in an external database table. For example, you could retrieve only objects that have an area of greater than 50,000 feet, or only objects with a pavement surface (stored in an object data table) of gravel, or only objects with an inspection date (stored in a linked external database table) earlier than 1989.

■ When retrieving objects, you can combine conditions using the AND, OR, and NOT operators. For example, you can retrieve objects that are on the STREETS layer but are not limited access streets.

■ When you modify objects, you can modify more than one property of the object. For example, you could change the color of the object and add text, or you could move the object to a different layer, change its color, and change its linetype.

■ If you add text to an object, the text can be customized for each object by using values stored in an object data table or an external database table. For example, if you stored parcel ID numbers in an external database table, you could add the parcel ID number to each parcel in the map. You can add multiple lines of text to an object.

The following illustration shows a well with object data identifying a ref-erence number, water depth, and aquifer type.

Note The default insertion point for text property alteration is the text label point, which is the midpoint of a linear object or center of an arc or circle. For more information, see “Defining Text Insertion Points” on page 98.


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■ You can save a query for later use. When you next use the query, you can, if you wish, edit the conditions or the property alterations.

If you save the query to an external file, you can share the query with other projects and other users. You then need to edit the query using a text editor. You can also add other expressions and AutoLISP® API commands to the file. See “Saving Queries” on page 153 for more information.

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In This Chapter

■ Understanding topology functio

■ Defining and creatopology

■ Administering anediting topology

12

Creating Map Topology

ns

ting

d

Topology describes how lines and polygons con-

nect and relate to each other. It forms the basis for

advanced GIS functions, such as network tracing

and spatial analysis.

Autodesk® Map introduces a map-based topology

that allows you to create, modify, and query topol-

ogy in a map. Tools are available to detect errors in

the topology, to correct these errors, and then to re-

create a topology.

165

Understanding Topology Functions

Spatial and geographic analyses are key components of geographic informa-tion systems (GIS). With Autodesk Map, you can organize graphical and related textual data in three types of topologies: node, network, and polygon, and use these topologies to perform spatial analysis, including network tracing, shortest-path routing, polygon overlay, and polygon buffer genera-tion. You can also determine conditions of adjacency (what is next to what), containment (what is enclosed by what), and proximity (how close some-thing is to something else). Topology describes how objects connect and relate to one another.

■ Node topology—A node topology defines the interrelation of nodes (point objects). Node topologies are often used in conjunction with other topologies in analysis. Unconnected water or oil wells are examples of a node topology.

■ Network topology—A network topology onsiders the interconnection of links (lines) forming a linear network. Links can connect nodes. An exam-ple of network topology is a water-distribution application that traces the flow of water from a pumping station to residences. A street network is another example.

■ Polygon topology—A polygon topology defines polygons that represent enclosed areas such as land parcels and census tracts. A single link defines the common boundary between adjacent areas. Uses of polygon topology include tax assessment and land planning in which parcels of land are rep-resented by polygons. Political boundaries, such as voting districts, city, state, or provincial boundaries, special districts, and school districts, are other examples of the use of polygon topology.

See “Topology Applications” on page 189.

Node topology: oil wells Network topology: rivers Polygon topology: county boundaries

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Advantages of Using Topology

Topology allows you to analyze map-related information more flexibly. You can use topology to define relationships between adjacent objects and groups of objects, and store the information as object data. The topology can then be analyzed to determine spatial and geographic relationships between objects.

There are several advantages of using topology. You can

■ Define and analyze relationships between map data■ Analyze more data very quickly■ Combine topologies to produce one overall topology. This topology can

later be dissolved into constituent topologies

Topology is easy to create and edit; for example, if you change a node, an associated polygon is modified.

Topology is also an effective way to store large amounts of data; for example, boundaries between adjacent polygons are stored as a single boundary.

The Autodesk Map Topology Model

Topology is built from three graphic primitives: nodes, links, and polygons.

Three types of topology relationships can be built from these primitives: link-node, link-polygon, and left-right.

Link-Node Relationships

With link-node relationships, linear features (links) are connected to other linear features at their end points (nodes). This concept provides the linear intelligence necessary for network tracing, routing, and more.

Nodes Links Polygons

X,Y Coordinate Data

Single X,Y coordinate

Series of X,Ycoordinates

Boundary of X,Y coordinates

Dimensions None (point) Length Area

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Every link can have two nodes: a beginning node and an ending node, and nodes can be shared by two or more links. A link (like a polyline) can have an unlimited number of intermediate vertices. You can assign a direction to a link; the default direction value is 0, which represents bidirectional or two-way directions.

The connection between two links occurs at the same node. Each node has a unique identification (ID) number.

Each node knows all of the links that connect to it. In a network topology, a node does not exist without a link. A dangling node is a node with only one link attached as shown in the following illustration. A dangling node is an error when it is part of a polygon topology.

A pseudo node is a node with exactly two links attached. These nodes may be unnecessary but may be needed for representing change from one link to another.

For a water utility, nodes can represent valves, and links represent the water lines. You can use topology to model the connections between water lines. For example, the topology can show all water lines closed off when a valve is shut.

For emergency services, the links can represent street segments, and nodes represent the intersection of two or more streets. You can use topology to determine the shortest path between two locations along the set of streets.

Link-Polygon Relationships

Connected links can form polygons. A polygon may contain links with any direction.

A polygon can have donut holes or islands, polygons within the area that are not included in that area. These islands can also form a polygon or set of polygons.

Dangling nodes

Pseudo node

Node

Link

Node

Vertex


The following illustration shows an example of connected links forming a polygon, and the object data stored with a polygon.

A polygon contains a centroid, which is not always at the center of a polygon, and can be on a different layer. The centroid is a point physically within the polygon, outside of any islands. The centroid is used as an identification point for a polygon and can be represented as text (using DTEXT), a block, or point object.

Left-Right Relationships

If you place yourself at the beginning node and look along the link toward the ending node, the link has a left side and a right side. If that link forms the boundary between two polygons, the link identifies a polygon on the left and a polygon on the right.

Area

Island

Centroid

NodeLink

LeftRightpolygon

polygon

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Left and right sides of the link are important for more than finding adjacent area relationships. The US Census Bureau TIGER files, which contain geographic coordinates, street name, and address information, are encoded with a left and a right side for each street segment and store address ranges for each side of the street.

Topology Data in Autodesk Map

Topology information is stored as object data on each element that makes up the topology. Topology data can be saved as part of the current map or saved back to a source drawing. You can load topology data when a map is opened or attached to a project.

See Chapter 8, “Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing,” and “Storing Topology Data” on page 172.

Because topology is definable for a map, identifiers used to store the topology are unique to the map.

Topology in each drawing must be separate and unique. Autodesk Map does not support topology data that spans several drawing files (such as tiled maps) unless they are combined in a project. You can create a topology by retrieving the required geometry from attached maps and creating the topology in the project. Topology can also be loaded from any active map file attached to the active project.

Defining and Creating Topology

The graphical data in a topology can be derived from existing maps, scanned into a map, or digitized. Nodes and centroids can be created during the topology creation process.

Removing Erroneous Data

The first step in using graphical data for topology is to clean up the data. You must clean up data before you define a topology; if you do not, you will get meaningless results, and in some cases you will not be able to create a topology. For information about the kinds of errors that may occur, see Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

elp Indexleaning


Online Htopology, c

Online Htopology, stopology, s

drawings

Creating a Topology

When you create a topology, all the nodes, links and centroids for the topology must be in the current drawing. Information for the topology can come from multiple drawings, such as tiled drawings of a road network or district maps of parcels. To create information for a topology from attached source drawings, you define a query to retrieve the information. Make sure any changes are saved in the current save set.

Note Before you create a topology, freeze all layers containing objects in paper space. If you do not freeze these layers, paper space objects are included in the topology creation.

After you create a topology, you can use the topology edit and administration functions, described later in this chapter, and the query and analysis func-tions described in Chapter 13, “Analyzing Map Topology.”

Saving a Topology

You can save the topology in the current drawing or save it back to the attached source drawings.

For data queried from source drawings, you can save back the topology infor-mation to the source drawings, and save the project drawing. Future work with the topology should be done in the project drawing with the source drawings active and attached. This method ensures that complete and correct object data associated with the topology is available.

elp Indexreating

elp Indexavingaving to source

Defining and Creating Topology | 171

Storing Topology Data

Information about each topology you create is stored in an object data table in the current drawing like the one shown in the following table.

This information can be included in a topology query. See Chapter 13, “Analyzing Map Topology.”

Depending on the type of topology, other object data tables are created and attached to the elements of the topology; these elements, with object data tables examples, are described in the following sections.

Topology Name

Object Data Table Object Data Field Information Stored

EXAMPLE TPMDESC_EXAMPLE TYPE Topology type

TOLERANCE Setting of VIEWRES when created or edited

LINK_LAYER Layer for links

LINK_COLOR Color of links

CREATE_NODE Nodes in topology; 0=No, 1=Yes

NODE_LAYER Layer for nodes

NODE_TYPE Type of nodes

NODE_BLOCK Block used for nodes

CREATE_CNTR Centroids in topology; 0=No, 1=Yes

CNTR_LAYER Layer for centroids

CNTR_COLOR Color of centroids

CNTR_TYPE Type of centroids

CNTR_BLOCK Block used for centroids


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Online Htopology, n

Creating a Node Topology

You can create a node topology with point objects, blocks, or text. A node topology used in association with a network or polygon topology can hold information about junctions and intersections between elements of the topology.

Information about a node topology is held in an object data table like the one shown in the following table.

Creating a Network Topology

Network topology defines the interconnection of links and, optionally, nodes at link junctions. Networks may contain loops, and network segments have a specified direction. Links can be lines, open polylines, or arcs. You can use information from different layers to define a network topology.

Before you create a network topology, you should clean up your data. However, pseudo nodes and dangles are often acceptable and can provide useful information in a network topology. For example, dangles can repre-sent cul-de-sacs in a road network. Links can cross each other and not inter-sect; for example, one road on a network might pass over or under another without an intersection, or a road might go over a railroad on a bridge. In these cases, do not use Break Crossing Objects to create intersecting links.

When you create the network topology with nodes at each intersection, the nodes do not significantly increase file size, and you can use the nodes for path trace and flood trace analysis.

See also “Network Tracing Analysis” on page 182.

Topology Name Object Data Table Object Data Field

SAMPLE_NODE TPMNODE_SAMPLE_NODE ID

elp Indexode

elp Indexetwork

Non-intersecting links Intersecting links inNon-intersecting linksa network topology


Online HSpecify DirSpecify Res

or NodeEditing a N

Topology

Network topology information is stored on the links and nodes as object data. Each element of the network topology has different object data values.

See also Chapter 8, “Saving Attribute Data in the Drawing.”

If you create nodes when you create the network topology, the object data table for each node has the following information.

After the topology is created, you can view the object data tables that are automatically created.

Network topology information about direction and resistance can be used for analysis. By default, each link has a bidirectional direction. Both resistance and direction are stored as object data. You can edit both direction and resis-tance values by using the topology editing tools described in “Editing Topology” on page 177.


SAMPLE_NET TPMLINK_SAMPLE_NET ID

START_NODE

END_NODE

DIRECTION

DIRECT_RESISTANCE

REVERSE_RESISTANCE


SAMPLE_NET TPMNODE_SAMPLE_NET ID

RESISTANCE

elp Indexection for a Linkistance for a Link

etwork


Online Htopology, p

Creating a Polygon Topology

Polygon topology is an extension of network topology and focuses on area-based relationships. Every area forms a polygon; and each polygon in a topology consists of a set of links. A polygon in a topology has a centroid, which is a point or block element located within the polygon, and containing information about the area enclosed by the polygon boundary.

You can use polygon topology for analysis as explained in “Understanding Spatial and Geographic Analysis” on page 182.

Here are some key points about polygon topology:

■ Polygons almost always share links; most links belong to two polygons, one on the left and one on the right.

■ Polygons can have “islands”; the most common example is actual islands within lakes. Note that islands can also have islands.

■ Polygons have areas and perimeters, which are calculated and stored with the centroids.

■ Multiple topologies can share edges. For example, a river can be part of several topologies.

You should clean up your data before you create polygon topology; there must be no gaps, intersections, or overlaps between any of the line work in a polygon topology.

When Autodesk Map cannot create a polygon topology because the links in the polygons that cross each other do not have a node where they meet, the intersections are marked by an X. You can remove the markers with the REDRAW command. Then use drawing cleanup to break the crossing objects and create the topology again.

See “Removing Erroneous Data” on page 170 and Chapter 6, “Using the Drawing Cleanup and Editing Tools.”

You cannot create a polygon topology from ellipses or from closed polylines that share an edge or intersection with other polygons. Before you create the topology, you must explode a closed polyline. You can use information from different layers to define a polygon topology.

Creating polygon topology is similar to creating network topology, except that you must also create centroids. Information to define centroids, links, and nodes can be derived from layers; information for centroids and nodes can also be derived from named blocks. Any selected point, text, or inserted object inside a polygon can be used for the centroid; if there are no suitable objects, you can specify a centroid block and layer. Each centroid holds data about the number of links in the polygon and the area and perimeter of that

elp Indexolygon


polygon only. Links and nodes hold object data for all topologies that use them.

Information about a polygon topology is held in the centroids and links. The object data table for each centroid has the following information.

