MAPublisher MAP Themes: Assign Symbology and Styles upon GIS Data Import

BlogAugust 3, 2012

With MAPublisher 8.6 or higher, you can apply styles to GIS data upon import using the MAP Stylesheet Auto Assign feature.

You will need to prepare MAP Stylesheet theme(s) and set the Auto Assign settings within every stylesheet. In this example, there is only one stylesheet.

In the “Edit Stylesheet Theme” window, there is a link to click next to the “Auto-assign” right below the layer option. Once you create all the rules for stylization using attribute values, click the link to open the Auto Assign Layers dialog window.

MAPublisher will check the layer name of all the layers being imported if the Auto-Assign Layers settings are made. In this example below, one layer named “USA 2000.shp” will be imported. There may be other layers called “USA 2001.shp”, “USA 2002″…. and so on. There is a pattern in the layer name among the layers to be imported. We will specify here “Start with” for the Type, and “USA” for the Layer Name Match option.

For the Type option, there are five: Equals, Start with, Ends with, Contains, and Wildcard. All my layers start with “USA” in the example above.

Let’s import one layer called “USA 2000.shp” (you can import mutiple layers at once, of course).

If the Adobe Illustrator document has this Auto-assign setting ready, MAPublisher will detect it and it will give you an option whether or not you would like to apply the styles to the layer(s) being imported. We’ll click the first option “Apply MAP Themes to imported layers now”.

As a result as shown on the very top screencapture image, every polygon in the layer “USA 2000.shp” is stylized with the rules available in the MAP Stylesheet theme upon import.

MAPublisher: Enhanced Grids and Graticules Allows You to Share Grid Settings

BlogJuly 19, 2012

If you haven’t noticed yet, we released an enhanced version of the Grid and Graticules tool (MAPublisher 8.7 and higher). With the new Grid and Graticules tool, you will find that you can export grid settings and save them. Most importantly, these grid settings files can be shared and imported to another document.

Once a grid is created, save the settings to a *.cfg file. Two configuration files are created per grid: grid settings and label settings.

Grid settings configuration files store information for all related grid options (e.g. ticks, intervals, offsets, borders). Label settings configuration files store information for all related label options (e.g. axis labels, fonts, styles), even for multiple grids. Label settings are saved with _labelData suffixed to the file name.

Share the files and load the *.cfg file in the Grid and Graticules dialog box.

Some of the major functions of the new Grid and Graticules tool are adding tick marks along border lines, placing cross hair symbol instead of lines for grid/graticule lines, styling lines and text more flexibly, and having more label options available. You can share the settings by exporting one and importing to another document as well. You can make a set of grid lines looking like this below.

MAPublisher FME Auto [VIDEO]

BlogJuly 12, 2012

This video shows the great functionality of the MAPublisher FME Auto.

MAPublisher® FME Auto™ is a new add-on that connects the GIS data processing environment of FME Desktop to the cartographic design and publishing environment MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator.

The MAPublisher FME Auto add-on was developed with Safe Software to support both FME Desktop and FFS (FME Feature Store) file format into Adobe Illustrator using MAPublisher. FME users can now effortlessly move their data from FME Desktop into the MAPublisher design environment to easily create stunning maps.

Visit our YouTube channel for more videos about the app and other Avenza products.

MAPublisher FME Auto: File Automation from FME Workbench to Adobe Illustrator

BlogJuly 9, 2012

Do you use FME Workbench in your workflow and produce cartographic products with MAPublisher for Adobe Illustrator? Would you like to automate the data import process to MAPublisher after preprocessing the data with FME workbench? If so, you might be interested in our new add-on product MAPublisher FME Auto.

FME is a powerful software that you can open many GIS formats and transform data including reprojection and geometry operations. Once you complete the data processing with FME Workbench, you can bring those processed data into Adobe Illustrator. Furthermore, you can automate this process from FME Workbench to MAPublisher with FME Workbench file (*.fmw).

System Requirements:

Adobe Illustrator with MAPublisher 8.6 or higher
FME Workbench 2011 SP3 or later
- for 32 bit
- for 64 bit FME Workbench, you will have two choices:
  - install both FME 64 bit and FME 32bit on your computer
  - install FME re-distributable available from our download page
valid license for
- FME
- MAPublisher 8.6 or higher and MAPublisher FME Auto

More information:

Adobe Illustrator / Avenza MAPublisher Writer on Safe Software website
MAPublisher FME Auto on our Web site

In a future post we will look into greater detail about the MAPublisher FME Auto workflow.

