In Design Mode , when you drag the Map Component  icon from the Toolbox to the desired area on the workboard, the Map Designer dialog box opens for connecting the map to one of the views on the workboard and defining visualizations. The Map Designer dialog box is also activated by clicking the Wizard  button on the map component title bar.

Connecting the Map to a View and Defining Visualizations

You will use the Map Designer to perform the following steps:

1. Connect to a view

2. Choose a template

3. Add a new visualization

 

You can edit the contents of a map component by clicking the Edit  button on the title bar of the component.

Connect to a View

From the View dropdown, choose the view the map should connect to.

If the Y-axis of the view you selected is not a geographic dimension, a message will appear in the map component advising you to change your selection to a geographic dimension that Necto automatically picks from the list of dimensions. To accept the automatic selection, click on the map.

Always Zoom to Selection

When the Always Zoom to Selection option is selected (default), the map automatically zooms into a selection you make on the grid. When this option is deselected, there is no automatic zooming to selection.

Choose a Template

The Map Designer provides several templates for visualizing grid column data. By default, the Basic Template is selected, which comes with predefined settings for four types of visualizations: Area color, circle color, triangle size, geo entity name.

If you want to apply another template to the chart, click the Templates  button and select a template. The map on the right shows a preview of the visualizations for that template.

 

Click OK.

You can select templates also from the map component title bar.

Add a New Visualization

To define a visualization, click the Add  button and select a style.

A new tab opens for defining the settings of the selected visualization. Enter the definitions as described in Area Color, Boundaries, Shape Color, Shape Size, Text, Geo Entity Name, Exceptions.

Area Color

This style is used to display the data on the map as color-coded areas. For example, you can display areas with a high concentration of stores in red, and areas with a low concentration of stores in yellow.

The Assign To parameter is set to “Any”, meaning that the visualization is attached to the first selected column (from left to right) on the grid. You can assign this visualization to another data column.

Use the Colors and Visual Spread parameters to define the color scheme: In Colors, choose the number of colors that should represent the data and then choose the colors from the palettes. The data is distributed in desecrate levels between the lowest value and the highest. With the Continuous 2 Colors and the Continuous 3 Colors options, data is distributed continuously in linear form between the lowest value and the highest. In Visual Spread, you can manually change the lowest and the highest values. Values lower than the minimum will be represented by the color representing the minimum, and values higher than the maximum will be represented by the color representing the maximum.

Specify a Line Width and a Color.

Use the Substitute By parameter to replace the area color polygon with another graphic. Choose the shape and specify the Size of the shape. Display Area sets the rule for when the substitution should take place: when the length of the area (corner to corner) is smaller than the value in your selection, or always (of any size).

If you want the data values to appear on the map, in Label select the location where you want them to display.

The following example illustrates the area color visualization with default settings.

Boundaries

The Boundaries option can be used to draw lines around selected visualization shapes on the map.

Change the settings or just use the default values. The following example illustrates the boundaries drawn around area color visualizations.

Shape Color

This style is used to visualize values by color shades using shapes like circle, diamond and triangle.

 

Define the settings in the same way as for Area Color.

Select the Shape you want, and change its settings or just use the default values.

Use the Offset parameter to position the shape on the map.

The following example illustrates this with circles colored in shades of red, from dark (higher values) to light (lower values).

Shape Size

This style is used to visualize values by size, using shapes like circle, diamond and triangle.

 

Define the settings in the same way as for Area Color and Shape Color.

Select the Shape you want, and change its settings or just use the default values. The range of values in Size will result in shapes of different sizes (from small to large, within the specified range) representing values of the grid column, from low to high.

The following example illustrates this with blue circles.

Text

This visualization is used to display values as text.

Change the text settings or just use the default values. The following example illustrates this visualization.

Geo Entity Name

The Geo Entity Name option shows the names of the entities from the geographic dimension on the map.

 

Change the settings or just use the default values. The entity name can be displayed fully or by a number of letters. In Text, choose how to display the name.

The following example illustrates the geo-entities on the map.

Exceptions

The Exceptions option enables you to see the exceptions from the grid on the map, even if you hide the grid.

Change the settings or just use the default values. The following example illustrates the exceptions on the map. The exceptions are indicated with black down arrows both on the grid and on the map.

Pointing to an exception on the map displays the same tooltip as the one displayed on the grid.

Delete and Reorder Visualizations

To remove a visualization, click  on that tab.

Use the Move Up  and Move Down  options to move the visualizations to other positions.

Arrange Visualizations

You can arrange the shapes on the map in several ways. Click the Arrange  button and select an option. Manual means the shapes will be arranged according to the offset values specified in the visualization definitions.