The object data table for each link in a polygon topology has the following information.

If you create nodes when you create the polygon topology, the object data table for each node has the following information.


SAMPLE_POLY TPMCNTR_SAMPLE_POLY ID

AREA

PERIMETER

LINKS_QTY


SAMPLE_POLY TPMLINK_SAMPLE_POLY ID

START_NODE

END_NODE

DIRECTION

DIRECT_RESISTANCE

REVERSE_RESISTANCE

LEFT_POLYGON

RIGHT_POLYGON


SAMPLE_POLY TPMNODE_SAMPLE_POLY ID

RESISTANCE


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Online Htopology, e

Administering and Editing Topology

Using the topology administration and editing tools, you can

■ Load and unload a topology from memory■ Delete and rename a topology■ Add a link or node to a topology■ Audit the geometry of a topology■ Complete and recreate a topology■ Edit part of a topology■ Determine statistics for a topology

Administering Topology

Using the topology administration tools in Autodesk Map, you can load, unload, rename, and delete an existing topology, audit or check the status of a topology to ensure its integrity, and get statistics on the topologies in an active project. If a topology was edited with commands other than the topology editing tools, you can also recreate it. All source drawings associated with a named topology must be attached and active when you use these tools. Because a drawing can contain more than one topology, all the topology functions prompt you to specify a topology name.

Editing Topology

The topology editing commands on the Map menu allow you to make changes to a topology without losing the integrity of the topology. If you use object editing commands such as ERASE or STRETCH to modify a topology, important data may be lost. To “repair” a topology edited with these commands, use the Update options; to edit a topology, use the appropriate edit option in the Edit Topology dialog box.

To edit a topology, the topology data and geometry must be loaded in the active project. Only one topology can be active, and edited, at a time, and multi-user editing of a topology is not permitted. When you load a topology, an automatic audit checks topology integrity. This audit is concerned not with geometry, only with topology data. Any “incomplete” objects are regis-tered, because only “complete” objects can be edited. The Complete and Audit Geometry options make objects complete for editing.

See “Topology Completeness” on page 178.

If you want to add or insert objects into a topology, the current drawing must be the drawing where the topology was created. If the topology was created

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Administering and Editing Topology | 177

in a source drawing, you must open that drawing directly to add objects to the topology. Make the layer containing the topology objects the current layer. New objects will then have the same properties as objects already in the topology.

Note If you edit a topology and then use the Undo command, the altered geometry is restored to its former state but the altered topology remains current. To perform further editing on the topology, unload and reload the topology. This applies to all topology functions.

Here are some examples of editing topologies:

■ Node topology—Moving a survey control point and adjusting any sur-rounding polygons.

■ Network topology—Extending power or water lines into a new housing area.

■ Polygon topology—Dividing a parcel of land into two lots.

■ Polygon topology—Merging two polygons. For example, when a state joins two taxation regions into one, a utility company has to merge its database.

Topology Completeness

If parts of the topology are incomplete (not closed or only part of a polygon), they are marked and excluded from editing. Two examples of incomplete topologies created by queries are shown in the following illustration. The outer polygons in the grid are incomplete because their outside links are parts of polygons not included in the query.

Source drawing

Queried data

Polygon that cannot be edited

Polygons that can be edited

Polygon that cannot be edited


If you use a location query to retrieve polygons, make sure you use a Crossing window. If you are using data that is shared with other users, use the Load option of Topology Administration to ensure that you are using current data.

Completing a Topology

The Complete option looks at the objects and object data in a drawing, and attempts to complete a network or polygon topology by retrieving further drawing objects, such as links and centroids referenced by the topology object data tables. Complex polygons, with one or more islands, must be fully represented, and all internal islands referenced by a polygon must be present for the Complete option to work.

This option completes dangling edges in a network topology and all incom-plete areas in polygon topologies; however, it might fill islands as well.

Auditing and Recreating a Topology

The Audit Geometry option checks that a topology is complete and contains no errors. Any errors found are marked but are not fixed. Errors in a node topology are not marked.

You can use the Recreate option to reestablish a topology that was edited with nontopology editing commands such as STRETCH and PEDIT; however, topology data might be lost. You can only recreate a topology in the current drawing; for topology in an attached drawing, use a query to retrieve the geometry first. Use the Load option before using Recreate.

If you want to modify the geometry of a topology (the nodes, links, or poly-gons), use the Topology Editing tools explained in “Editing Topology” on page 177.

If you need to create closed polygons for a non-Autodesk Map user, or if you are exporting data to an external file format that does not support topologies, use the Create Closed Polylines option of the Topology menu.

See “Creating Closed Polylines from a Topology” on page 104.

Administering and Editing Topology | 179

In This Chapter

■ Understanding spand geographic analysis

■ Topology applica

13

Analyzing Map Topology

atial

tions

Topology describes how lines and polygons con-

nect and relate to each other and forms the basis

for advanced GIS functions, such as network trac-

ing and spatial analysis. You can query and analyze

a topology to derive information about spatial rela-

tionships and distribution.

181

Understanding Spatial and Geographic Analysis

Once a topology is created, you can use it as a basis for spatial analysis and geographic analysis. Spatial analysis is the process of extracting or creating new information about a set of geographic features. It refers to techniques that determine the distribution of a feature, or features, over a network or area, and the relationships between those features. The location of, prox-imity to, and orientation of objects can be analyzed with spatial analysis. It is useful for evaluating suitability and capability, for estimating and predicting, and for interpreting. Geographic analysis identifies conditions at a geographic location, in a spatial area, or along a linear network, and predicts the effects of future events on these features.

Autodesk® Map allows you to analyze spatial and geographic information in these ways:

■ Network tracing analysis—Using a network to perform shortest-distance analysis and flood tracing.

■ Overlay analysis—Using two existing topologies to create a third topology based upon the interaction of the first two.

■ Buffer analysis—Identifying objects inside or outside a specified distance from an existing topology.

■ Querying—Performing queries based on a stored topology.■ Dissolving—Breaking a polygon topology into multiple polygon topolo-

gies with common values.

For examples of spatial and geographic analysis, see “Topology Applications” on page 189.

Network Tracing Analysis

You can perform two types of network tracing:

■ Path Trace—A path between two points.■ Flood Trace—Paths radiating from one point.

For both types, you can specify a resistance for any link in the network. This resistance specifies the difficulty in traversing the link. The default resistance is the length of the link.

Both types of network tracing work with a loaded network topology only. You can create a new network topology from the tracing. See “Topology Applications” on page 189.

182 | Chapter 13 Analyzing Map Topology

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trace ana

Online Htopology, f

analysis

Path Trace: Tracing between Two Points

Using a network topology, you can calculate the shortest path between two points or determine the optimal route based on values of direction and resis-tance. This process is known as a shortest path trace analysis.

In a street network, for example, you might find the shortest path between a fire station and a school.

To analyze a network with a time factor, you need to assign a speed or speed limit to each link using an object data field or a field in a linked external data-base. You then set the Direct Resistance parameter.

For a complete example of tracing between two points in a street network, refer to Tutorial V of the online Mapping Tutorials. To open the tutorials, choose Tutorials from the Help menu.

Flood Trace: Tracing Out from a Point

This process is known as network flood trace analysis. To trace out from a point in all directions, you specify the point where the network starts and the maximum distance the network can traverse. The analysis determines how many links and nodes can be travelled before the accumulated resistance exceeds the specified maximum resistance. For example, you might want to find all restaurants within a 10-minute walk of a hotel.

You can use flood trace analysis to check the integrity of a network topology. If some links are not flooded, the topology is incomplete; you can use the map editing tools to correct the geometry, and then recreate the topology.

Analysis of Topology Overlays

A powerful form of analysis is possible when you overlay two or more topol-ogies. There are three types of overlay analysis:

■ Nodes with polygons■ Networks with polygons■ Polygons with polygons

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Understanding Spatial and Geographic Analysis | 183

Nodes with Polygons

You can attach information associated with polygons to a set of points inside the polygon. For example, you can overlay crime incidents with demo-graphic data to identify correlations between income and crime.

Networks with Polygons

You can identify relationships between linear and regional data, such as the length of roads in a highway district.

Nodes in topology

Polygon topology

Network topology

Polygon topology


Online Htopology, o

Polygons with Polygons

You can combine and analyze data from different areas and data sets. Over-laying polygons with polygons can be used for suitability analysis, such as, overlaying data sets for earthquake risk, flood risk, surface geology, and zoning to help determine where to locate a new landfill.

You can overlay or combine a series of polygon topologies into a single topology, as shown in the following illustration, which shows a soil and a geological survey combined into one set of polygons as part of an integrated terrain unit (ITU). ITUs are mapping areas that are homogeneous for a group of data values. For more information about overlay analysis, see the following section.

You can later dissolve the topology into its constituent polygons with Topology Dissolve. Dissolving a topology makes data management easier because you can break out a single element to its original form for data sharing, selected projects, or other analysis. For more information, see “Dissolving Topologies” on page 188. See the online help and “Dissolving Polygons” on page 188.

Analyzing Topology Overlays

To overlay two topologies, both must be loaded into the current drawing. Use the Load option of Topology Administration to load topologies from the current drawing or from attached source drawings.

SoilGravel GravelSandSand

BedrockGraniteSandstoneSandstoneSlate

ID1234

Composite Object Data

12

3

4

Granite

SlateSandstone

SOIL

BEDROCK

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Online Htopology, b

Explicit Nodes in Overlay Analysis

During polygon or network topology overlay you cannot copy the original explicit nodes to a new topology. Explicit nodes are blocks or point objects; implicit nodes exist where two links connect without an object connecting them. To convert an added explicit node into an implicit node, use the ERASE command to delete the explicit node, and then unload the topology.

Buffer Analysis

Using buffer analysis, or buffering, you can easily identify objects within a specified offset of elements in node, network, and polygon topologies. A buffer is a zone that is drawn around a topology. For example, you might specify a buffer on either side of a river to show the extent of a flood plain.

For buffering, you create a new polygon topology from an existing node, network, or polygon topology and specify a buffer offset.

The following illustration shows how buffer analysis functions with different topologies.

elp Indexuffering

buffer offset

Buffering Polygon Topologies

negative buffer offset

positive buffer offset

merged point buffersbuffer offset

Buffering Network TopologiesBuffering Point TopologiesBuffering Point Topologies


Online Htopology, q

The buffer offset can be a positive or negative numeric value, an expression, a value specified by object data, or a value linked to an external database record.

You can use buffer analysis to show the location and extent of a topology. Specify a small offset for the topology and put the new topology on a layer with a distinct color; afterwards, you can delete the new topology from the Topology Administration dialog box.

Example of Buffer Analysis

To find potential locations for a dump site, you might create two sets of polygons: one representing areas that are not residential, and the other a buffered area around major roads.

Querying Topology Data

A topology query allows you to retrieve a loaded topology and its associated data from the active project or an attached drawing. You can also query part of a topology in a source drawing and work on that part of the topology without having to retrieve all the objects that make up the topology.

You can use a topology query when working with topologies only, or when you want to select one topology to query. Use a standard query for nonto-pology or mixed data. Combining object property and topology queries may give unpredictable results.

You can use all four types of query conditions:

■ Location■ Property■ Data■ SQL

There are three differences between using standard queries and topology queries:

■ Topology queries work with only one topology; standard queries work with all objects in the attached drawings.

■ Topology Property queries can be based on polygon values of Area, Length, Perimeter, and Direction; links also have predefined object data for Direct Resistance and Reverse Resistance.

■ Property alterations work differently with polygon topologies.

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Online Htopology, r

Online Htopology, d

Creating a Result Topology

When you use a topology query, you can hold the retrieved information in the active project in three types of topology:

■ None—No information is added to the geometry in the current drawing.

■ Temporary—Information is retrieved and stored in memory as a topology with a name preceded by an asterisk (*).

You cannot save back the temporary topology to the queried drawings. However, you can use Topology Administration to rename the temporary topology, or you can retain the topology in the project.

■ Permanent—The query retrieves data and creates a topology in the active project. You can save back this topology to the source drawings. The topol-ogy name must not be preceded by an asterisk (*).

Dissolving Topologies

You can break a polygon or network topology into its constituent elements by dissolving a topology. You select a Dissolve Field to define the process. The Dissolve Field can be an object data variable or a column in a linked external database. Data is broken down into the lowest common denominator.

Dissolving Polygons

The dissolving polygons option checks each boundary between polygons to see if the Dissolve By field value is the same for both. If so, the boundary and one of the centroids are removed. All object fields except for the dissolve and any new topology fields are removed as shown in the following illustration.

elp Indexesult

elp Indexissolving

Composite Object DataSoilGravelGravelSandSand

BedrockGraniteSlateSandstoneMudstone

ID1234

SoilGravelSand

ID 1 2

Simplified Object Data

Dissolve

on Soil

12

3

4


If adjacent polygons do not contain the Dissolve By field, the boundary is not dissolved and the resulting polygon has a blank value for that field.

Dissolving Network Links

The dissolving network links option checks nodes between lines to see whether two lines intersect at a specified node and whether the Dissolve By field is the same. If so, the node is removed, and the two links are joined to form one link. All object fields except for the dissolve and any new topology fields are removed as shown in the following illustration.

If adjacent lines do not contain the Dissolve By field, the node is not dissolved and the resulting polyline has a blank value for that field.