Georeference Any Map in MAPublisher 8.7 with the New Georeferencer Tool

BlogMay 9, 2012

The new MAPublisher 8.7 Georeferencer is a fast, easy, and accurate way to update your current unreferenced map collection or data to prepare it for PDF Maps or other digital formats.

The first step is to open your unreferenced document in Adobe Illustrator. If the document is a vector PDF it is often advantageous to rasterize the document and save it as a TIFF to avoid any conflicts with text.

Once the map is open, we can use the Map Locations tool to place reference points or Page Locations on our unreferenced map. It is recommended that known points, or points that are unlikely to move such as the intersections of road ways, are used as reference because these locations will be easily recognizable (as seen in the following steps). Tip: You will also want to zoom in as close as possible to the point to ensure the best possible accuracy.

After we have given a name to our page location we will continue to place page locations until there is four or more spread as evenly across the map as possible. Having greater than four reference locations could help to improve the overall georeferencing accuracy.

The next step is to find the real world counterparts, or World Locations, for each of our Page Locations using the Georeferencer tool. World locations can be sourced from an online map service, an open referenced document or entered manually. In this example we will use the built in Google Maps service to find our World Locations.

The Google Maps option opens the Add World Locations dialog box. Choose a Page Location from the drop-down list and use the map to find the corresponding world location. Use the Google search bar and zoom buttons to zoom as close as possible to the corresponding world location. Place the cross hairs over the location, click, and confirm the world location with the page location.

If the point is accurate, we will continue to add world locations for each page location. If not, the world location position can be changed by clicking and dragging it to a more accurate location. Right-click the pin to delete it.

If you’re unsure about the position of the original page location, you can drag the Add World Locations dialog box to the side and use the Zoom to artboard tool to help locate it.

After we have placed all of the World Locations with the corresponding Page Locations, we may now either specify a coordinate system (if one is already known) or click on Georeference and Save.

After clicking Georeference and Save, a list of possible projections will be presented. Select the projection which most accurately represents your map. With each projection we see an associated error. This error is based on the combined accuracy of our Page and Map locations.

As in this example, the first ranked projection is not always the best fit for our map, so it is best to use your best judgment when selecting a projection.

Click OK and add your map to a Map View and save. Your map is now referenced!

We can check the accuracy of our georeferencing by zooming in closely to our Page (green) and Map (blue) locations. The further the distance between the two points, the less accurate a given georeferenced map is.

You can also see a video of the Georeferencer in action on our YouTube Channel.

Geospatial PDF in Adobe Acrobat: Examining latitude and longitude values

BlogAugust 22, 2011

After creating a map with MAPublisher or Geographic Imager, you might want to export it as a geospatial PDF file. You want to ensure that the georeference information of your Geospatial PDF files are correct before bringing them into the field for use. A great way to use geospatial PDF maps (and GeoTIFFs) is to load them onto an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with PDF Maps installed.

One way to check for georeference accuracy of geospatial PDF files is to use Adobe Acrobat. Open the “Analysis” tool from View > Tools > Analyze.

Click the “Geospatial Location Tool” from the Analyze panel.

With the Geospatial Location Tool enabled, you can see the latitude and longitude values of the map while you move the mouse over the opened Geospatial PDF file.

An important tip you should keep in mind: you need to set the preference option for this tool correctly depending on the coordinate system of the map in the geospatial PDF file.

Open the Preference dialog window:

Acrobat X on Windows: Edit > Preferences > General …
Acrobat X on Mac: Acrobat > Preferences …

In the Preference dialog window, find the preference category “Measuring (Geo)” from the list of categories.

In the “Measuring (Geo)” category, take a look at the right side. There are many options for the georeferencing tool. One of the options is “Latitude and Longitude Format”. In this section, you have a checkbox option “Always display latitude and longitude as WGS 1984”.

This option is very important. If the coordinate system of the map is “NAD 27 / UTM Zone 16 N”, which geodetic system would you like to have to show the latitude and longitude values in Adobe Acrobat? For example, if you are checking the latitude and longitude values in the WGS 1984 geodetic system, you should keep this option selected. However, if you are checking the latitude and longitude values in NAD 1927 geodetic system, then you should de-select this option. The difference in the distance at the same spot between two different geodetic systems may be small or large. If you would like to see the correct latitude and longitude values, you should be aware of this option.

