Using the Map View

Location, location and location

The Map View is a powerful and flexible option for displaying spatial data at any level; world, country, city or even exhibition or office floor plans or sports playing fields. Omniscope embeds its own multi-layer vector maps that let you choose to display various geographic map layers (roads, mountains, sea depths, etc.). Omniscope comes with the world map shown below, but you can also download hundreds of other free country, regional and city maps from the Maps Library for embedding in your Omniscope files.

Using any activated edition of Omniscope, use the File > Open map > Download maps option to install and display new maps with blank data sets, which you can either ignore or start populating with your data. To load a scanned image or photograph for use as a backdrop, use the File > Open map > Browse for image or map file command.

Note: Omniscope currently imports Image (.JPG, .BMP, .GIF, .PNG depending on your Java version) plus Visokio's own .VEC, .MAP and .ILF file formats for use as coordinate backdrops in the Map View. If you save an .IOK file containing embedded image map(s), Omniscope will bundle them into the .IOK file so that anyone with the free Viewer will see the file with the correct map(s).

Each record (row) in your data sets can be associated with a marker displayed on the map, as long as the two designated map coordinate columns contain non-null, valid decimal coordinates. Using Place marker mode, you can add coordinates to your data set by opening a map view (or Google Maps), zooming in to show enough detail, then pointing at the location of each record with your mouse. More on Placing Markers...

Details for each record are available by clicking on the marker representing the record or aggregated group of records. Note: if the Details view is not open, groups of four records or less will be displayed as a cascade of individual details windows, one per record, while markers aggregating five or more records will display the pop-up Show details table window showing the selected records with links to display individual details.

Map View Toolbar

The Map View Toolbar includes the View Tools drop-down menu, an option to switch back and forth between vector and Google maps, a Map (Map Type for Google) selector, a Layer pick list, choice of mouse Mode and Zoom navigational controls, plus field (column) pick lists to set Colour, Sizing, Shape and Label options.

The Map View also features a pop-up Navigator overview mini-window, plus the Show Details, Slide Show, Add to Basket and [X] Close View options common to all views and documented here.

Switch to Google/Vector Maps- to the right of the View Tools drop-down menu this option allows you to switch from the default vector map to a Google Map view which uses the same coordinate columns. When you are using Google Maps, this option label changes to Switch to Vector Map.

Suggestion: Placing, moving and correcting coordinates using the mouse in Place Marker Mode using Google Maps works well. However, if you are manually editing, deleting or cutting and pasting coordinate data with an open Google Maps display, make sure that the Zoom setting is NOT Zoom to fit visible data. If you are scrubbing and filtering data and find your Google Map display updating slowly or not displaying properly, switching to the corresponding vector map, then switching back will usually restore the display in Google Maps.

A tutorial on navigating in the Map View is available here.

Map View Toolbar- Map selector for vector maps

The Map selector is used to change the map in the view, or add a new vector map to the file. The drop-down menu shows the list of maps already configured in the file, with the currently displaying map ticked. Below that is the option to add another map from those already downloaded onto your machine, or by downloading additional maps from the Maps Library. If you select to add a new, unconfigured map to the file, the Configure Map wizard will appear (see above) so that you can define a title and specify the coordinate fields (columns) to be used with the new map.

There is also an option to import your own map as an image in formats supported by your version of Java, plus Visokio Map formats (.VEC,.MAP,.ILF). Click on Browse for image file to use as a map, then browse to and select any image you choose. It will appear in the Map selector drop-down map listing menu as part of your growing collection. You can use any kind of photograph or scanned image as a Map View backdrop for placing data points. Typical examples include sporting fields, exhibition hall, office or factory floor plan layouts, banquet seating arrangements etc.

Map View Toolbar- Map Type selector for Google Maps

When displaying a Google Maps as a backdrop, the Map selector becomes Map Type, and allows you to chose from 3 options for the Google Map display: Map, Satellite and Hybrid:

Choose one or more Google Map types that best suits the purpose of each display.

Map View Toolbar- Layers

The default map is a Mercator projection world map with physical and political information in a series of configurable layers. With the default world map open, click ‘Layers’ to choose what to display. Click 'Physical' to hide or show physical altitudes and reveal the 'Political' layer. Tick or untick layers until you have the map you want.

