Encom Discover 2D Complete Training

ENCOM DISCOVER 2D COMPLETE TRAINING (WORKSHOP) Compiled By E.P

Table of Contents

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Table of Contents Con tents 1

Introduction

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Getting Getting Started Started ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ 2 Reference Manual and On-Line Help.............................................................. Help.. ............................................................2 Conventions Conventions Used in this Manual.................................................................... Manual....................................................................3 Obtaining Additional Additional Help.. Help ................................................................................ ..............................................................................3 2

The MapInfo/Discover MapInfo/Di scover User Interface

5

Menus and Toolbars........................................................................................ Toolbars.. ......................................................................................5 MapInfo MapInfo Toolbars Toolbars ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................6 Discover Toolbars Toolbars ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................8 Discover & AutoLoad....................................................................................... AutoLoad.......................................................................................8 Vector and Raster Data................................................................................... Data...................................................................................9 Spatial and Attribute Attribute Data Data ............................................................................. .............................................................................10 Data Display Windows .................................................................................. ..................................................................................11 Configuring Configuring MapInfo... MapInfo ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................11 System System Settings Settings ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................12 Map Window............................................................................................. Window............................................................................................. 13 Start-up..................................................................................................... Start-up..................................................................................................... 15 Directori Directories es ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ 16 Output Settings......................................................................................... Settings.........................................................................................17 Printer....................................................................................................... Printer... .................................................................................................... 20 Styles........................................................................................................ Styles........................................................................................................ 20 Image Processing..................................................................................... Processing.....................................................................................21 Other Other Settings Settings .......................................................................................... ..........................................................................................22 3

Tables and Workspaces

23

Multiple Views of the Same Table................................................................. Table... ..............................................................25 25 Map Windows and Layering Layering .......................................................................... ..........................................................................25 Displaying Browser Browser Fields ............................................................................. .............................................................................26 Workspaces................................................................................................... Workspaces................................................................................................... 27 Workspace AutoSave............................................................................... AutoSave...............................................................................28 Map Window Navigation Tools...................................................................... Tools... ...................................................................28 Info and Ruler Ruler Tools... Tools ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................29 Projections..................................................................................................... Projections..................................................................................................... 30 Mapper Projection .................................................................................... ....................................................................................30 Map Window Window Options Options .................................................................................... ....................................................................................31 Map Autogrid Autogrid... ............................................................................................ .........................................................................................31 4

Layer Control

33

Visible, Selectable, Selectable, Editable and Label Settings ........................................... ...........................................34 34 Style Override................................................................................................ Override................................................................................................ 35 Zoom Layering............................................................................................... Layering............................................................................................... 35 Auto-La Auto-Labels bels ................................................................................................... ................................................................................................... 36 The Cosmetic Layer ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................39 Discover Enhanced Layer Layer Control (ELC) ...................................................... ......................................................40 40 ELC Options............................................................................................. Options............................................................................................. 41 Layer Controls... Controls .......................................................................................... .......................................................................................42 Layer Properties....................................................................................... Properties.......................................................................................43 Aliases and Groups.................................................................................. Groups..................................................................................44 Map Controls... Controls ............................................................................................ .........................................................................................45 Standard Standard Views Views ............................................................................................. ............................................................................................. 46 Map Linking Linking ................................................................................................... ................................................................................................... 46 Interactive Cursor Positioning ....................................................................... .......................................................................47 5

Opening and Importing Files

49

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Encom Discover Workshop Manual

Opening Files Using MapInfo........................................................................ MapInfo........................................................................49 49 Excel Spreadsheet Spreadsheet... ................................................................................... ................................................................................49 Access Access Database Database ..................................................................................... .....................................................................................51 ASCII Text Text Files ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................52 Update Table using Values Values from another Table Table ...................................... ......................................53 53 ESRI Shape Files..................................................................................... Files.....................................................................................54 Universal Translator Translator Tool... Tool ......................................................................... ......................................................................54 54 MapInfo Files............................................................................................ Files............................................................................................56 Raster Raster Data ................................................................................................... ................................................................................................... 56 Register Raster Raster Image Image ............................................................................. .............................................................................57 57 Web Map Service..................................................................................... Service.....................................................................................62 Web Feature Service ............................................................................... ...............................................................................63 ECW Images Images ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................64 Web ECWP Servers... Servers................................................................................. ..............................................................................65 Grid Data Data Files Files ......................................................................................... .........................................................................................66 Importing Files using MapInfo MapInfo ....................................................................... .......................................................................66 66 Importing Files Files using Discover ...................................................................... ......................................................................67 67 AutoCad AutoCad DXF Files Files .................................................................................. ..................................................................................67 Advanced ASCII Import............................................................................ Import............................................................................68 68 Build Objects from Table.......................................................................... Table..........................................................................70 70 MapInfo Export Options................................................................................. Options.................................................................................71 Google Google Earth Link Link .................................................................................... ....................................................................................71 Discover Export Options................................................................................ Options................................................................................74 Convert Map Map to Registered Registered Raster Raster .......................................................... ..........................................................75 75 Make Movie or Animation......................................................................... Animation.........................................................................75 75 6

