Setting Up Your Workspace for Batch Plotting

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Setting Up Your Workspace for Batch Plotting
Intergraphs New Zealand User Conference 2008
Cirina Di Pierro, Environment Waikato
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Overview

• What is Batch Plotting?
• Defining Print Areas
• Named Legends
• Setting Up Your Layout Window
• Tips Tricks (labelling, scale bars)

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Bored?
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What is Batch Plotting?

• GeoMedia Utility
• Sheet Selection
• Prints predesigned layouts from multiple
  Geoworkspaces.
• Sheet Composition
• Uses layout templates, frames, print areas
  named legends to compose multiple maps on the
  fly.
• Efficiency manual vs batch plot

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Defining Print Areas

• Method of Geographic Extent for layout frames in
  Batch Plotting is Existing Shape.
• Create a feature class with extent of print area
  for each map.
• Batch plot maps can be different scales but need
  to be same page size.
• Need to know at least two of these things to
  create print areas
• Page Size,
• Scale, or
• Extent to be mapped

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Defining Print Areas

• Formula
• Height/Width of Layout Frame x Scale
  Height/Width of Print Area
• In GeoMedia Pro Insert Feature, Place by
  Rectangle, Use Delta X, Delta Y construction
  aide.
• Attribute information of the print area features
  can be inserted into the layouts at a later
  stage. Useful attributes include Map_Number and
  Map_Name.
• A print area will also need to be defined for any
  overview or locality index maps.

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Named Legends

• The Batch Plot utility populates each layout
  frame using named legends.
• Setup your map window with the required datasets
  and symbology for both the base maps and index
  maps.
• Save a Named Legend for each.
• It is important to remember that your index map
  will generally be printing at a much smaller
  scale than the base map and your symbology will
  need to take the nominal map scale into account.

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Setting Up Your Layout Window

• Setup Layout Window with title bars, disclaimers,
  borders, etc as per usual.
• Insert Layout Frames for base map and any index
  maps edit Group Properties Enter a Map Frame
  Name for each frame (will not work if you dont!)
• Variable Text String Substitution
• System variables (eg., date GM-Date)
• Geoworkspace variables (eg., scale GM-Scale)
• Warehouse variables (eg., print area attribute
  attribute_name)
• Once completed Export Layout as GeoMedia Layout
  Template

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Some Tips Tricks

• If using the dynamic legend change names of
  feature classes in map window
• The scale bar will print during batch plotting
  using the Default Settings as saved in GeoMedia
  (not in Pro!)
• Centre titles and headings (especially variable
  length text substitution strings) by extending
  the text box geometry to fill the title area then
  give a central alignment.
• Labelling
• To ensure labels are placed within your print
  area - Use the Spatial Intersection tool on
  features (eg., roads, rivers, properties) then
  use this query for labelling
• Create a copy of your layout window manually
  complete one of the maps use this to realign
  headings, scale bars, legends, index maps

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Sponsors