Note: some layers, such as capital, major and minor cities, will not be visible when zoomed out. Omniscope shows map detail progressively, only when the view is close enough to make sense of it. As you zoom in, more and more detail will appear, revealing the layers you have chosen.

If you would like to develop your own layers for distribution in .IOK files for display on vector or Google Maps, please contact us..

Map View Toolbar- Mode selector

Map View selection Mode options are very similar to those used in the Graph View, including mouse-defined Square select and Lasso free-form selection as well as Zooming, and Panning navigational modes.

The Mode options menu enables you to choose how to navigate and select points and groups of points on the display. You can define one or more selection areas/shapes in order to exclude or isolate records using Move and Keep power query commands on the Main Toolbar. You can also use the mouse in navigational mode to define and explore specific zones in the display in maximum detail.

Square select mode- the mouse defines one or more rectangular selection area(s) Lasso select mode- (not available in Google Maps) the mouse defines one or more free-form shaped selection area(s) Zoom mode- a navigational mode, the mouse defines a rectangular zone and the display zooms to show only that area. Holding the right mouse button down in zoom mode and moving the mouse up and down will zoom in and out continuously Pan mode- (only visible when zoomed in manually) a navigational mode, the mouse 'hand' cursor is used to 'grab' the screen and move it to frame the desired area.

Place Marker mode- used to place markers for selected records, thereby generating values for the coordinate fields in the data. To do this, open a Table View and select a record with no coordinates/map marker by clicking the row header (or multiple records using the Shift or CTRL keys). Once selected. go to the open Map View, and with Mode set to Place marker mode, click on the point you want to locate the selected records on the map. In the case of the Visokio and Google world maps, the correct decimal longitude and latitude values will be placed in the coordinates columns. In the case of other maps, the coordinates will be relative to the specific map. For more detail, see Placing Markers.

Map View Toolbar- Zoom selector

The Map View Toolbar Zoom selector is also very similar to that used in the Graph View. The slider and Zoom out or Zoom in controls increase or reduce the magnification, changing the area and amount of detail/layers displayed.

Zoom to fit: Visible data- map automatically zooms to the level required to just show all data points in the target universe. Original data- map zooms to the level required to show the full range of data points in the data set. Map- displays adjust to show the full extent of the map, regardless of the data selected or remaining in the target universe Zoom to fixed region- allows you to define a region of interest with the mouse, to which the map display will revert, regardless of the data points selected or remaining in the target universe.

Show zoom scroll bars- when ticked, displays the zoom scroll bars bottom and sides at all times, even when zooming is not active.

Map View Toolbar- Colour, Size and Shape menus (& Key)

Marker Colour, Size and Shape options are all defined with field pick lists available under each of these Toolbar options. If any of these options (or the Marker outline colour by option available in Marker options-see above) are set, the Key display also appears to help the reader relate the appearance of each marker to the underlying data.

NOTE: You set the colour and shape associated with each different field (column) values using Data > Manage Fields available from the Main Toolbar. The intensity of the relative sizing effect is controlled with the Size and Range sliders in the Marker options Advanced menu (see above).

Map View Toolbar- Labelling (vector maps only)

The Label drop-down selector enables you to choose the field to display next to all unaggregated markers. Aggregated markers show the label (mixed) until zooming or selection results in disaggregation to a single record.

Labelling is displayed for all unaggregated records. Selecting a record can also trigger the display of Tooltips, which cam include associated images. Tooltips are configured for all views using Settings > Tooltips > Fields from the Main Toolbar.

Map View Toolbar- Navigator mini-view window

Click the ‘Navigator’ button to show a small map navigation and view control window that can be placed anywhere on screen. Moving the zooming slider, or clicking the (+) Zoom in, or (-) Zoom out icons increases or decreases the magnification, which reduces or increases the coverage area shown in the thumbnail map framing window. Clicking the red vertical and horizontal arrows in the Navigator moves the small framing window around the thumbnail map. The thumbnail map in the Navigator shows a heat map of record density, and selected areas in blue. Click and drag the red thumbnail map framing window in to move around the main map.

Map View Tools

The Map View Tools drop-down menu provides options to define maps and control the display of markers.

Map coordinates and title- displays the Configure Map dialog used to specify the title and coordinate fields (columns) to be used to place records on this particular map. With the correct map displayed in the view, select the fields to use as coordinates.