Selecting and Querying Data

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MapInfo Graphical Graphical Selection Methods Methods .......................................................... ..........................................................77 77 Discover Graphical Graphical Selection Methods Methods ......................................................... .........................................................78 78 Textual Selection Methods Methods... ............................................................................ .........................................................................79 79 Saving Selections.......................................................................................... Selections..........................................................................................81 The Query>Find Query>Find Selection Selection Tool .................................................................... ....................................................................81 81 The Query>Find Query>Find Tool .................................................................................... ....................................................................................82 The Query>Select Query>Select Tool Tool ................................................................................. .................................................................................83 The Query>SQL Query>SQL Select Tool... Tool ......................................................................... ......................................................................84 84 Basic SQL SQL Syntax Syntax .................................................................................... ....................................................................................85 7

Create Tables and Map Objects

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Create Map Objects ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................89 Moving, Deleting and Copying Map Objects............................................ Objects............................................90 90 Re-scaling and and Rotating Map Map Objects ..................................................... .....................................................90 90 Reshaping and Adding Nodes Nodes to Map Objects ........................................ ........................................90 90 Snap Mode, AutoTrace and AutoNode AutoNode .................................................... ....................................................90 90 Create MapInfo Table.................................................................................... Table....................................................................................91 Deleting and Renaming Tables..................................................................... Tables... ..................................................................96 96 Packing Tables Tables .............................................................................................. ..............................................................................................96 8

Map Making Tools

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The Layout Window....................................................................................... Window.......................................................................................97 Create a Map using Scaled Output Output ............................................................... ...............................................................98 98 Overlay Map Grid ................................................................................... ...................................................................................100 Add Titleblock Titleblock and Scalebar Scalebar .................................................................. ..................................................................101 101 Create Map Legend..................................................................................... Legend.....................................................................................103 Other Layout Layout Options .................................................................................. ..................................................................................108 9

Display Geological Data

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Creating a Thematic Thematic Map.... Map ............................................................................ ........................................................................111 111 Individual Thematic Thematic Map ........................................................................ ........................................................................112 112

Table of Contents

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Ranges Thematic Thematic Map ........................................................................... ...........................................................................114 Pie Chart Thematic Map......................................................................... Map.........................................................................119 Create Bi-variate Bi-variate Thematic Thematic Map ............................................................ ............................................................120 120 Thematic Grids....................................................................................... Grids.......................................................................................122 Creating a Colour Look-Up Table................................................................ Table................................................................123 123 Create LUT from Thematic Map.................................................................. Map..................................................................123 123 Editing a Colour Table Table ................................................................................. .................................................................................125 Create LUT from existing Geology Map...................................................... Map.... ..................................................126 126 Creating a Geological Legend..................................................................... Legend.... .................................................................126 Multiple Column Column Update.... Update .............................................................................. ..........................................................................130 Assigning Mean Grades to Bounding Polygons.......................................... Polygons.... ......................................131 131 Text Labels.................................................................................................. Labels.................................................................................................. 133 Create Stacked Profiles............................................................................... Profiles...............................................................................135 10

Advanced Querying SQL

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Using Queries to Order Data....................................................................... Data.... ...................................................................139 Using Queries to Group Group Data ...................................................................... ......................................................................140 140 Multiple Table Queries ................................................................................ ................................................................................143 Textual Joins Joins using SQL SQL ........................................................................ ........................................................................144 Geographical Geographical Joins using SQL............................................................... SQL...............................................................145 145 11