Topology Applications

This section contains examples of the use of topology in spatial and geographic analysis for help in planning and decision making. Many appli-cations of topology and topology analysis involve some elements of node, network, and polygon topology.

Examples of Network Topology

Here are some examples of the use of network topology with comparisons of flow-direction limitations:

■ A river drainage is a “tree” type network with more branches the further upstream you go. River junctions are nodes, but generally these nodes are

RiverAgua FriaGrandeCaliente

Depth9720442

ID12345

GrandeGrande

351363

RiverAgua FriaGrandeCaliente

ID1234 Grande

Topology Applications | 189

not identified or used. Every segment of a river drainage has a distinct flow direction.

■ A water-distribution network generally has a series of loops to provide redundancy and to balance flows. The water in some of the system can flow in either direction. Water systems have nodes (or “junctions”) at the intersections of pipes. A single link may be very long with a single identi-fier; but nodes may occur for junctions, service connections, valves, hydrants, and so on.

■ A sewer network is very much like a river or drainage system, with single-direction downstream flow. Unlike a river, however, there are many explicit nodes where manholes are located. Some of these nodes occur at junctions, but many occur within a segment of pipe to provide service access.

You can use object data to specify flow direction in all these cases. Other applications of network topology include street plans, oil pipelines, and elec-trical, telephone, storm drainage, and gas networks.

Street Networks

A street network has many loops and interconnections, and most of the segments are bidirectional. However, there are segments that are one way and allow traffic flow in only one direction.

Every street segment can be stored as a link with nodes at street intersections, and because a link has direction, you can define the direction of each street segment. You can also define information about flow along that segment as a resistance.

This resistance information is stored as object data, so you can reference a different object data table to view resistance at different times of day. Infor-mation on streets (links) is stored at a given intersection (node). The network topology is used for the shortest-path trace function.

Note To carry out network path trace and flood trace analysis on a road network based on time rather than distance, you need to define an object data table and a field containing data for each street.


Examples of Polygon Topology

Polygons can represent many things on a map, but they often represent data for given areas. Different sets of polygons can represent different sets of area types of data. Polygon topology can show population density, voting by region, land use, soil types, drainage patterns, and other area types of data.

Here are some applications and examples of polygon topologies:

■ City blocks, which are formed by the surrounding streets. (Census data often includes information on which block is on the left and which is on the right on each city street.)

■ Watersheds, which are the drainage areas for sets of streams and rivers, represent a dividing line between different drainage systems.

■ Land use and land cover.■ Defining fire or police districts; assigning parcels to the districts.■ Defining water pressure zones; assigning addresses to zones.■ Utility district service boundaries.

Emergency Services

An emergency call is received by a radio dispatcher, who locates the address of the caller. The dispatcher needs to determine the reporting district of the address, and uses street information stored as a polygon topology. The poly-gons define each reporting district, and the topology allows you to locate the polygon (for example, the left side of the street points to the polygon on the left side) based on the street segment (matching an address to a street segment side). Once the district is determined, the dispatcher uses the street network to determine the fastest way to get from the emergency center to the caller by using shortest-path tracing.

Topology Applications | 191

In This Chapter

■ Understanding mprojections

■ Understanding coordinate system

■ Global coordinatsystems in AutodMap

14

Using Coordinate Systems

ap

s

e esk

Most maps use some form of coordinate system to

represent the curvature of the Earth’s surface on a

flat plane. Each coordinate system uses a different

mathematical model to calculate this representa-

tion. With Autodesk® Map, you can combine maps

created with different coordinate systems by con-

verting data using various coordinate systems in

several source drawings to a single global coordi-

nate system in one base map.

193

Understanding Map Projections

It is difficult for map makers to represent a spherical surface area, such as the Earth’s surface, on a flat plane. Projections provide many methods for converting a point from a spherical coordinate (latitude and longitude) to a planar Cartesian (X,Y,Z) coordinate. Because CAD systems describe objects with Cartesian coordinates, a planar coordinate system must be in place and evident on the map before you can begin digitizing or importing maps with different coordinate systems. Keep the following points in mind:

■ It is important to annotate all maps with the projection and related parameters of a digitized map. This information is required for calcula-tions with global coordinate systems.

■ You can digitize a map based on its latitude and longitude coordinates, however you must apply a global coordinate system to give an accurate representation of an area. See “Global Coordinate Systems in Autodesk Map” on page 197 for information about selecting a suitable system.

Map Projections in Autodesk Map

All map projections distort the Earth’s surface to some extent, stretching it in some directions and compressing it in others. Distortions resulting from different projections include area, shape, distance, direction or azimuth, and angles. A map or parts of a map can show some of these features:

■ True direction■ True distance■ True area■ True shape

For example, only the Mercator projection represents the true direction of straight lines, yet it greatly distorts distances and areas near the poles.

No one projection is best overall. Projections that preserve area are called equivalent, or equal-area, projections. Others, called conformal projections, maintain local angles. However, the farther one gets from predefined stan-dard lines on the map, the more equal-area projections distort the shape of the objects and the more conformal projections distort the area.

On an equidistant map, distances are true only along lines radiating from the center of the projection. Area sizes on conformal maps are distorted although shapes are true; equal-area maps distort shapes. The extent and kinds of distortion also vary according to the projection used.

194 | Chapter 14 Using Coordinate Systems

Choosing a Projection System

A projection system can be visualized as the method used to wrap a flat sheet of paper around the Earth. Data is then projected from the Earth’s surface to the paper. You can choose a projection system based on the area that you want to map. Based on your map shape, you can use one of these map projection types:

Wide To map a wide area, such as the state of Montana in the USA, you want latitude lines to show the least distortion. You can use a coordinate system based on the Lambert Conformal Conic projection.

Tall For a tall area, such as the state of Idaho in the USA, in which the north-south extent is the greatest, you want longitude lines to show the least distortion. You can use a system based on the Transverse Mercator projection.

Large For areas that include both hemispheres, such as North and South America, you can use the Mercator projection.

Map Scales and Distortion

A map scale is a proportion or ratio between a map measurement and the corresponding measurement on the ground. Scale is usually expressed as a ratio or fraction. For example, a scale of 1 to 10,000, means that a measure-ment of 1 unit on the map represents 10,000 units on the ground. A map with less detail is termed a smaller-scale map because the scale expression is a smaller fraction; 1/10,000 is larger scale than 1/100,000.

Wide areaTall area

Understanding Map Projections | 195

Online Hcoordinate

transform

Map scales can be divided into three categories:

■ Small-scale maps with scales smaller than 1:1,000,000■ Medium-scale maps with scales between 1:75,000 and 1:1,000,000■ Large-scale maps with scales larger than 1:75,000

The map scale for a given projection determines the usefulness of a map. For example, a Mercator projection of North America shows great distortion at small scales but is ideal for a small area such as a 1:24,000 scale county map.

Understanding Coordinate Systems

Autodesk Map uses a global coordinate system to convert latitude and longi-tude coordinates into a Cartesian (X,Y,Z) coordinate system. A global coordi-nate system is usually defined by a projection, ellipsoid definition, datum definition, one or more standard parallels, and a central meridian.

Coordinate Systems and Origins

Many different coordinate systems and origins are used across the world, and each country has its own coordinate system and origin. For example, the Ordnance Survey in Britain has an origin point southwest of the Isles of Scilly, and the system in the Netherlands uses an origin point near Paris. In some cases, individual counties, states, and cantons have their own origins and systems.

Coordinate Transformation

When you retrieve objects from source drawings, Autodesk Map automati-cally converts them to the global coordinate system of the project drawing. This operation is called coordinate transformation. When you save objects back to source drawings, Autodesk Map reverses the conversion.

Coordinate transformation allows the manipulation of the coordinate geometry using various mathematical projections, adjustments, transformations, and conversions. By making adjustments for size, scale, rotation, and elevation, you can modify how Autodesk Map performs coor-dinate transformations.

After you bring objects into the project, if you plan to save changes back to source drawings, do not change the coordinate transformation options. The save-back process uses the original settings to determine whether adjust-ments are necessary to restore objects to the correct coordinate system when you save them back to source drawings.

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Note The Autodesk Map simple transformation options, available in the Draw-ing Settings dialog box, cannot be used with coordinate transformations. If you assign a global coordinate system code to a map drawing, the simple transforma-tion options are not available.

Geodetic and Non-Geodetic Coordinate Systems

All geographic data is created in some coordinate system, and in the context of some datum. A datum refers both to the ellipsoid information and the techniques used to determine positions on the Earth’s surface. Some coordi-nate systems only specify the ellipsoid; these are non-geodetic. Coordinate systems that specify the complete datum are geodetic.

Before you assign coordinate systems to project or source drawings, you should know what type of coordinate systems you are using, what datums they use, and what kind of conversions you will be performing. You need to know which conversion option you are using and what the results of the option will be.

Most of the coordinate systems supplied with Autodesk Map are geodetic, but about ten percent are non-geodetic. Therefore, you should determine whether the coordinate systems you use are geodetic or non-geodetic before you assign a global coordinate system to a project drawing. Extra care should be taken when using non-geodetic coordinate systems. If you have data in a drawing that uses a non-geodetic coordinate system, but don't know what datum the data came from, you might introduce errors if you convert the drawing to a geodetic coordinate system.

Global Coordinate Systems in Autodesk Map

The global coordinate system is a description of the origin of your map, the projection system used, and the units you are using; it describes how the sphere of the Earth is projected onto a sheet of paper and converted to the Cartesian coordinate system.

Choosing a Global Coordinate System

With Autodesk Map, you assign a global coordinate system for your project drawing and for the attached source drawings if the systems are different. See Chapter 2, “Setting Up a Project,” for more information about setting up a project.

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If you do not have a specific global coordinate system to use, or if you need to decide which system to use in your office or department, consider your options in this order:

■ Use the same global coordinate system as other staff in your organization.■ Use the same coordinate system as your most common data source.■ Choose the global coordinate system used by people who share data with

you.■ If the area is small, use the same global coordinate system as your local city

or county government. If the area is large, use the same system as the state, regional, provincial, or national mapping group.

■ Ask surveyors, cartographers, consultants, and other mapping professionals for suggestions.

Assigning a Global Coordinate System

If you are working with data that uses a variety of projections and origins, you need to set a default global coordinate system for the project drawing. Once you have assigned a global coordinate system, that coordinate system is used when you work with that drawing. This default should be changed only after thorough consideration and should apply to all project drawings.

A code identifies the global coordinate system used for source drawings and project drawings. For example, if you created a map using Universal Trans-verse Mercator, Zone 27, US Survey Feet, you assign the code UTM-27F to the map. The global coordinate system code and definition are stored in the drawing file. This allows you to share the drawing with anyone using AutoCAD Map® 2000i Release 4.5 or later and be sure that they are using the correct coordinate system when working with the drawing.

If the current project drawing uses a different global coordinate system from that of the source drawing, Autodesk Map converts retrieved objects from the source drawing’s global coordinate system to the project drawing’s global coordinate system. You must first provide Autodesk Map with the global coordinate system of the source drawing.

You can assign a global coordinate system to the current project drawing and to attached source drawings only if no objects have been queried from the source drawings.

When the coordinate system you choose is assigned to the selected attached drawings, a backup file, with a .bak extension, is made of each source drawing without assigning the global coordinate system information.

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Autodesk Map mapping and query options are ineffective if different projections and coordinate systems are used for a series of maps and data is combined for the different maps. You can set options to ensure that parts of a map are not adjusted when you use a global coordinate system.

Using the Autodesk Map global coordinate systems requires many complex calculations and can decrease performance for operations such as querying and saving back objects.

Identifying a Drawing’s Global Coordinate System

If an active drawing has an assigned global coordinate system, you can view its code in the Drawing Settings dialog box.

Defining and Modifying Coordinate Systems

If no suitable coordinate system exists, you can define a customized coordinate system. You might need to define your own system if your map

■ Spans one or more countries or states that use different coordinate systems.

■ Shows a large geographical feature rather than an administrative bound-ary.

■ Does not match the alignment of the state plane or national standard coordinate system. For example, you might be mapping an area with a greater east-west extent in an area that uses a Transverse Mercator (designed for greater north-south extents) projection.

For small (less than a square kilometer) projects that will not be integrated with other maps, a random, assumed coordinate system is sufficient; and the effects of the curvature of the Earth can be ignored. Digitizing maps for small projects from state or national maps that use their own coordinate systems, or base meridian, should not cause problems.

The available coordinate systems are stored in the coordsys.csd file. You cannot edit this file directly. Instead, you must use the Autodesk Map coor-dinate system functions to remove custom systems that you do not require or to rearrange the way that the categories and systems appear in the Define Global Coordinate System and Assign Global Coordinate System dialog boxes.

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When you define a global coordinate system you must specify the following parameters:

■ Map Projection—Used to convert points from latitude and longitude to Cartesian coordinates.

and either

■ Datum—Reference point, line, or surface for mapping.

or

■ Ellipsoid—Geometric surface whose plane sections are all circles or ellipses.

You can create a completely new coordinate system based on your own data or use a predefined coordinate system as a basis for creating your own. You can also modify or delete any coordinate systems that you define. You cannot delete any of the predefined global coordinate systems supplied with Autodesk Map.