Use existing fields- if your data sets already have columns of decimal coordinates, fully-populated or not. Most Visokio maps, including the default World map, support decimal numeric values available free from Google Earth. Add new X/Y field pair- use this option to add two new blank fields (columns) that will specify the coordinates for the map displayed. If you use manual placement (see below), Omniscope will write the values for each record in these fields, which you name in the dialog.

For more detail on map coordinate systems, and creating/transforming coordinate systems, see the Knowledge Base section on Maps & Coordinates.

Change map projection- (not shown with Google Maps) used to create or refine coordinate systems for maps/backdrops that do not conform to the default Mercator projection decimal latitude and longitude system. This is most commonly the case with scanned images like floor plans, sports fields, some city and road maps, etc.

Override, by setting two reference points- ticking this option launches the Change Map Projection wizard to define or refine the coordinate mapping. The wizard displays the map, with three advanced options to define or re-calibrate the mapping by 1) positioning corner reference points of known location, or 2) distributing the range across the entire map, or 3) using one-to-one mapping of pixels to coordinates (the default).

For more detail on using these 3 options to determine the display of your data on a given map or image, see the Knowledge Base section on Changing Projections.

Extract map image- (not available with Google Maps) allows you to export a copy of the embedded vector map as an image file

Show map title- (not available with Google Maps) when ticked, displays the map title(s) in the upper left the map, in orange font as shown in the examples at the top of the page.

Marker options- clicking launches the Marker options dialog, very similar to that used in the Graph View. This dialog enables you to configure how markers on displayed on the maps/scanned images you are using as backdrops for your data.

Heat Map- (not available with Google Maps) shows density plot of records on a grid. Useful for plotting very large numbers of records that overlap a great deal. Aggregated- (default for data sets over 100 records) combines overlapping markers into larger markers showing the number of records aggregated. Useful when you have overlapping records and need to see the density, similar to the Heat Map. Note: Display on the markers of sums and other functions calculated from fields in the records aggregated is not currently supported. Displaced- (not available with Google Maps) used if you have many exactly overlapping markers and want to convey a visual representation of the density of underlying records. When ticked, the markers will be slightly offset to show a dense cloud, rather than overlapping exactly despite identical values.

Displacement- (not available with Google Maps) changes the amount of displacement vertically and horizontally to improve access to data points for selection and linking.

Size slider- changes the absolute scale for marker sizing to increase or decrease all marker sizes

Range slider- (greyed-out unless the Size option is set to a field) changes the magnitude of relative sizing (see Size below)

Shape by: (not available with Google Maps) selects the field (column) whose values will determine the shapes plotted (same as Shape: toolbar pick list below) with additional options to specify the display of markers of records which are null (blank, not zero) in the selected Shape by field. In Simple mode, the Default shape to use when no Shape-by field has been chosen can be set.

Default shape/colour- selects the default colour of markers when no other colouring options are set.

Outline colour by: (not available with Google Maps) adds an outline of another colour, based on another field. For example, if 'Sex' is used, this command would put a blue outline on the dots representing Males and a pink outline on the dots representing Females- assuming that you have assigned the those colours to the values 'Male' and Female'.

Hover plot- (not available with Google Maps) sets a pop-up display of either a pie or a bar chart whenever the user hovers on a marker, aggregated or not. When set, you can select the field (column) to be charted using the pick list at right, which is otherwise greyed-out.

Marker link- (not available with Google Maps) selects a link to display when markers are clicked (one record only). Pick (None), Details, or one of the links already configured in the file using the Settings > Links wizard accessed from the Main Toolbar.

Connect markers- (not available with Google Maps) similar to the option available in the Graph View, opens and expandable sub-menu. Use of these options with the Map View is documented here.

Colour Effects- (not available with Google Maps) launches an extensive menu of options to modify the display of the map/backdrop:

Bleaching- reduces the intensity of the map image, making the markers more distinct. Hue shift- shifts the map colours to achieve a different palette Brightness- reduces or enhances brightness of map Contrast- reduces or enhances map contrast Colour strength- shifts the map colouring from shades of grey to saturated colouring Halo size- defines the radius of a surrounding 'halo' for each marker Halo strength- defines the intensity of the halo colouring Surrounding colour- used to specify a background colour that displays around the edge of the map. It is only visible when zoomed out beyond the edges of the map Base colour- specifies a colour only visible when all map layers are removed