Advanced Object Creation and Editing

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Screen Screen Digitizing Digitizing .................................................................................... ....................................................................................149 Enter Browser Browser Attributes Attributes ........................................................................ ........................................................................150 Update Update Column Column ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................150 Combine Map Objects............................................................................ Objects............................................................................150 Pack Table Table ............................................................................................. ............................................................................................. 150 Key in Shapes Shapes ........................................................................................ ........................................................................................150 Cut Out In-Lying In-Lying Polygons Polygons ..................................................................... .....................................................................152 152 Rename Table........................................................................................ Table........................................................................................152 Modify Map Objects................................................................................ Objects................................................................................152 Save Table Table ............................................................................................. ............................................................................................. 152 Styles Library.......................................................................................... Library..........................................................................................153 Streamlined Streamlined Data Entry .......................................................................... ..........................................................................153 Modify Linestyle...................................................................................... Linestyle......................................................................................155 Annotat Annotate e Lines ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................156 MapInfo AutoTrace................................................................................. AutoTrace.................................................................................157 Polygonize Linework Linework .............................................................................. ..............................................................................159 Digitizing Hints........................................................................................ Hints........................................................................................162 Clip to Polygon ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................162 Additional Object Object Editing Tools Tools .............................................................. ..............................................................163 163 Create Custom Titleblock Titleblock.... ....................................................................... ...................................................................164 Add a Company Company Logo to Titleblock Titleblock ........................................................ ........................................................165 165 12

Display Structural Data

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Add Discover Structural Structural Codes to a Table .................................................. ..................................................169 169 Creating Structural Symbols from Discover Codes..................................... Codes.....................................171 171 Digitizing Structural Symbols into a Table................................................... Table.... ...............................................172 172 Orientation Orientation of Fault Lines Lines ............................................................................ ............................................................................173 Display Fault Orientations Orientations in a Rose Diagram ............................................ ............................................174 174 Proximity Search Search using Structural Structural Data ...................................................... ......................................................175 175 13

Managing Tables and Workspaces

177

Opening Tables ........................................................................................... ........................................................................................... 177 Deleting and Renaming Tables Tables ................................................................... ...................................................................177 177 Packing Tables............................................................................................ Tables............................................................................................ 177 Append Append Tables Tables ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ 177 Modify Table Table Structure Structure ................................................................................ ................................................................................178

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Save Table in New Projection Projection ..................................................................... .....................................................................178 178 Favourite Tables, Tables, Workspaces and MapBasic Programs ........................... ...........................178 178 Open Corrupt Workspaces.......................................................................... Workspaces..........................................................................178 178 Workspace Editor........................................................................................ Editor........................................................................................178 Save Tables and Workspace to Single Directory........................................ Directory........................................179 179 Update Records Records in a Column ...................................................................... ......................................................................179 179 Assign Unique RowID ................................................................................. .................................................................................180 14

Environmental Monitoring

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Compute Area Change................................................................................ Change................................................................................181 Temporal Temporal Trends.... Trends ......................................................................................... .....................................................................................182 Temporal Temporal Trends Data Format .................................................................... ....................................................................183 183 Temporal Temporal Trends Graph Display ................................................................. .................................................................184 184 15

Local Grids and Coordinate Transformation

187

Local Grid Grid Layout Layout ........................................................................................ ........................................................................................187 Transform Coordinates Coordinates using Two Sets of Coordinates ............................. .............................189 189 Transform Coordinates Coordinates using Bearing and Offset....................................... Offset.... ...................................193 193 Create Custom Affine Projection................................................................. Projection.................................................................194 194 Display Points using using Custom Projection Projection ..................................................... .....................................................196 196 16

Tenement Searches and Applications Applicati ons

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Tenement Tenement Searches.... Searches .................................................................................... ................................................................................199 Search by Licence Type......................................................................... Type.........................................................................200 200 Search by Company Name Name .................................................................... ....................................................................201 201 Search Search by Date Date ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................202 Australian Tenement Applications............................................................... Applications...............................................................203 203 17