Note Autodesk Map 5 installs updated versions of the files that store the coor-dinate system definitions. The updated files include a number of new coordinate systems and are installed in a shared location, typically c:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\GIS\Coordsys\10. During installation, Autodesk Map 5 uses the Coordinate System Update Utility, CSUPDATE.EXE, to automatically update the newly installed files, incorporating any custom coordinate systems you defined in a previous release of AutoCAD Map. Do not copy the coordinate sys-tem files from previous releases of AutoCAD Map directly into the Autodesk shared coordinate system folder. For details on using the CSUPDATE utility man-ually, refer to the csupdate.hlp file, located in the Help folder of the Autodesk Map 5 install directory.

When defining a custom coordinate system, you may want to enter a False Origin, with Northing and Easting values. For example, if you use the Trans-verse Mercator projection and the central meridian bisects the mapping region, half of the X coordinates are negative values. Coordinate system defi-nitions usually include a false origin that is added to all coordinates to make them positive. The X coordinate of this offset is called the False Origin Easting. The Y coordinate of this offset is called the False Origin Northing.

Note You must annotate all maps with the coordinate system and related parameters, including the datum and ellipsoid, of a digitized map. This informa-tion is required for accurate calculations with global coordinate systems.


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Setting Additional Projection Parameters

Depending on the projection you use to define a custom coordinate system, you must provide some additional information. For example, you might use the Transverse Mercator projection that is based on a cylinder that touches the Earth at a single circle of longitude. For minimum distortion, you should use the longitude at the center of the region you are mapping. You enter this longitude value in the Longitude Of The Central Meridian (degrees) edit box.

By specifying the longitude of the central meridian you are establishing a zero point for the X coordinate. You must also specify a zero point for the Y coordinate. This selection is arbitrary but is usually outside of and to the south of the region you are mapping so that you can work with positive numbers. You enter this latitude value in the Latitude Of The Origin Of Projection (degrees) edit box.

To produce the smallest possible distance between the projection surface and any point in the region you are mapping, you must specify a scale reduction factor. This is particularly important when you are mapping large regions. For the Transverse Mercator projection, you enter this value in the Scale Reduction Factor At The Central Meridian edit box.

Defining, Modifying, and Deleting Datum Definitions

You can define new datum definitions based on your own data or use a predefined datum definition as a basis for creating your own. You can also modify or delete any datum definitions that you define. You cannot delete predefined datum definitions supplied with Autodesk Map.

If you modify or delete a datum that you have defined, you must also modify or delete any coordinate systems that reference that datum.

When defining a custom datum, you choose the conversion technique you want to use, either Molodensky, Bursa/Wolfe, or Seven Parameter Transfor-mation. After choosing the conversion technique, you must specify the appropriate conversion parameters for the technique you chose.

Defining, Modifying, and Deleting Ellipsoids

You can define new ellipsoid definitions based on your own data or use a predefined ellipsoid definition as a basis for creating your own. You can also modify or delete any ellipsoid definitions that you define. You cannot delete predefined ellipsoid definitions supplied with Autodesk Map.

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If you modify or delete an ellipsoid that you have defined, you must also modify or delete any coordinate systems that reference that ellipsoid.

When defining a custom ellipsoid, you must specify the calculation method and values used to determine the dimensions of the ellipsoid. After choosing the calculation method, you supply two of the required values, and Autodesk Map determines the remaining two values for you.

Tracking Coordinates

As you move the cursor around in a drawing window, you can display the cursor location in the coordinate system you specify. For example, if your source drawings use one coordinate system and your project drawing uses another, you can track the source drawing’s coordinates as you move the cursor around in the project drawing.

You can digitize new points in existing maps with precision by using the Track Coordinates feature to specify the exact coordinates of the points.

Measuring Geodetic Distance

You can measure the geodetic distance between points in your maps and specify the units in which to display the distance. Geodetic distance is different from simple straight line distance in that it takes into account the curvature of the Earth. So, the geodetic distance between any two points is longer than the straight line distance between the same two points. For example, if you want to calculate the driving distance between points, you would use the geodetic distance, because cars drive on the curved surface of the earth.


In This Chapter

■ Understanding raimages

■ Inserting raster images

■ Hiding, unloadindetaching, and erasing images

■ Changing the imdisplay order

■ Viewing image information

■ Changing image paths

■ Selecting images

■ Modifying imageproperties

■ Clipping images

15

Using Images

ster

g,

age

file

With Autodesk® Map, you can add raster images to

your vector-based drawings and then view and plot

the resulting file. You combine raster images with

vector drawings for a number of reasons: to add

scanned documents, faxes, or microfilm drawings;

to use aerial and satellite photographs; to use digi-

tal photographs; to create effects such as water-

marks and logos; and to add computer-rendered

images created by visualization programs.

203

Understanding Raster Images

Raster images, such as photographs, consist of grids of individually colored dots called pixels.

Some image-editing applications, such as Autodesk® CAD Overlay®, let you specify information about image location and store this correlation informa-tion in the raster image file, or in an associated correlation source file, or in defaults that you set. This correlation information, also known as georefer-encing information, takes the guesswork out of inserting your images.

If you insert a raster image using the Raster Extension Image ➤ Insert command, Autodesk Map reads the coordinate correlation information and places the image accurately in the precise coordinate location in the drawing.

This correlation information, also known as georeferencing information, takes the guesswork out of inserting your images.

Like other Autodesk Map drawing objects, raster images can be copied, moved, or clipped. You can modify an image with grip modes, adjust an image for contrast, clip the image with a rectangle or polygon, or use an image as a cutting edge for a trim.

Raster images add significantly to the display and impact of vector drawings. The following illustration shows a map of an urban area.

204 | Chapter 15 Using Images

With a satellite image inserted in the same map you get a realistic view of conditions on the ground.

Supported Image Formats

Autodesk Map supports the most common image file formats used in major technical imaging application areas: computer graphics, document manage-ment, and mapping and geographic information systems (GIS). Images can be bitonal, 8-bit gray (grayscale), 8-bit color (indexed color), or 24-bit color (true color).

Several image file formats support images with transparent pixels. When image transparency is set to on, Autodesk Map recognizes those transparent pixels and allows graphics on the Autodesk Map screen to “show through” those pixels. (In bitonal images, background pixels can be treated as transparent.) Transparent images can be grayscale or color.

In addition, you can select the transparent color for grayscale or color images.

Using the Raster Extension Features

Raster Extension features, such as selecting the transparent color or displaying the Raster Extension shortcut menu, are available only when the Raster Extension is currently loaded.

When you start Autodesk Map, it does not load the Raster Extension until you use a Raster Extension command.

Understanding Raster Images | 205

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Inserting Raster Images

When you insert an image in a drawing, Autodesk Map links the image to the drawing file through a path name or a data-management document ID. When you update a linked image, the updates appear in the drawing. You can modify the path to a linked image or remove the link at any time. Because the image itself is not included in the drawing—only the link to the image is included—the image does not increase the drawing size.

Once you’ve inserted an image, you can reinsert it multiple times treating it as if it were a block. Each insertion has its own clip boundary and its own settings for brightness, contrast, fade, and transparency. A single image can be cut into multiple pieces that can be rearranged in your drawing.

Note If you are inserting large images or multiple images at once, you can set Raster Extension memory options.

Correlating Images During Insertion

You can specify the following correlation settings when inserting an image:

■ Correlation source■ Insertion Point georeferencing correlation information■ Rotation■ Scale■ Density ■ Units for insertion point and density■ Color

If you modify the correlation settings, Autodesk Map saves the changes with the Autodesk Map drawing. The changes are not saved back to the original image file or to the correlation source file.

Note To modify the settings stored in the image file, you must use an image-editing application such as Autodesk CAD Overlay. If you do modify the original settings in the image, those changes will not be reflected in the Autodesk Map drawing unless you reinsert the image.

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Hiding, Unloading, Detaching, and Erasing Images

When you insert an image in your drawing, Autodesk Map stores informa-tion about the image in the drawing, loads the image into memory, displays it onscreen, and locks the image file on the disk.

You can increase redrawing speed by hiding or unloading images that you do not need in the current drawing session. Hidden images are not displayed or plotted; only the drawing boundary is displayed. You can choose to hide an image regardless of the current viewport coordinate system. If you no longer need the image in the drawing, you can erase a single instance of the image or erase all instances of the image and unload the image information.

Aside from locking the image file, none of these actions modify the original image file itself.

Hiding Images

When you hide an image, the image does not display onscreen, nor does it plot. Only the image boundary displays onscreen. However, the image is still loaded in memory, and the image file is still locked on the disk. It cannot be deleted or modified. Hiding images is a convenient way to speed regenera-tion time. You can easily redisplay the image when you are ready to plot.

Unloading Images

When you unload an image, you remove the image from memory. It does not display onscreen, nor does it plot, and it is no longer locked on the disk. Only the image boundary displays onscreen. Information about the image, such as its path and scale, remains in the drawing. Before you can plot the image, you must reload it into memory. Unloading images improves performance.

Detaching Images

When you detach an image, all instances of the image are removed from the drawing, the image information is deleted, and the image file is unlocked. Detach images that you no longer need in the drawing.

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Erasing Images

When you erase an image, that instance of the image is erased from the drawing. Erasing an image does not delete the image information. You can set an option so that when the last instance of an image is erased from the drawing, Autodesk Map automatically detaches the image and deletes the image information from the drawing.

Changing the Image Display Order

When you insert raster images, the images display in the order in which you insert them. You can manually change the display order of your images if you want one image to be displayed on top of another image.

You can change the display order in two ways:

■ Change the order of only the raster images.■ Change the order of raster images and vector objects.

Viewing Image Information

You can view information about any image in your drawing in the following ways:

■ Use the Image Management dialog box to view information about the number of instances of an image in the drawing, the draw order of images, and other image information.

■ Use the Image Manager dialog box to view information about whether an image is currently loaded, to list images attached to xrefs, and to modify the path to an image.

■ Use the Image Information dialog box to view information about the file, the image itself, and its properties and correlation information.

■ Use the Properties window to view and modify image properties.

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Changing Image File Paths

When you insert an image, Autodesk Map stores the file path of the image in the drawing file. When you open a drawing, Autodesk Map searches this stored location for the file. If Autodesk Map cannot find the image because it has been moved or deleted, Autodesk Map searches the Project Files Search Path.

You can change the image location that is stored in the drawing, or you can specify a Project Files Search Path.

Naming Images

Image names are not necessarily the same as image file names. When you attach an image to a drawing, Autodesk Map uses the file name without the file extension as the image name. You can change the image name without affecting the name of the file.

Selecting Images

You can select an image in the following ways:

■ Click the frame that surrounds an image.■ Use Shift+left-click anywhere in the image.

Note If this option is not working, check that you have the setting turned on in the Raster Extension Options dialog box and that you have loaded Raster Exten-sion by using any Map ➤ Image command.

If you have inserted multiple images, selecting in an area where the images overlap produces the Image Select dialog box.

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Changing Image File Paths | 209

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Modifying Image Properties

You can use the Properties window to modify image properties such as the following:

■ Frame color, layer, linetype, and linetype scale■ Image brightness, contrast, and fade■ Location■ Rotation, width, height, and scale■ Image transparency and transparency color

Each of these modifications is described in the following sections.

Changing Image Frame Properties

When you attach an image to a drawing, the image frame inherits the current color, layer, linetype, and linetype scale.

Adjusting Image Brightness, Contrast, and Fade

When you adjust image brightness, contrast, and fade in Autodesk Map, the changes you make affect the display of the image as well as the plotted output, but do not affect the original raster image file. Adjust brightness to darken or lighten an image. Adjust contrast to make poor-quality images easier to read. Adjust fade to make vectors easier to see over images or to create a watermark effect in your plotted output.

Changing Image Location

You can specify a precise location for an image.

Note You can change the location of the image manually by using the Grips mode.

Changing Image Rotation, Width, Height, or Scale

As with any Autodesk Map drawing object, you can change the image prop-erties of rotation, width, height, and scale.

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Modifying Image Transparency and Transparency Color

You can make all pixels that are a specific color in a grayscale or color image transparent. (The transparency color of a bitonal image is always the back-ground color of the image.) This is useful if you want to overlay two images or place an image in front of objects.

Note The transparency color is stored in the drawing as an Autodesk Map cus-tom object. If you send the drawing to other users, they can see the transparency color only by opening the drawing in Autodesk Map or Autodesk CAD Overlay. If they open the drawing in AutoCAD®, they see a message that AutoCAD cannot reference the custom object and will not display the transparent color.

Modifying Bitonal Image Color and Transparency

Bitonal raster images consist only of a foreground color and a background color. When you attach a bitonal image, the foreground pixels in the image inherit the current Autodesk Map color. You can change the foreground color and turn the transparency of the background on or off.

Note The foreground of bitonal images and bitonal image frames is always the same color.

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Clipping Images

By clipping an image, you can display and plot only a portion of the image. The clipping boundary can be a rectangle or a two-dimensional polygon with vertices constrained to lie within the boundaries of the image. Multiple instances of the same image can have different clipping boundaries.

Note To clip an image, the image boundary must be visible.

A clip boundary is a display-only feature that you can use for viewing and plotting purposes. It does not permanently change image data. When you delete a clipping boundary, the original image boundary is restored.

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In This Chapter

■ Plotting with Autodesk Map

■ Creating a plot se

■ General plotting techniques

■ Creating effectiveattractive maps

16

Plotting Maps

t

and

Creating a plot of your map is the last stage of pre-

senting your mapping information. Autodesk® Map

gives you tools to facilitate the production of tiled

maps as map books, improve the look of your

maps, and create title blocks. You can save a plot-

ting configuration for later use.

