Display Styles in 2007

So are you having trouble getting your map to display the way you want it do, or want to show your data in a various styles at different zoom levels. With the display manager and style editor you can create a number of different ways to display your map. With the sample I'm using for this posting I connected to a road shp file using data connect. I wanted to display the roads based on the type of road it is, the Interstate with a wide line, the US road and State roads as solid lines and then the local or private roads a different line type depending on the zoom scale that I am displaying. Or in other words when I zoom expents I want to see the major roads only and colored by the type of road it is, then as I zoom in show the local roads as a dotted line then if I zoom in to a 1:500 scale or less all the roads display as a solid line the same width.

The style editor has two parts to it, the top half controls the scale ranges and the bottom half controls the styles for those ranges.



Once you set up the scale ranges you want to use you then create the style for that range. The default is just as it displays when you add the objects to your map either from the data connect or as you draw the AutoCAD objects based on the properties for those objects.



To create a new style you click on the "Add Rule" then select on the "condition" column. This brings up the "Filter" palette that lets you set the condition base on the properties or data value depending on what type of data you are styling.



Once you select the property and the condition then click the "GET" button and AutoCAD MAP will provide a list to select from for the value.
You can create compound conditions by clicking on the "NEW" button then select the operation (and, or, not) then set your next condition.



To set a Label Style for that rule, select the rule then click under the column "Feature Label". This will open up the "Style Label" palette that allows you to select what property or field to use for the value of the label and the text/font color, height etc. Be sure you check the "STYLE" box in the top left otherwise the options are grayed out as the default.



Here are the results of setting styles to a simple centerline shape file that I am using with the Data Connect feature.



The nice thing about using these features is I set everything up with out having to import the shp file and having to use layers to control the colors or line types to display the features, and the features change their display as I change the zoom levels while I am editing or viewing the map. Once you create the scale ranges they are available in the task pane under the "Scale 1: XX" button allowing you to zoom right to that scale and the display rules you set for that scale range.



So happy styling until next time.

Data Connect in Map R2007

So what’s this Data Connect thing in Map 2007 you ask? Well in a nut shell it’s a way to connect to other GIS Systems file formats. Not only connect and view the data attached to those files but also allows you to edit those files and save them back to their naive format with out doing an import and export.
In this example I will connect to a folder of shp files and go though the steps of connecting and displaying the features of those files. To start click on the Data -Add Data icon on the Map Task Pane, this opens up the data connect palette.
The format that you can connect to is listed on the left side of the palette. Click on the format you want to connect with. The options or methods of connections vary depending on what format of files you select on the left side of the palette. This example I am connecting to shp format so all that is displayed it the name and paths to those file(s) For the connection name call it what you want, but keep it simple and later when you create a legend for you map this connection name may end up being the title for that legend. (more on that later). For the source file or folder you have two options either a connection to a single file or to a folder of files. You can browse to the file or folder by clicking on the icons.



Once you select the folder/file click on the connect button.
The palette now displays the list of files in the folder or the single file if you selected only one file. This is where you select the file(s) to add to your map. You can select only the files you want if you are connecting to a folder. Place a check mark in the box to the file you want. Then click on the Add to Map button at the bottom of the palette.



The next palette displayed allows you to perform a query on the data to add to the map, much like when you use the import command. You can query on location or by values of the feature data. Click the OK button.



After a few seconds or longer depending on the size of the files and your workstation the features are displayed in the map.



In the Map Task Pane in the Display Manager you will have what AutoDesk MAP is calling layers displayed. This is similar to the Table of Contents with the ESRI products or other GIS systems. Keep in mind this is only a name used in the display manger and should not be confused with the AutoDesk LAYERS that are a property of AutoCAD entities.
So now that you are connected and have added the features data of another format you can change the way they are displayed by using the Style Editor for that layer. To change the way a feature layer is displayed, select the layer in the Display Manger, right click and select Edit Display Style. This opens up the style editor palette that allows you to edit how those features are to be displayed and at what scales.



The top half of the palette controls the scale display and the bottom half controls the style. The editor allows you to display the features with different styles at different scales at zoom levels. With this example I will set a few styles for my parcels and street layers.
First we change the color of the street layer to RED, then change the pattern of the parcels layer. To edit the style used, click on the swatch(hatch) or line under the style column.



This opens a palette to allow you to select the color, line type and etc. for that style. Make sure you check the Apply style to the line check box at the top of the palette.



For the parcel layer, which is a polygon layer you can select the fill pattern along with a border to display and transparency for the foreground fill.

Now that we styled the map features take a look at what I have displayed.



Notice that I have a street centerline that does not match up with the parcels in the area circled in green. The next posting I will go over some ways to edit that and make the corrections with out having to import, edit in Map, and export it back to the shp file format. You can edit and correct everything right in the data connect mode. So check back in a few days and hopefully I will have a few tips on using these features in Map 3D R