Accessing Remote Database Tables

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Installing DBMS Support and Drivers.......................................................... Drivers..........................................................209 209 Creating a New Data Source ...................................................................... ......................................................................209 209 Opening a DBMS Table Table .............................................................................. ..............................................................................213 Linked vs Live Live DBMS Tables Tables ...................................................................... ......................................................................214 214 Create MapInfo_MapCatalog MapInfo_MapCatalog.... ...................................................................... ..................................................................215 215 Make DBMS Table Table Mappable Mappable ..................................................................... .....................................................................217 217 Make DBMS Table Mappable Options................................................... Options.... ...............................................218 218 Display DBMS Map Objects........................................................................ Objects........................................................................219 219 Save Changes Changes to DBMS Table Table ................................................................... ...................................................................220 220 Refresh a DBMS Table Table ............................................................................... ...............................................................................220 Unlink Table from a Remote Database Database.... ....................................................... ...................................................221 221 Disconnect from Remote Remote Database Database ............................................................ ............................................................221 221 Remove DBMS Data Data Source Source ...................................................................... ......................................................................221 221 acQuire Database Database Import ............................................................................ ............................................................................221 221 18

Drillholes

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Introduction.................................................................................................. Introduction..................................................................................................225 Steps to Create Create Drillhole Sections .............................................................. ..............................................................226 226 Drillhole Data Format .................................................................................. ..................................................................................226 Collar Table............................................................................................ Table............................................................................................227 Downhole Survey Survey Table.... Table ......................................................................... .....................................................................227 227 Downhole Data Tables........................................................................... Tables...........................................................................228 228 Create Drillhole Project ............................................................................... ...............................................................................229 Data Validation............................................................................................ Validation............................................................................................231 Create Drillhole Sections and Plans............................................................ Plans............................................................233 233 Display Downhole Data on Section............................................................. Section.............................................................236 236 Create Drillhole Drillhole Colour Pattern Pattern ................................................................... ...................................................................237 237 Using the Drillhole Section Manager........................................................... Manager.... .......................................................240 240 Adding a Drillhole Drillhole Section to a Layout Layout ........................................................ ........................................................241 241

Table of Contents

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Extracting Maximum and EOH Assay Values for a Drillhole.................. Drillhole..................243 243 Drillhole Log Display.................................................................................... Display....................................................................................243 Digitizing Boundaries Boundaries and Exporting Exporting to 3D DXF ......................................... .........................................245 245 Calculating Sectional Resources................................................................. Resources.................................................................246 246 Data Compositing Compositing.... ........................................................................................ ....................................................................................247 Compositing by Unique Attribute............................................................ Attribute............................................................247 247 Compositing by Cut-off Grade................................................................ Grade................................................................248 248 Compositing by Elevation and Downhole Depth.................................... Depth.... ................................248 248 Calculate 3D Coordinates Coordinates ........................................................................... ...........................................................................248 Drillhole Project Project Management Management ..................................................................... .....................................................................249 249 19

Surfaces

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What is a Surface Surface Grid? Grid? .............................................................................. ..............................................................................251 Configuring Configuring Grid File Formats Formats ..................................................................... .....................................................................253 253 Create Surface Grid .................................................................................... ....................................................................................254 Input Input Tab ................................................................................................ ................................................................................................ 255 Modify Grid Appearance.............................................................................. Appearance.... ..........................................................................257 Assign Grid Values to Vector Vector Layers .......................................................... ..........................................................259 259 Surface Profile over a Grid or Contour Plan................................................ Plan.... ............................................260 260 Contouring Contouring a Grid File File ................................................................................. .................................................................................261 Grid Query Query using Multiple Ranges Ranges .............................................................. ..............................................................262 262 Convert Grid to New Grid Format................................................................ Format.... ............................................................264 264 Importing a Grid Surface Surface ............................................................................. .............................................................................264 Clip Grid....................................................................................................... Grid....................................................................................................... 265 Reproje Reproject ct Grid ............................................................................................. ............................................................................................. 266 Gridding Geochemical Geochemical Data Data ........................................................................ ........................................................................267 Inverse Distance Weighting Weighting ................................................................... ...................................................................271 271 Kriging Kriging .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... 274 Grid Calculator............................................................................................. Calculator............................................................................................. 274 Gridding Geophysical Geophysical Data ......................................................................... .........................................................................275 Filtering a Surface Surface ....................................................................................... .......................................................................................277 List of Available Grid Utilities....................................................................... Utilities.......................................................................278 20