213

Plotting with Autodesk Map

This section describes how to produce high-quality maps and map books with Autodesk Map. If you are plotting only one map, you can use the PLOT command as described in the online AutoCAD® Command Reference. See also Chapter 11, “Thematic Map Design,” in this manual.

Understanding Layouts

Autodesk Map uses a feature called layouts to make plotting easier. Layouts simulate working on a sheet of paper and show views of your drawing as it would look within the printable area of the paper. A layout displays what will actually be printed, reducing the need for time-consuming plot checks. The layout also stores settings for the page setup, including plot device, print area, rotation, plot offset, paper size, and scale. You specify these settings when you create the layout. For more information about layouts, refer to “Creating a Layout to Plot” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

You can also save output device and page setup settings as named page setups. When you are ready to plot, you can specify a named page setup. You can apply different named page setups to the same layout to achieve specific results when plotting.

For example, to control scaling and paper size, you might create the sample named page setups in the following table.

You need to specify a page setup for the layout only once—when you create the layout. You don’t need to specify these settings again each time you plot. If you want to plot the same layout more than one way or if you want to specify the same output options for several layouts, use named page setups.

Page setup name Description

NoScaling - Esheet Plot at scale 1:1, E-size sheet

Scale1to2 - Csheet Plot at scale 1:2, C-size sheet

Draft - Dsheet Plot to the draft-quality plotter

Final - Dsheet Plot to the high-quality plotter

Scale-to-Fit - Asheet Scale to fit, A-size sheet

214 | Chapter 16 Plotting Maps

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Defining a Plot Map Set

A plot map set is a complete definition of all the parameters needed to plot a map or series of maps. You can save a series of plots and plot option settings to a plot set, and then plot all the maps as a map book in one operation. You can also save the plot configuration and plot a series of maps at regular inter-vals to reflect changes made in the interim. Plotting a map set bypasses the standard PLOT command.

Four components are required to define a plot set:

■ Attached source drawing files■ A plot template block■ A saved plot query to bring in required objects■ Map sheet boundaries

You must completely define all four components before you start the Plot Map Set function. The plot set information is stored in an object data table in the active project. The following sections provide information about each component.

Attach Source Drawings

You must attach all source drawings you need for the plot before you start the Plot Map Set function. Drawings do not have to be activated.

Create a Plot Template Block

The plot template block defines how each plot in the plot set is laid out. The plot template block also acts as the title block (or title page) for a map. You must define a plot template block before you define a plot set.

Each plot template block must contain at least one floating viewport in paper space on a separate layer. You use floating viewports to contain different views of your map. In paper space, you can treat floating viewports as objects that you can move and resize to create a suitable layout. Refer to “Working in Paper Space” and “Creating Floating Viewports” in “Creating a Layout to Plot” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

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Plotting with Autodesk Map | 215

The plot template block can also include a secondary viewport, known as a reference view, which is a viewport showing the boundaries of the pages in the map book. The reference view should also be on a separate layer.

The block should include all the map annotation you want to plot: scale bar, legend, table of symbols, north arrow, and so on.

You can use an existing title block as a plot template block, but the title block must meet the following criteria:

■ Be defined in paper space■ Contain at least one floating viewport in paper space

If there is more than one floating viewport, the main viewport must be on a specified unique layer. The title block must be defined in the current drawing used to create the plot set. You need to draw your title block in paper space with the model space viewport.

For more information about using paper space and floating viewports, refer to “Creating a Layout to Plot” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Reference viewportshowing map sheetboundaries

Main, floating viewport

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Define and Save a Plot Query

Plot queries must be available before you use the Plot Map Set function. You cannot define a plot set query while you are using the Plot Map Set function.

You can make queries available in the following ways:

■ Define a query in the active project and save the query.■ Use a saved query in the query library. (The query library is part of the

active project.)■ Run an external query and then save it as part of the active project.

In all these cases, you can execute a query in Preview mode to check that the data you query is the data you require. See “Saving Queries” on page 153.

Create Map Sheet Boundaries

To plot a large mapped area at a large scale, you can divide a map into a tiled series of maps used as a map book or atlas.

The Plot Map Set function requires predefined boundaries in a separate drawing file. Each plot boundary must be a closed two-dimensional polyline, identified by a name stored as object data on a specified layer. You can use one of the following methods to define a set of 2D polylines:

■ PLINE command■ BOUNDARY (BPOLY) command■ Create Closed Polylines command on the Topology menu

See “Creating Closed Polylines from a Topology” on page 104.

You use object data to set a plot boundary name and attach it to a plot boundary in two ways:

■ Define a new object data table; then create object data for each polyline and attach the data.

See “Defining Object Data Tables” on page 116 and “Attaching Object Data to Objects” on page 117.

■ Create text in a drawing, or use existing text or block attributes as the basis for object data. Then attach the object data to the 2D polylines.

The Generate Links command attaches existing text as object data to objects. From the Map menu, choose Database ➤ Generate Links. You can create the polylines by querying information from attached drawings into the active project. You need to create a new object data table and use text as object data values, and then attach the data to the polylines.

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Plotting with Autodesk Map | 217

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Creating a Plot Set

Once you have all the components ready, you can create the plot set. If your drawing contains any objects that are in a save set, the Plot Map Set function will not work.

See Chapter 7, “Sharing and Saving Drawings.”

To define a new plot set, you must complete the steps described in the following sections. If you have already defined a plot set, you can simply run the existing plot set.

Selecting the Plot Template Block

First, you need to specify the block to use as the plot template block, the layer containing the viewport for the map, whether to use a reference view, and the layer holding that viewport.

Selecting Source Drawings

After specifying the template block, select the source drawings required for the map plot. The drawings must be attached to the active project; however, they do not need to be active before you start the Plot Map Set function.

You must choose the drawings you want to include in the plot set. Do not select the attached boundary drawing. If any of the drawings you want to plot are not active, you can select the Activate Drawings At Plot Time option.

Retrieving Data to Plot

The next step is to retrieve the data that you want to plot from the source drawings. If you select more than one query, the queries are combined with an AND operator.

Selecting Boundaries for the Plot Set

Next, you choose the boundaries of the map sheets for the new plot set.

If the boundary drawing is not already attached to the project, you can attach it at the same time that you select it.

If you want to use object data from the boundary file in the title block, see the following section, “Mapping Object Data to the Title Block.”

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When you complete the Boundary Object Data, you can select boundaries from the external file.

Mapping Object Data to the Title Block

If the plot template block you chose contains block attributes, you can map values from the object data table in the boundary file to those attributes. For example, the boundary file object data table can hold data such as the map source, scale, and district. If the plot title block has attributes corresponding to such data, you can map the data to the plot title block, so the plot title block appears when you plot the data.

Specifying Plot Set Options

Finally, you specify the plot set options that control the appearance of the plot. The plot set options control the actual plotting of the data defined by the previous options. The following sections explain the various options.

All the information you set here and in the foregoing procedures is stored in the plot set definition. When you click OK in the Plot Set Definition dialog box, the settings are saved to the current plot set name.

Main View Scale

Using the options in this section you can set a scale or fill the plot sheet with the plot. To set a scale, enter a value in the form X:Y, for example, 1:25000. This scale corresponds to the paper space:model space scale. You can use the Plot To Fit option to fit the data inside each boundary into the viewport, but you won’t know the scale used for the plot.

For more information on map scales, see “Map Scales and Distortion” on page 195. For information on setting plot scales, refer to “Creating a Layout to Plot” in the online AutoCAD User’s Guide.

Reference View Scale

This section is available only if you specified a reference view. The command scales the reference view to show all the current boundary, and then reduces the image size by the Reference Scale. For example, if you set Reference Scale to 0.25, the view zooms out by a factor of four. This is similar to using the ZOOM command with a scale factor of 0.25x.

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Creating a Plot Set | 219

Boundary Edge Options (Buffer)

Using the Buffer Boundary option, you can define an area around a plotted map to act as a continuation to surrounding maps. In the following illustra-tion, the larger map is divided into a series of tiled maps.

The defined map boundary need not be defined as a rectangular shape, although the buffer is clipped to the minimum bounding rectangle required. You can specify the buffer distance by entering a value or by choosing Select and picking a plotted distance on screen. Generally, you should allow a 3–5 percent overlap on each map edge.

The True option specifies an offset of an existing plot boundary line; Recti-linear offsets the minimum bounding rectangle for a map boundary polyline.

(includes map buffer)

boundariesDefined map

Plotted area

Rectilinear boundary

Map extents

True boundary


Boundary Edge Options (Trim)

Using the Trim Objects At Boundaries option, you can clip objects that cross over a map boundary edge, with the following results:

■ Linear or edge objects, such as lines, polylines, and arcs, break into two objects.

■ Objects with a defined insertion point, such as text, blocks, and hatch, are placed in a map area according to the location of their insertion points.

See “Breaking Objects at Map Boundaries” on page 100.

For a complete example of using the Plot Map Set function, work through Lesson 2, “Creating a Map Book,” in Tutorial VI of the online Autodesk Map tutorials. To open the tutorials, choose Tutorials from the Help menu.

Template Block Settings

There are two sets of layers that you can control:

■ Reference View Layers To Display—Use this option if you selected Refer-ence View Layer in the Plot Template Block dialog box. You can display the objects used for the map boundaries and major features, such as roads or coastlines with this option, but keep in mind that too many objects cre-ate a cluttered, unclear view.

For more explanation, see “Selecting the Plot Template Block” on page 218.

■ Main View Layers To Freeze—The main view layer holds the viewport def-inition. You can freeze this layer so an artificial boundary does not appear on the plotted map. You can also freeze layers holding details with such fine high scale that the plot would be fuzzy or unclear.

General Plotting Techniques

The effectiveness of a map depends on the amount and type of information shown on the map, and on its appearance. Appropriate annotation choices and the uses of color, linetypes, and other display properties make a map more complete and easier to interpret.

See Chapter 10 “Using Queries to Analyze Data,” and “Creating Advanced Thematic Maps” on page 163.

For information about creating raster output, see “Exporting Raster Images” on page 66.

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Using Linetypes to Annotate Contour Lines

The following illustration shows a topographic map with contours annotated at 100-meter intervals. You can create a custom linetype for each contour height.

Note The direction in which you draw the line affects the orientation of the text. The lines in the preceding illustration were drawn in a clockwise direction starting in the top left corner.

For example, the linetype definition for the 500 contour in the illustration is added to a .lin file and assigned to a layer:

*500_Contour,----500----500----500----500A,1,-.2,["500",STANDARD,S=.1,R=0.0,X=-0.1,Y=-.05],-.25

For more information on customizing linetypes, refer to “Linetypes and Hatch Patterns” in the online AutoCAD Customization Guide.

Creating Effective and Attractive Maps

The appearance of a map determines its effectiveness. Follow these guidelines to present map data effectively:

■ The map should be made up of elements of nearly equal size with no features dominating the map. Text size should be neither too small to be read nor so large that the text dominates or obscures features.

■ If the map covers more than one sheet, there should be a 3–5 percent over-lap between sheets. Text labels, such as town or feature names, should be in the same relative position on each sheet.

■ Use different symbols (blocks) to represent different features or land-marks, such as hospitals, churches, and cemeteries. Draw symbols at an appropriate scale so they are legible and do not obscure other data.


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■ Use linetypes and colors to represent different features. Representing roads as double lines can be helpful for small areas, such as subdivisions, or for maps in which right-of-way information is important.

■ Do not use too many colors or the map becomes too bright and the colors dominate. Try to use only four colors.

■ Do not try to present too much data on the map. Maps are more effective when they show topics clearly. If you have a great deal of data to draw, consider making two or more maps.

The following annotations make a complete and effective presentation. Some maps may not require all of these items:

■ Complete legend showing all symbols used on the map and their meanings, not obscuring map data

■ Scale bar, representative fraction, or other statement of scale■ North arrow■ Global coordinate system used for the map■ Source of the map data, including the base map and source of added

details ■ Date of completion and any revision dates■ List of cartographers and map editors involved in creating the map■ Drawing file name of the map

The following optional items greatly help the presentation and analysis of map information:

■ Legible road names positioned in the center of the road or offset from the center, and drawn at suitable intervals

■ Coordinate annotation and a border along the outside of the map area■ Grid lines of the coordinate system■ Hatch filling of closed polygonal features, such as lakes

Placing Text

For guidelines on placing text in a map, see the online help.elp Indexs for plotted

Creating Effective and Attractive Maps | 223

Glossary

This glossary contains definitions for mapping terms. If the term you are looking for is not here, you may find it in the online glossary of drawing terms.

ADE query See Map query.

API Application Programming Interface.

aspect ratio The ratio of the width of a raster image to its height.

attribute data Text data that describes the characteristics of map objects. Attribute data is stored in tables and databases, which are linked to selected drawing objects. Compare with spatial data, block attribute, and data element. See also external data and object data.

ASE (AutoCAD SQL Environment) In previous versions of AutoCAD Map, provided links to data in external database management systems. These links are now handled using data source connections.

azimuth The angle between a base line radiating from a center point and another line radiating from the same point. Normally the base line points north, and measurements are made clockwise from the base line.

block attribute Text associated with a block object.