How to get Open Street Map data into Adobe Illustrator with MAPublisher

BlogJune 28, 2011

Edit: Updated with a new QGIS workflow (November 21, 2014)

The following tip is courtesy of Hans van der Maarel of Red Geographics.

————-

For many areas on Earth, OpenStreetMap is a viable alternative to commercially offered data sources. However, it is not always easy to process. This blog tutorial explains the steps needed to load OpenStreetMap data into MAPublisher.

1. Download and install QGIS, this is a free GIS application, available for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. QGIS now comes with built in tools for downloading Open Street Map Data.

2. Open QGIS and zoom in to an area of interest. Use the OpenLayers plugin for a basemap if you do not have any imagery or mapping of your own. Keep in mind that downloads from the OpenStreetMap website are limited in the number of exported objects, so for larger areas you will have to combine multiple downloads yourself, or look for other options (for example Geofabrik).

3a. Go to the Vector Menu and Choose OpenStreetMap and then Download data.

3b. Choose how you want the extent of the downloaded data to be defined. The easiest way is to use the Map Canvas.

4. Open your downloaded .osm file in QGis using the Add Vector Layer tool. Select all the Layers and choose OK.

This results are shown in several layers depending upon what is present in the extent you have downloaded. In this case there are points, lines, multilinestrings and multipolygons. Note that QGIS only imports features that fall completely within the extent specified. So make sure you choose an area larger than your actual area of interest to ensure it is completely covered.

5. Export these layers one by one. Right-click and choose “Save As, then ESRI shapefile”.

6. The shapefiles can be imported into Adobe Illustrator using MAPublisher. After reprojecting, scaling and cropping we’ve ended up with the raw OpenStreetMap vectors in Adobe Illustrator, with all attributes still maintained.

7. Once within the data is imported successfully, you may now use any of the MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator tools to style and customize the map in any way you want.

OSM Layers loaded and themed in MAPublisher

Optimizing Adobe Illustrator Documents with MAPublisher for Geospatial PDF Export

BlogJune 3, 2011

Adobe Illustrator documents with GIS data can be exported to georeferenced PDF files thanks to the MAPublisher Export Geospatial PDF feature. A geospatial PDF is an Adobe Acrobat file that contains geospatial coordinates. With coordinates, users can view and interact with the PDF to find and mark location data. MAPublisher exports all the MAP Attributes data in an Adobe Illustrator document into the geospatial PDF. Attribute values can subsequently be accessed and searched in Acrobat 9 (and 8 with limitations).

In order to ensure the best interoperability and geospatial PDF output results from your MAPublisher documents, the following work practices are recommended:

Convert document color mode to RGB

To ensure predictable color results, it is highly recommended to convert the documents color mode to RGB prior to exporting to Geospatial PDF. This is advisable especially if generating geospatial PDF documents to be used in conjunction with the PDF Maps app for IOS devices. The document color mode can be changed in Adobe Illustrator through File > Document Color Mode > RGB Color.

Crop data to the required extents using the MAP Vector Crop Tool

Remove any extraneous data not required for the geospatial PDF document by cropping the map using the Vector Crop Tool (located in the Adobe Illustrator Toolbar). If necessary, exclude data from being cropped by locking the its the appropriate layers.

Remove unnecessary layers

Delete any map layers that are not required for the final PDF map document. This may include raster layers, hidden layers, and layers that are outside the mapping extent or art board. Not only will this decrease file size, it will also simplify your layers list and improve organization. Delete layers in the MAP Views panel or the Layers panel.

Preserve data contained within sublayers

If your document contains map data organized within sublayers it will be necessary to reorganize/move this data to it’s parent layer if you wish to preserve it when converting to and from geospatial PDF. This is necessary because data contained on sublayers are forced into their parent layer by the Adobe Illustrator PDF exporter. Layers are also required for importing a geospatial PDF back into MAPublisher in order to assign a schema.

Remove unused attribute information

Data sets, especially those available through various data portals and government agencies can contain attribute information not suited or required for our mapping need, or perhaps we are only interested in the geometry of the data for representational purposes. In this case it is advisable to delete any attribute information that does not fulfill a purpose as this will unnecessarily increase the resultant file size. Select your data, open the MAP Attributes panel, and click the Edit Schema button. You may delete and organize your attributes using this panel.