GraphMap

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Graph Creation Creation.... ............................................................................................ ........................................................................................ 282 Pre-conditioning Pre-conditioning data .................................................................................. ..................................................................................283 Data Selection ............................................................................................. ............................................................................................. 283 Viewing Selection Records Records and Statistics .............................................. ..............................................285 285 Permanent Permanent Selection Regions................................................................ Regions................................................................285 285 Spatial Analysis by Attribute Field Field ............................................................... ...............................................................286 286 Displaying MapInfo Map Window Content as Images in GraphMap.... .......287 .......287 Spatial Analysis by Numeric Field Field ............................................................... ...............................................................287 287 Derived Fields.............................................................................................. Fields.............................................................................................. 288 21

Geochem

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Summary Summary Statistics.... Statistics ...................................................................................... ..................................................................................293 Data Levelling.............................................................................................. Levelling.............................................................................................. 294 Point Classification ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................295 Compute Correlation Correlation Matrix Matrix ........................................................................ ........................................................................296 A

Discover Button Bars and Icons

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Discover Toolbar .................................................................................... ....................................................................................299 Map Window Window Toolbar Toolbar ............................................................................. .............................................................................300 Map Making Toolbar............................................................................... Toolbar.... ...........................................................................300 Object Editing Toolbar............................................................................ Toolbar............................................................................301 Surfaces Toolbar.................................................................................... Toolbar....................................................................................302 Drillholes Toolbar ................................................................................... ...................................................................................303 GraphMap GraphMap Toolbar Toolbar ................................................................................. .... .............................................................................303

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Cursor Position Toolbar Toolbar ......................................................................... .........................................................................304 304 Enhanced Layer Control Control ........................................................................ ........................................................................304 304 B

Discover Structural Symbol Fonts

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Discover Geological Symbol Fonts

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D

MapInfo Tool Manager

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Workshop Notes

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Introduction

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Introduction MapInfo is a Desktop GIS (Geographical Information System) package. GIS software provides functionality to: •

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Display georeferenced spatial data (software takes into account shape of the earth and different projections to display spheroidal data on a flat screen or paper) Perform spatial analysis analysis e.g. find all of the sample points that lie within 1 km of NE trend faults Display attribute data with spatial data e.g. colour sample points according to gold grade Perform complex queries using a standard database engine, allowing you to combine textural and spatial analysis of your data Generate high quality hardcopy output

Discover version 9.0 is an extension to MapInfo Professional (including MapInfo Professional Professional 9.0) specifically developed for geoscientists by Encom. Discover 9.0 ® ® runs with MapInfo Professional version 7.8 or later on Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP and Vista. Building on the many powerful Geographic Information System (GIS) features of MapInfo, Discover converts MapInfo into a sophisticated and easy-to-use tool for managing, manipulating and displaying exploration datasets. Discover gives users the ability to process and view data in ways that previously required a number of software packages. A geologist in the field, an exploration manager in head office or a draftsperson in a regional office can use Discover to track tenement activity, grid and contour point data, view drillholes in plan and section, analyse geochemical data, facilitate map creation, easily produce scaled hard copy output, and more. The MapInfo/Discover combination is widely used throughout the global exploration and mining community. The aim of this workshop is to familiarise both new and existing MapInfo/Discover users with the suite of functions available in Discover 8.1. You will find many of the functions in Discover indispensable when working with real geological data. During this workshop we will address typical geologic problems involving geological, geochemical and geophysical data. The workshop is designed to take a hands-on approach so you, the user, can learn by using the software. These notes are designed to accompany the presented workshop. The notes are relatively self-contained however you will find many useful hints passed on during the course that can be added to this workshop manual. Throughout the duration of this workshop you will be working individually or as part of a small team. To gain the most from the course, you are encouraged to ask questions if any concepts are unclear or you require additional explanation.

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Getting Started As a starting point copy the training datasets across to your local computer. Follow the procedure outlined below to create an Encom Training folder and copy the training files from the CD-ROM into this folder. Steps •

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Create a folder on your hard drive called “ Encom Training” (e.g. C:\Encom Training) and copy the contents of the provided workshop CD into this folder. Select all the files (or directories) directories) and click the Right Mouse Button. Choose Properties from this menu and the Properties Dialog should appear. Clear the check in the Read Only box, as shown below:

If you are using Windows 2000 or XP you should be presented with another dialog asking if you want to apply the changes to the selected folder only or t o the selected folder and all the contained subfolders subfolders and files. f iles. Choose Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files .