Boolean operator The logical operators used to join conditions in a query or expression, named for the logic algebra devised by nineteenth-century mathematician George Boole. See also intersection and union.

buffer A zone drawn around a topology with a specified offset.

buffer fence A fence, or line, at a specified distance from a center line. Used to define a selection boundary.

Cartesian coordinate system A coordinate system defined using three perpendicular axes (X, Y, and Z) to specify locations in three-dimensional space. Compare with spherical coordinate system.

cartographic coordinate system A coordinate system that is referenced directly to an ellipsoid. Compare with geodetic coordinate system.

catalog For some SQL database systems, the alias for the path that contains subdirectories for database files. See also schema.

cell The specific data value in the box where a row and a column in a database table intersect. See also table.

Glossary | 225

centroid A point or block that is part of a polygon in a topology. The centroid holds information about the polygon’s area and perimeter.

cleanup The process of using Map editing tools to remove errors and unnecessary data from digitized, scanned, or imported maps before the data is used to create topology. Cleanup is also useful before creating thematic maps.

color depth The amount of information stored with each pixel of a raster image to define its color.

column A specific category of information in a table, such as Address or Diameter, also called a field. In a grid, columns are displayed vertically. See also table.

conformal projection, conformality Conformal projections maintain local angles. A map projection is conformal when the scale is the same in every direction at any point. Meridians and parallels intersect at right angles; the shape of small areas and angles with very short sides are preserved. Most larger area sizes are distorted.

conic projection A map projection in which the earth’s surface is drawn as it would appear if projected on a cone wrapped around the earth. The Lambert Conformal Conic is often used for maps of the continental United States, France, and other countries.

continuous data Data that can fall anywhere in a broad range. For thematic maps, continuous data is usually organized into smaller ranges that show data trends. For example, property value is continuous data that can be placed into the ranges 0 to $50,000, $50,000 to $100,000, and over $100,000, with each range displayed in a different color. Compare with discrete data.

control points Locations with established latitude and longitude, and often elevation, used for accuracy and precise location of maps. A system of geodetic control points covers the entire United States. Similar systems exist for all countries, such as Bench Marks and Trigonometry Points in the United Kingdom. See also monuments.

coordinate system See global coordinate system.

cylindrical projection A map projection, in which the earth’s surface is drawn as it would appear if projected on a cylinder wrapped around the earth in a north-south direction. Compare with transverse cylindrical projection. See also Mercator projection and conic projection.

dangle A link or line, one end of which lacks a connection to another link or node. See also cleanup.

data element Information in an external file format, such as DGN, MIF, or SHP, which provides additional textual information about features. See also attribute data.

data file A set of data records (or table rows). Same as table.

data source A UDL (universal data link) file that points to a collection of data and provides information on how to access the data.

226 | Glossary

data type The type of data that a field in a table can contain, such as text, date, Boolean, or long integer. The data type determines the type and range of values that can be entered in the field, the amount of storage space available, and the amount of space allocated in the database to store the data. You specify the data type when you create the field in the table.

database A table or a set of tables containing data related to a particular subject or purpose that is organized so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed, and updated.

database connection Provides links to data in external database management systems such as Access, dBASE, and Oracle.

database driver The communication link between Autodesk Map and a database management system. Typically, this is an OLE DB driver provided by the database vendor.

Database Management System (DBMS) A computer-based system or application software used to create and maintain a database, for example, Access, dBASE, or Oracle.

database query A set of conditions for specifying the selection of records from a database. External database queries, also called joins and views, are created using your database software and can be run from the Project Workspace. When you run a database query and view the results in the Data View, the data is not editable. Use a Data View SQL filter to limit the records displayed in the Data View, while still being able to edit the data. See also Map query.

datum A mathematical model that provides a smooth approximation of the earth’s surface. Each datum includes both an ellipsoid, which specifies the size and shape of the earth, and a base point for latitude and longitude. If two maps use different datums, points on the map may not line up. Also called a geodetic coordinate system.

digitize To convert existing data from paper maps, aerial photos, or raster images into digital form by tracing the maps on a digitizer. Object locations are recorded as X,Y coordinates.

discrete data Data that falls into explicit categories. For thematic maps, each value is displayed differently. For example, an agricultural thematic map might show each crop in a different color. Compare with continuous data.

display information A description of the appearance of a drawing object: includes color, hatch pattern, line type, and so on.

dither To use a pattern of solid dots to simulate more colors than are actually available when displaying images.

dot variable Variable that refers to an object property. It consists of a period (.) followed by the variable name for that property. Dot variables can be entered in expressions used for building a template file for Report mode queries and for property alteration. See also query and expression.

drawing cleanup The process of removing errors or unnecessary data from a digitized, scanned, or imported map. See cleanup.

drawing set The set of drawings attached to a project.

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edge matching A map cleanup function that allows for distortion between adjacent maps, and produces a true match of objects at the edges of maps.

element (Oracle Spatial database) The basic building block of an Oracle Spatial geometry. The supported spatial element types are points, line strings, and polygons. For example, elements might model water wells (point clusters), roads (line strings), and county boundaries (polygons).

ellipsoid An approximation of the earth’s shape that does not account for variations caused by the nonuniform density of the earth. Synonymous with spheroid. See also geoid.

environment An SQL environment contains the Database Management System (DBMS), the databases it can access, and the users and programs that can access those databases.

equal area A map projection in which every part, as well as the whole, has the same area as the corresponding part on the earth, at the same reduced scale. No flat map can be equal area and represent true shape.

Equator The line of latitude drawn around the middle of the earth equidistant from the North and South Poles, used as the origin for latitude measurements.

equidistant projections Projections showing true distances only from the center of the projection or along a special set of lines. No flat map can be both equidistant and equal area.

expression The statement you enter in the Expression box in the Output Report Options dialog box or the Property Alteration dialog box. The expression directs Autodesk Map in performing operations on queried objects.

expression evaluator The mechanism that analyzes the statement you enter in the Expression box in the Output Report Options dialog box or the Property Alteration dialog box.

extents The smallest rectangle that contains all objects in a map, that is, the outermost boundaries of the map.

external data Attribute data linked to a drawing object but contained in a database apart from the drawing file. See also attribute data and object data.

features, geographic features Natural and man-made objects represented by points, lines, and areas on a map.

field A specific category of information in a data file, such as Address or Diameter. Also called a column. See also record and table.

field data type The format of data stored in a field, such as character or numeric.

field value The value of a specific field for a specific record. See also field and record.

filtered record A record that matches the conditions of an SQL filter or spatial filter and is therefore available for selection.

geodetic coordinate system A coordinate system that is referenced directly to a datum. Compare with cartographic coordinate system.

228 | Glossary

geographic analysis Analytical techniques that identify existing conditions of a geographic location, a spatial area, or a linear network, as well as predict the effects of certain future events on these features.

geographic data Information about geographic features. See features.

geoid An ellipsoid with a highly irregular surface used to describe the shape of the earth. See also ellipsoid.

geometry (Oracle Spatial database) The representation of a spatial feature, modeled as an ordered set of primitive elements.

geometry mapping The process of transforming the geometry elements of Autodesk Map objects to Oracle Spatial geometry, and transforming the geometry elements of the records back to Autodesk Map objects.

GIS (Geographic Information System) A computerized decision support system that integrates geographic data, attribute data, and other spatially referenced data. A GIS is used to capture, store, retrieve, analyze, and display spatial data.

global coordinate system A method that converts the earth’s spherical coordinates representing latitude and longitude into an Autodesk Map drawing’s Cartesian coordinate system, and accounts for the curvature of the earth’s surface with a projection. A coordinate system is usually defined by a projection, an ellipsoid definition, a datum definition, one or more standard parallels, and a central meridian.

hatch A regular pattern used to fill an area with a series of cross-angled lines.

intersection (expression) Two or more conditions joined with the logical operator And. An item is selected only if the item meets all specified conditions. Compare with union.

intersection (geometry) The location where one line, surface, or solid crosses another so as to have one or more points in common.

join To link two or more tables in a relational database on the basis of a common item or field. You create joins using your Database Management System (DBMS). You can run joins from the Autodesk Map Project Workspace.

key column One or more columns in a table whose values are used to uniquely identify a record. To provide useful links, a key column should contain a unique value for each record. Also called a key field.

key value A value stored on an object that specifies that value to match in the key field of a table.

latitude The first part of a spherical coordinate system used to record positions on the earth’s surface. Latitude indicates the angular distance north or south of the equator. See also longitude.

legend A key to or an explanation of the symbols in a map, and their meaning or values.

link (geometry) An element of geometry that connects nodes. In a polygon topology, a link defines a polygon edge. Links can contain vertices and true arcs, and can be represented as a line, polyline, or arc. See also node.

Glossary | 229

link (external databases) The connection between a drawing object and its related database data. The link data is stored on the linked drawing object and contains the name of the link template and the key value used to identify the associated record in the linked table. An object may have more than one link.

link template A data structure that contains the path information to a database table and specifies one or more key fields in that table.

lock To make all or part of a disk file read-only so that it cannot be modified by other users on a network. Object locking applies to objects that are being edited by another user. File locking applies to entire files, for example when an AutoCAD user wants to open a file while the file is in Autodesk Map editing mode.

logical operator A symbol such as And, Or, Not, =, >, >=, <, and <= used to define logical relationships. See also intersection, union, query, and Boolean.

longitude The second part of a spherical coordinate system used to record positions on the earth’s surface. Longitude measures angular distance east or west of the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich, England. See also latitude.

map An abstract representation of the physical features of a portion of the earth’s surface graphically displayed on a planar surface. Maps display signs, symbols, and spatial relationships among the features. They typically emphasize, generalize, and omit certain features from the display to meet design objectives. For example, railroad features might be included in a transportation map but excluded from a highway map.

map cleanup The process of removing errors or unnecessary data from a digitized, scanned, or imported map. See also cleanup.

map projection A systematic representation of a spherical body, such as the earth, in a flat (planar) surface. Each map projection has specific properties that make it suitable for specific mapping needs.

Map query A set of conditions that specify the selection of drawing objects from source drawings. Conditions in a Map query can be based on the location or properties of an object or on data stored in the drawing or in a linked database table. See also topology query and database query.

MDI (Multiple Document Interface) The ability to have more than one window open in an application. In Autodesk Map, you can have multiple projects open at one time. To switch between projects, click the Window menu and choose the project you want. The Project Workspace displays information for the current project.

Mercator projection A map projection, designed by Gerhardus Mercator, in which the earth’s surface is drawn as it would appear if projected on a cylinder wrapped around the earth. See also cylindrical projection.

meridian A great circle passing through both poles, corresponding to a line of longitude.

metadata Additional descriptive information about data, such as the data source, extents, and degree of accuracy.

monuments Features with known coordinates, used to establish accurate and precise location on a map. See also control points.

230 | Glossary

network topology A description of the spatial relationship between linear geographic features (links and, sometimes, nodes). For example, a network topology can represent pipelines, streets, electrical transmission lines, and rivers.

node A single point or a link end point or intersection in a topology. A node can be represented as a block or point object.

node topology A description of the spatial relationship between geographic point features. Examples of node topologies include point sources of pollution and road signs.

normalizing In thematic mapping, the scaling of data values relative to another data value. A common example is adjusting the thematic value based on the area, length, or perimeter of the entity.

object data Attribute data attached to an object and stored in the drawing file. Compare with external data.

ODBC Open Database Connectivity, a standard API (Application Programming Interface) used to communicate with Database Management Systems (ODBC), developed by Microsoft.

pan To move the active view up, down, or sideways to display areas in the map that, at the current viewing scale, lie outside the window.

parallel A degree of latitude that circles the earth parallel to the Equator.

plot template block An AutoCAD block that contains plotting information such as title page text, plot layouts, legend, and other map annotations.

polygon A set of geometric links that form an enclosed area in a topology. Polygons contain a centroid.

polygon topology A description of the spatial relationship between geographic area features. Polygon topologies contain geometric links, nodes, and centroids. Examples of polygon topologies are land use and land cover maps, political boundaries, parcels, and soil types.

prime meridian The line of longitude drawn through Greenwich, England, used as the origin for longitude measurements.

project A drawing file that includes links to a set of source drawings and other associated data such as saved queries, databases, link templates, and themes. You can open any drawing file as either a project file or as a source drawing attached to a project.

Project Workspace Autodesk Map window that displays files and definitions available in a project. The Project Workspace contains two tabs: Project and Thematic. The Project tab displays attached source drawings, databases, queries, and link templates. The Thematic tab displays available themes and enables you to create new ones. You can resize the Project Workspace window and place it where you want.

property alteration definition The definition of properties you want to change during a query.

pseudo node An unnecessary node in a geometric link. A pseudo node can be used to store information about geographic point location or to represent change from one link to another. See also cleanup.

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purge To remove all unused object definitions from an open drawing.

query A set of criteria for specifying the selection of objects or records. Autodesk Map supports many types of queries. See Map query, topology query, database query, and thematic query.