Assign MAPublisher attributes to Adobe Illustrator Object names

This recommendation is not necessary but may be useful in some cases. In MAPublisher the #Id attribute column is a unique identifier MAPublisher uses internally to associate attributes with unique pieces of art. By default the art will have a name of “path” or “compound path” however it may be desirable to tag the object with a unique identifier from an existing attribute column for the purposes of making it easier to differentiate art objects within the Acrobat tree list, for example.

To do this we can use the “Apply Expression” option in the MAP Attributes panel. Simply designate the #Name column as the “Apply to” option while entering the name of the attribute column you wish to derive the attributes from as the “Expression”. For example in the screeshot below we are renaming the art objects contained in the #name column with values stoed in the “ROUTE” column with the results being reflected in the artwork listed in Illustrator Layers panel.

Use the Simplify Line Tool

Reduce the number of vertices available in MAP Line and Area layers by using the Simplify Line tool (located on the MAPublisher toolbar). This differs from the Adobe Illustrator Simplify Path tool because it takes into account X and Y coordinates. The proximity value or simplification tolerance is based on the vertical difference between the begin-end line and points off a line, not the distance between anchor points on the line.

Geospatial PDFs derived from or include images should be generated as 72 DPI

This has particular relevance when dealing with geospatial PDF files, especially those generated with Geographic Imager. When a 200 DPI (dots per inch) georeferenced image is converted to a geospatial PDF, the image will be embedded in the PDF as a 200 DPI image. However, when displayed by PDF viewing applications such as Acrobat or Illustrator it will appear as a 72 DPI image. Due to this, on export, MAPublisher converts the referencing to 72 DPI format since it must be imported back as 72 DPI

Following the above recommendations should help ease the transition of your MAPublisher documents to and from geospatial PDF.

MAPublisher Dot Density Maps

BlogMay 31, 2011

Dot density themes are sometimes called dot distribution maps because they show where particular data characteristics occur. It uses dots or other symbols to represent the number of occurrences of a given data characteristic in a particular location. Starting at MAPublisher 8.4, the ability to create dot density maps is available through the provision of Dot Density Themes.

When creating a new MAP Theme simply choose “Dot Density” from the available theme types. The creation of a dot density theme is facilitated through the MAP Themes panel. The dot density theme is an Adobe Illustrator effect applied to an area layer.

As dot density maps are most useful for showing where particular data occur, they may only be generated for MAP Area type layers. Most often, symbols are used to represent data occurring within a bounding polygon such as a census tract, zip code or county polygons.

Dot density effects are created on a per layer basis, based on various user defined settings. Data ranges can be determined from selected attribute columns and then a dot value can be assigned a corresponding symbol at which point MAPublisher will map the appropriate results. Users may apply default symbols or load custom ones based on Illustrator symbol sets

In this example, population tallies per county have been loaded, assigned a dot value of 10,000 with a designated symbol of a 2pt black dot.

This screenshot displays the map prior to applying the dot density effect.

The screenshot below displays the map after having applied the Dot Density Theme using the parameters displayed within the dialog .

Using Make Index for Geoprocessing in MAPublisher 8.4.2

BlogMay 9, 2011

New to the MAPublisher 8.4.2 Make Index tool is an enhancement that allows you to index objects relative to a MAP Area layer’s features instead of an index grid. This new functionality compliments the existing geoprocessing tools found in the Buffer Art tool and the Spatial Filter in the MAP Selections panel.

An index grid on a MAP Legend layer is no longer a prerequisite for using the Make Index tool. By choosing the “Use Area layer as grid” option in the Make Index dialog box, a spatial query will be performed and an index file will be produced based on the layer and attribute specified.

For this example, I have loaded a point file of cities and a point file of nuclear facilities against a background of North America. I then proceeded to use the Buffer art tool to create 80 kilometer buffers around each facility.

Finally, I will produce an index that returns which communities fall within the 80 km radius surrounding each nuclear facility. For this index I will choose my Towns_labels MAP Text layer.

With these settings our index gives a line for each city that falls within the buffer, and after a tab delimiter, gives the name of each facility as found in the kmlName attribute of the Buffered Art layer. Notice that for cities that fall within the buffer of multiple nuclear facilities, the values from the kmlName attribute field are concatenated together with a semicolon “;”.

If you choose to make an index using an index grid, the option to add an attribute from a bounding MAP Area layer can be accessed from the Advanced tab of the Make Index dialog.

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