Query Library The set of queries saved in a project. You can add, delete, and modify queries in the Query Library.

ramp A sequence of display properties used to render a thematic map; for example, a sequence of colors, linestyles, or hatch patterns.

range of values In thematic mapping, a segment of data along a continuum, such as property value, temperature, or population.

raster Images containing individual dots (called pixels or cells) with color values, arranged in a rectangular, evenly spaced array. Aerial photographs and satellite images are examples of raster images used in mapping. Compare with vector.

record In a data file, a uniformly structured set of data items, or field values. Also called a row. See also table.

registration The preparation of a map for digitizing by calibrating a digitizing table to convert an analog source to a digital file. See digitize.

render, rendering The process of taking an Oracle Spatial record and representing it as an Autodesk Map object with display properties.

resolution In a raster image, the density of pixels-per-inch (ppi) or dots-per-inch.

row A set of data in a table, also called a record. In a grid, rows are displayed horizontally. See also table.

rubber sheeting An editing method, used only when necessary, that attempts to correct errors by stretching a map to fit known control points or monuments.

save set Objects that have been created or modified in the project drawing and are marked to be saved back to source drawings.

SDF (Spatial Data File) The proprietary Autodesk MapGuide file format that contains the spatial data (such as roads, cities, and countries) used in maps. When you view a map in Autodesk MapGuide Author or the Autodesk MapGuide Viewer, requests are sent to Autodesk MapGuide Server, which reads the SDF and sends the correct map data back to the client for display. Note that if a map layer contains points or text, the data may come from an SQL database instead of an SDF.

scale The ratio of the distance on a paper map to the distance on the ground. If a paper map has a scale of 1:100,000 (also represented as 1/100000), then a distance of 1 unit on the paper map corresponds to 100,000 units on the ground. On a digital map, scale represents the scale of the map from which the digital map was derived.

schema For some SQL database systems, a schema contains the actual database tables. Each schema includes tables related to a particular subject or purpose. See also table.

service An Oracle database.

232 | Glossary

simplify linear objects A map cleanup function that reduces the number of vertices on a line to reduce unnecessary complexity. Typically used with digitized data. Also known as weeding or generalizing. See also cleanup.

source drawing A drawing file attached to a project. The set of all source drawings attached to a project is called the drawing set. Use a Map query to retrieve selected objects from multiple source drawings.

spatial A generic term used to reference the mathematical concept of n-dimensional data.

spatial analysis The process of understanding, extracting, or creating information about a set of geographic features. Spatial analysis includes techniques used to determine the distribution of a feature, or features, over a network or area, and the relationships between those features. The location of, proximity to, and orientation of objects can be analyzed with spatial analysis. It is useful for evaluating suitability and capability, for estimating and predicting, and for interpreting.

spatial data Information about the location and shape of geographic features, and the relationships between those features. See also features.

spatial database A database containing information indexed by location.

spatial filter A selection of objects in the drawing that specify which records to display in the active table or query. When a spatial filter is active, the Data View displays only those records linked to selected objects. Compare with SQL filter.

spatial index An index created in an Oracle Spatial database by dividing the extents of the drawings in the database into rectangular tiles. Autodesk Map uses the index to locate the geometry to be imported.

spherical coordinate system A coordinate system measured on the surface of a sphere and expressed as angular distances. Compare with Cartesian coordinate system.

spheroid See ellipsoid.

SQL Structured Query Language. A language designed to standardize communication with databases.

SQL filter A series of SQL expressions that specify which records to select in the active table or query. When an SQL filter is active, the Data View displays only those records that match the filter criteria. Compare with spatial filter.

superuser A user who controls user IDs, passwords, and access to sensitive procedures.

symbol table A term referring to the storage of named objects, including linetypes, layers, text styles, and blocks.

table A set of data arranged in records (rows) and fields (columns). When a table is displayed in a grid, records display in horizontal rows and fields display in vertical columns. Each field value in the table displays in a cell. Same as data file.

template file A file that formats another file, such as a text file for saving information from queried objects. See also dot variable, query, and link template.

Glossary | 233

thematic map A map that depicts selected types of information related to one or more specific themes. Data is highlighted, classified, or emphasized using display properties and values such as color and line width. Examples are property assessment, housing quality, population density, and rainfall maps.

thematic query A collection of saved settings identified by a unique name for the purpose of generating a thematic map. The thematic query specifies which spatial and attribute data to query, and how to display the thematic objects.

theme A single layer or component of a thematic map.

tolerance (drawing cleanup) The minimum distance allowed between linear objects or nodes during drawing cleanup. If two linear objects or nodes are separated by a distance less than the tolerance, Autodesk Map corrects the error.

topology A set of geometric relationships between links, nodes, and centroids. Topology describes how lines, nodes, and polygons connect and relate to each other, and forms the basis for advanced GIS functions such as network tracing, spatial analysis, buffer analysis, overlay analysis, and dissolving a polygon topology.

topology query An extension to a Map query that applies to a loaded topology. See also Map query and thematic query.

transverse cylindrical projection A map projection, in which the earth’s surface is drawn as it would appear if projected on a cylinder wrapped around the earth in an east-west direction. Compare with cylindrical projection.

UDL (Universal Data Link) File with .udl extension that includes the name and location of the database table and the software used to create the file. Windows uses a UDL file to identify a data source. Using the information in this file, programs such as Autodesk Map can view and update data from external databases.

union Two or more conditions joined with the logical operator Or. An item is selected only if the item meets at least one of the specified criteria. Compare with intersection.

Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection A specific implementation of the Mercator projection, designed for use around the world. See also Mercator projection.

unlock To release objects that were locked for editing.

vector A mathematical calculation of an object with precise direction and length. Vector data is stored as X,Y coordinates that form points, lines, and areas. Compare with raster.

wavelet A multiple resolution image file compressed using a lossy compression that enables large graphics to load much faster due to the reduction in file size. Wavelet compression is based on a mathematical algorithm in which graphic images can be reduced to a small fraction of their original size.

zoom To change the display magnification so that it focuses on progressively smaller areas (when you zoom in) or larger areas (when you zoom out) of an image.

zoom extents To magnify a drawing based on its extents so that the view shows the largest possible view of all spatial objects.

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Index

Aacadmap.ini file, 47acadmap.sys file, 47accuracy, in digitizing data, 57adding components

to stand-alone installations, 19ade.pro file. See coordsys.csd fileADEWHOHASIT, 111ADEZEXTENTS, 36administering topology, 177aliases. See drive aliasesannotation

guidelines, 222maps, 222

ASE. See databases and links to databasesassociative hatches, 99atlases, 217attaching

databases, 125auditing topology, 179authorizing Autodesk Map, 18AutoCAD Map

upgrading to Autodesk Map, 15using customized files and settings from

Release 3, 17Autodesk CAD Overlay, 204, 206, 211Autodesk Map 5

adding components, 19authorizing, 18registering, 18reinstalling on stand-alone

computers, 20repairing on stand-alone

computers, 20stand-alone licenses, 21uninstalling on stand-alone

computers, 21using customized files and settings from

AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 17Autodesk MapGuide, 63, 65

exporting to, 65importing from, 63SDF files, 63, 65

azimuth, 194

Bbackgrounds

bitonal image transparency, 211image transparency, 211

BHATCH, 99bitonal raster images

foreground color, 211frame color, 211

block attributesquerying, 142

blocksattributes, 219object data, 219title, 219

boundariesbreaking objects, 100plotting, 221Rectilinear option, 220trimming objects, 102True option, 220

Boundary Break command, 101boundary edge clipping, 221breaking

crossing objects, 89objects at boundaries, 100

buffer analysis, topology, 186Buffer Boundary option, 220buffer, defining, 186

CCartesian coordinate system, 194, 196, 197,

200categories

of queries, 153cells, 129

selecting, 129central meridian, 201centroids, 98, 169, 175cleaning up maps, 56, 83, 84

boundaries, breaking objects, 100boundaries, trimming, 102closed polylines, creating, 104conversion options, 85crossing objects, breaking, 89

Index | 235

cleaning up maps (continued)dangling objects, erasing, 90duplicates, deleting, 87edge matching, 95for topology, 170linear objects, simplifying, 91markers, 86nodes, correcting, 93nodes, snapping clusters, 93order of, 86overdigitized maps, 85overshoots, 85pseudo nodes, dissolving, 94rubber sheeting, 99short objects, erasing, 88undershoots, 85undershoots, extending, 90

clipping raster images, 212closed polylines, creating, 104codes, global coordinate systems, 198, 199coloring

bitonal raster images, 211raster images, 211

columnsformatting, 130freezing and unfreezing, 130header, 129hiding, 130key columns, 133redisplaying, 130resizing, 130selecting, 129sorting by, 130

Compact installation, 15components

adding to stand-alone installations, 19conditions

combining, 145Data View filter, 130editing, 149grouping, 146location, 141object data, 142precedence, 146property, 141, 142SQL, 144

configuringdata sources, 126

conformal projections, 194connecting databases, 125, 127continuous thematic maps, 160contour lines, 222coordinate correlation of raster

images, 204, 206coordinate systems, 196

coordsys.csd file, 199latitude/longitude, 52

coordinate systems (continued)state plane coordinates, 199tracking, 202updating, 200See also global coordinate systems

coordinate transformation, 196options, 43

coordsys.csd file, 199correlation coordinates, 204, 206

modifying during insertion, 206Create Closed Polylines command, 104,

217crossing objects, breaking, 89CSUPDATE utility, 200Custom installation, 15customized files

using from AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 17customized settings

using from AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 17customizing

Data View, 130

Ddangles, 85, 90dangling nodes, 168data

exporting, 64importing, 60object data queries, 142SQL queries, 143storing externally, 44, 54storing internally, 44, 54verifying accuracy, 57

data sourcesattaching, 125configuring, 126connecting, 127defining, 122disconnecting, 127links to, 125See also databases

Data View, 127, 129column header, 129customizing display, 130displaying hidden columns, 130editing tables, 131exporting data, 131formatting columns, 130linking records to objects

manually, 136modifying the display, 129opening, 127printing tables, 131record header, 129sorting records, 130spatial filter, 131SQL filter, 131

236 | Index

Data View (continued)viewing tables, 127window, 46

Data View columnsdisplaying, 130freezing, 130header, 129hiding, 130key columns, 133selecting, 129unfreezing, 130

Data View recordscopying to Windows clipboard, 131filtering by linked objects, 131filtering by SQL data, 131header, 129linking to objects, 132, 135navigating highlighted records, 137printing, 131selecting, 129sorting, 130viewing for selected objects, 137viewing linked records, 137

database administrator, 70database queries, 127, 128

opening, 128viewing, 128viewing properties, 124

databases, 5, 54attaching, 125compared to object data, 44configuring, 126connecting, 125, 127copying records to Windows

Clipboard, 131data sources. See databasesdatabase tablesdefining link templates, 133disconnecting, 127drivers supported, 125DSN (data source name), 125, 126filtering, 130highlighting linked objects, 137highlighting records, 137key columns, 133linking. See databases, links to objectsnavigating highlighted records, 137querying, 144records. See recordsUDL (data link) files, 125, 126viewing, 127viewing in Data View, 127viewing linked objects, 137viewing linked records, 137

databases, links to objects, 132, 133creating automatically, 136creating from object data, 137

databases, links to objects (continued)creating manually, 136creating while digitizing, 136managing, 133

datums, 200defining, 201deleting, 201ellipsoids, 201modifying, 201

deletingtopologies, 177

detachingraster images, 207

Digitize Setup dialog box, 136digitizing

creating database links, 136defining, 50double-digitized lines, 85errors, 84linetypes, 53maps, 50networks, 55nodes, 54overdigitizing maps, 85planning, 51polygons, 56projective, 52rubber sheeting, 95, 99tablet, 50using layers, 52verifying data, 57

disconnecting databases, 127discrete thematic maps, 160display order, 208dissolving

pseudo nodes, 93topologies, 188

distortion, in maps, 194documents

attaching to objects, 38viewing, 38

double-digitized lines, 85Draw mode queries, 150draw order. See display orderdrawing cleanup

types of errors, 84drawing sets, 4, 41drawings, 7

cleanup, 83editing, 106extents, 32global coordinate systems, 198indexing, 42, 147locking, 109opening previous releases, 8querying, 140querying with SQL, 144

Index | 237

drawings (continued)retrieving objects, 140save back extents, 32save back options, 108saving as previous release, 108saving queried objects, 108sharing, 109, 110transforming coordinates, 196viewing, 35viewing locks, 111zooming to extents, 36

drive aliasesdefault, 27

DSN (data source name), 125, 126duplicates, deleting, 87DWG project drawing, 4.dwk file, 109DXF file format, 63, 66

Eedge matching, 95editing

shared drawings, 110tables, 131tools, AutoCAD Map, 96

ellipsoids, 200defining, 201deleting, 201modifying, 201

emergency services example, 191enlargements, in insets, 102environments

attaching, 125erasing

raster images, 208exporting

Autodesk Mapguide files, 65data, 64file formats, 64object data, 137raster images, 66SDF files, 65SIF files, 65to previous versions, 66

extents of drawings, 32zooming to, 36

extents, save back, 32external databases. See databases

FFalse Origin Easting option, 200False Origin Northing option, 200fields, 114

adding, 117, 118fields (continued)

attaching, 117deleting, 117modifying, 117

file formats.lin, 222.dwk, 109DXF, 63MLF, 65MWF, 65raster, 205SDF, 63, 65SIF, 65

file locking, 109releasing, 111

file sharing, 109files

using customized from AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 17

filtering records (Data View), 130floating viewports, plotting, 215flood trace

topology, 183travel time, 190

formattingmodifying for Data View tables, 130

freezing columns, 130Full installation, 15

Ggeneralizing lines, 91Generate Links command, 217geodetic distance

measuring, 202georeferencing, 204, 206global coordinate systems, 5, 43

assigning to drawings, 198choosing, 197codes, 198, 199coordsys.csd file, 199datums, 201defining, 199, 200ellipsoids, 201geodetic, 197modifying, 200non-geodetic, 197projection parameters, 201projections, 194state plane, 199transformation options, 43transforming coordinates, 196viewing a drawing’s code, 199

238 | Index

gridcells, 129header, 129

Hhard disk requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12hardware requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12hatch patterns

adding, 98associative, 99

hidden columns, redisplaying, 130hiding

columns, 130raster images, 207

IImage Manager dialog box

naming images, 209Image Select dialog box, 209IMAGECLIP, 212images. See raster imagesimporting

Autodesk Mapguide, 63data, 60DXF files, 63file formats, 60

indexes, 42, 147removing, 149types of, 147

inserting, raster images, 206insertion points

modifying for raster images, 210insets, in maps, 102installation types

Compact, 15Custom, 15Full, 15Typical, 15

Installation wizardfor stand-alone computers, 14

installingAutodesk Map

on stand-alone computers, 13installation types, 15Volo View Express, 16write permissions required, 13

Volo View Expresson stand-alone computers, 16

islands, topology, 168

JJet provider for Microsoft Access, 125joining operators, 145

precedence, 146joins. See database queries

Kkey columns, 133Key View, 37, 47

Llabel points, 98Lambert Conformal Conic projection, 195latitude/longitude coordinates, 52layers

displaying, 37filtering from view, 37for raster images, 210main view, 221organizing, 52reference view, 221

layouts, 214applying page setups to, 214

left-right relationships, topology, 169License Manager

for stand-alone computers, 21licenses

managing stand-alone licenses, 21stand-alone, 21transferring stand-alone licenses, 21

.lin file, 222linear objects, 84

simplifying, 91linetypes

as contour lines, 222digitizing, 53

link indexes, 42, 133link templates, 45, 133

defining, 133querying, 142

link-node relationships, topology, 167link-polygon relationships, topology, 168links, 123links to databases, 132, 133, 135

creating automatically, 136creating from object data, 137creating manually, 136creating while digitizing, 136managing, 132, 133querying, 144viewing linked objects, 137viewing linked records, 137

Index | 239

links, in topology, 166, 173loading raster images, 207location conditions, 141

editing, 149locking, file, 109locking, object, 8, 107, 109locks, 109

viewing, 111

Mmain view

layers, 219, 221scale, 219

map books, 217map projections, 194, 200mapping, plot map sets, 215maps

annotation, 222atlases, 217boundaries, breaking objects, 100boundaries, trimming, 102cleanup, 56, 83, 84, 170closed polylines, creating, 104contour lines, 222creating, 49, 59crossing objects, breaking, 89dangles, 85dangling objects, erasing, 90digitizing, 49, 50distortion, 195duplicates, deleting, 87edge matching, 95effectiveness, 222errors, 84, 170exporting, 59importing, 59insets, 102layers, 52linear objects, simplifying, 91linking to databases, 136nodes, correcting, 93nodes, snapping clusters, 93overdigitizing, 85overshoots, 85plotting, 214, 218projections, 194, 195, 200pseudo nodes, dissolving, 94rubber sheeting, 99scale, 195sheet boundaries, 217short objects, erasing, 88stacking, 42suitability, 51thematic, 47, 156tiling, 42, 53, 56, 217transformation, 97

maps (continued)undershoots, 85undershoots, extending, 90

matching edges, 95measuring geodetic distance, 202Mercator projection, 194, 195meridian, central, 201MLF files, 65model space, queries, 140Modify Global Coordinate System dialog

box, 200moving objects, 97moving raster images, 210multiple projects, working with, 40MWF files, 65

Nnaming raster images, 209network flood trace, 183

travel time, 190network topology, 166, 173, 183

checking integrity, 183creating, 173digitizing, 55direction, 168dissolving, 188, 189emergency services example, 191examples, 189, 190overlay analysis, 184travel time, 190

network trace, 182networks and polygons, 184networks, sharing drawings, 109node topology

digitizing, 54nodes, 84, 166

clusters, 93correcting, 93creating topology, 173dangling, 168dissolving, 94overlay analysis, 184pseudo, 168snapping clusters, 93tolerances for cleanup, 93topology, 167with polygons, 184

Oobject data, 5, 54, 114

attaching, 117break command, 117compared with external databases, 44converting to database links, 137defining, 116detaching, 118

240 | Index

object data (continued)editing, 117, 118querying, 142ranges, 119tables, 114, 116topology, 170trim command, 117

object data conditions, 142editing, 149

object locking, 8, 107, 109set by superuser, 110See also objects, locking

objectsadding hatch patterns, 98altering properties, 152associating documents, 38attaching multiple records, 118attaching object data, 117centroid, 98detaching data, 118editing, 96, 106editing object data, 118filtering records by, 131highlighting by linked data, 137linear, 84linking to external databases, 132, 135,

136locking, 8, 107, 109moving, 97querying, 140, 144removing data, 118retrieving, 150rotating, 97save back options, 108saving to source drawings, 108scaling, 97text insertion point, 98transforming, 97transforming coordinates, 196viewing linked data, 137viewing locks, 111

ODBC driver, 125operating system requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12options, 47

acadmap.ini file, 47acadmap.sys file, 47coordinate transformation, 43save back, 108

Oracle SpatialMap schema, 73, 74, 76requirements for stand-alone

computers, 13tips and suggestions, 82

overlayanalysis, 183, 185

overshoots, 85

Ppage setups, applying to layouts, 214paper space, queries, 140path trace, topology

travel time, 190paths

raster images, 209performance improvements

creating indexes, 147speeding up raster image display, 207

plotting, 214boundaries, 218, 221boundary buffer, 220floating viewports, 215main view layers, 219, 221main view scale, 219maps, 8, 218plot map sets, 215plot template blocks, 215, 218, 221queries, 217Rectilinear option, 220reference view (viewport), 216reference view layers, 219, 221reference view scale, 219techniques, 221title blocks, 216, 219True option, 220viewports, 221

polygon topology, 166, 168creating, 175digitizing, 56dissolving, 188, 189examples, 191incomplete polygons, 85incomplete polylines, 85overlay analysis, 184, 185with polygons, 185

polygonsfilling, 98

polylinescreating closed, 104incomplete, 85

Portable License Utility, 21Preview mode queries, 150

clearing, 150previewing drawings, 35previous release, saving drawings as, 108printing database tables, 131printing drawings. See plottingprocessor requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12profiles, 67Project Workspace, 3

Data Sources node, 124projection parameters, 201projections, 194, 195, 200

choosing, 195

Index | 241

projections (continued)conformal, 194Mercator, 194reducing distortion, 194

projective digitizing, 52projects, 4, 41

attaching databases, 125DWG file format, 4global coordinate systems, 198multiple, 40saving, 40sharing, 40switching between, 40

propertiesmodifying for raster images, 210

properties, modifying for raster images, 210property alteration, 152

in map queries, 119thematic maps, 163

property conditions, 141, 142editing, 149ranges, 142

pseudo nodes, 93, 168dissolving, 94

Qqueries, 140

altering properties, 152categories, 153combining conditions, 145defined, 6editing, 149, 164executing, 149external, 42grouping conditions, 146internal, 42, 153library, 153loading, 153location conditions, 141model space, 140modes, 149nested group conditions, 147object data conditions, 142paper space, 140plot, 217precedence of conditions, 146property conditions, 141, 142ranges, 142reloading, 153reports, 151saving, 42, 153SQL conditions, 144thematic maps, 163topology, 187types, 140writing results to a file, 151

queries, database. See database queries

Query Library, 153Query Properties dialog box, 124Quick Views, 35

RRAM requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12ranges

in property conditions, 142of object data, 119

Raster Extension, 204, 205, 206, 209raster image frames

bitonal images, 211modifying, 210properties, 210when clipping images, 212

raster images, 7, 204bitonal, 211brightness, 210clipping, 212coloring, 211contrast, 210coordinate correlation, 204correlation coordinates, 204, 206detaching, 207display order, 208displaying, 212erasing, 208fade, 210file formats, 205georeferencing, 204, 206hiding, 207inserting, 206layers, 210loading, 207modifying, 210modifying frames, 210modifying properties, 210moving, 210naming, 209path files, 209performance improvements, 207redrawing speed, 207rotating, 210scaling, 210search paths, 209selecting, 209transparency, 211unloading, 207viewing image information, 208

Readme file, 16records, 114, 118

adding, 118copying to Windows Clipboard, 131filtering by SQL data, 131flitering by linked objects, 131header, 129

242 | Index

records (continued)highlighting, 137linking to objects, 132, 135navigating highlighted records, 137printing, 131removing, 118selecting, 129sorting, 130viewing for selected objects, 137viewing linked objects, 137

Rectilinear option, 220reference view

layers, 219, 221scale, 219

reference viewports, plotting, 216registering Autodesk Map, 18reinstalling

Autodesk Map on stand-alone computers, 20

renamingtopologies, 177

repairingAutodesk Map on stand-alone

computers, 20damaged or missing files, 20

Report mode queries, 151result topology, 188river drainage network example, 189rotating objects, 97rotating raster images, 210rows. See recordsrubber sheeting, 99

Ssave back

to source drawings, 106save back extents, 32

resetting, 32setting, 32viewing, 32

save sets, 7, 106adding to, 107saving, 108

saving changes, 108scaling

maps, 195objects, 97raster images, 210

SDF files, 65Autodesk MapGuide, 63, 65importing, 63

search paths for raster images, 209Select statements, typing, 144settings

using customized from AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 17

sewer network example, 190shapes

display in Quick View, 35sharing drawings, 109sheet boundaries, maps, 217short objects, erasing, 88shortest path trace, 183Show Who Has It command, 111SIF files, 65simplifying linear objects, 91snapping clustered nodes, 93software requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12sorting records in Data View, 130spatial analysis, 182spatial filter, 131SQL Filter command (Data View), 131SQL query conditions

combining, 144creating, 144syntax standards, 144typing, 144

stacking, maps, 42Stand-Alone License Manager, 21street network example, 190symbol tables, 47system folder

write permission requirements, 13system registry

write permission requirements, 13system requirements

for stand-alone computers, 12

TTable Properties dialog box, 124tables, 114tables (external database), 127

customizing display, 130defining link templates, 133Edit mode, 127editing in Data View, 131filtering records, 130linking to objects, 123, 135navigating highlighted records, 137printing, 131sorting records, 130View mode, 127viewing properties, 124

tables (object data), 114adding fields, 117, 118adding records, 118attaching, 117deleting, 116editing, 118modifying fields, 117renaming, 116

Index | 243

templates, 151text, 222

adding to queries objects, 162, 163as object data, 217defining insertion point, 98, 163generating links, 217

Thematic Mapping commandsupported options, 158

thematic maps, 47, 156advanced, 163continuous, 160creating, 158discrete, 160examples, 160expressions, 159property alteration, 163queries, 163query options, 158

tiling, maps, 42, 53, 56, 95, 217title blocks, plotting, 216, 219tolerances

for cleanup errors, 84node cleanup, 93simplifying linear objects, 92

topologiesdefined, 2

topology, 166administration, 177auditing, 179buffer analysis, 186buffer examples, 187centroids, 169, 175completing, 178, 179creating, 170, 171deleting, 177dissolving, 188, 189editing, 177editing examples, 178errors, 170examples, 189flood trace, 183islands, 168left-right relationships, 169link-node relationships, 167link-polygon relationships, 168links, 166, 167, 168links, intersecting, 173model, 167network, 55, 166, 173network examples, 189, 190network flood, 183network trace, 182network, creating, 173node, creating, 173nodes, 54, 166, 167object data, 170overlay analysis, 183, 185

topology (continued)polygon, 56, 166, 168polygon examples, 191polygon, creating, 175primitives, 167queries, 187recreating, 179renaming, 177result, 188saving, 171shortest path trace, 183storing data, 172travel time example, 190undo, 178

tracenetwork flood, 183shortest path, 183

tracking coordinates, 202transferring

stand-alone licenses, 21transformation

for coordinates, 43, 196for objects, 97maps, 97

transparencybitonal raster images, 211raster images, 211setting color, 211

Transverse Mercator projection, 195, 199, 201

travel time using network topology, 190trimming objects at boundaries, 102, 221True option, plotting, 220Typical installation, 15

UUDL (data link) files, 125, 126

creating, 126creating automatically, 126editing, 126

undershoots, extending, 90unfreezing columns, 130uninstalling

Autodesk Map on stand-alone computers, 21

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, 198

unloading raster images, 207updating coordinate systems, 200upgrading to

Autodesk Mapfrom AutoCAD Map 2000 or

2000i, 15from AutoCAD Map Rel 3, 15on stand-alone computers, 13options, 14

user-defined extents, 32

244 | Index

Vviewing drawings, 35viewports, 215, 216

floating, 215plotting, 215, 221reference, 216secondary, 216

views. See database queriesVolo View Express, 16

Wwater-distribution network example, 190

weeding, 91Who Has It command. See Show Who Has It

commandwork sessions. See projectswrite permission requirements

for stand-alone installations, 13

Zzoom

controlling layers viewed, 37to extents of source drawings, 36

Index | 245