Reference Manual and On-Line Help For detailed information on specific aspects of Discover, you are encouraged to refer to the Discover On-Line Help , Discover Reference Manual and Discover User Guide which can both be accessed from the Discover Help menu. The Discover Reference Manual provides a comprehensive description of many Discover functions and is the best source for information if you are experiencing problems.

Introduction

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Conventions Used in this Manual Certain conventions are used throughout this manual. •

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Keys on the keyboard appear in small capital letters e.g. the Ctrl key appears as CTRL in the text Menu options and dialog items are in normal bold text e.g. choose File>Run MapBasic Program Buttons to be clicked are bolded e.g. click the OK button Table names denoted by capitals e.g. DRAINAGE with column names bold font: e.g. SampleID References to sections in other MapInfo or Discover documentation are italicized. e.g. see the Data Utilities chapter

Obtaining Additional Help If you need to contact product support for Discover please have the following details available: •

Licence Number (shown in the Discover>About Discover dialog e.g. 1000001121)

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Discover Version (shown in the Discover>About Discover dialog e.g. 9.0)

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MapInfo Version (shown in the Help>About MapInfo dialog e.g. 9.0)

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A full description of the problem or query. This should include any system messages (from Discover, MapInfo or the operating system) and other pertinent information detailing the circumstances.

Select the Technical Support item from the Discover Help menu to generate a form that can be emailed or faxed to Encom. Contact details are: Email

[email protected]

Web

www.encom.com.au

Telephone

+ 61 3 9523 0033

Fax

+ 61 3 9523 2296

If you experience any problems with Discover, or have suggestions or comments, Encom would be pleased to hear from you.

The MapInfo/Discover User Interface

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The MapInfo/Discover User Interface The MapInfo/Discover interface provides powerful spatial manipulation functionality behind a familiar Windows interface.

The MapInfo and Discover interface

Menus and Toolbars As with other Windows programs, users of MapInfo and Discover choose options from menus and toolbars. Toolbars can be docked into the toolbar area or can be made floating simply by dragging them. As the mouse is placed over each menu option or button, a message is displayed in the Status Bar (at the bottom left corner of the MapInfo screen) with a short description of what that item does. If the status bar is currently hidden, use the Options>Show Status Bar command to redisplay. Many of the tools and utilities can be selected by one or more methods including selecting the option from the pull-down menus, clicking on a toolbar icon or using a keyboard shortcut. Keyboard shortcuts are displayed next to some pull-down menu options e.g. the Open dialog can be displayed using File>Open or CRTL+O.

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MapInfo Toolbars •

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Standard – Main functions of MapInfo such as table Open. Save, New, Print, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Open New Mapper, Browser, Layer, Graph windows, Help

Main – Map Window Selection Tools (Select, Marquee, Radius, Polygon, Boundary, Boundary, Unselect, Invert Selection), Navigation Tools (Zoom, Pan, Change View, Info Tool, Hotlink, Label, Drag Map Window, Layer Control, Ruler, Legend, Statistics, Set Clip Region

Drawing – Object Creation Tools (Symbols, Line, Arc, Polyline, Polygon, Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Rectangle, Ellipse, Text), Object Editing Tools (Reshape, Add Node, Modify Symbol/Line/Region/Text Styles) and Layout Frame Tool

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Tools – Additional MapInfo Tools toolbar

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DBMS – Remote database connection tools


The Discover application adds a separate menu and a new set of button pads to the MapInfo interface.

The Discover Menu that is added to the MapInfo menu bar

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Discover Toolbars •

Main – Main functions of Discover such as Scaled Output

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Map Window – Map window tools such as Select by Graphical Style

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Map Making – Map making tools such as Text Labels and Line Annotation

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Object Editing – Object editing functions such as Line Cut and Smoothing

There are also module-specific button bars for Drillholes, GraphMap and Surfaces modules. The button bars are only displayed when these modules are run. For a complete list of Discover button bar icons see Appendix A.

Discover & AutoLoad Discover should automatically load each time MapInfo is run providing the Automatically Start Discover when MapInfo starts checkbox is selected in the Discover>Configuration>Settings dialog. If you do not want Discover to start automatically simply uncheck this box. If the Discover menu does not appear in the Menu Bar automatically the program can be started manually by selecting the MapInfo Tools>Run MapBasic Program menu option. Browse to the C:\Program Files\MapInfo\Professional\Discover Files\MapInfo\Professional\Discover folder (or wherever Discover has been installed on the computer) and select the Discover.mbx file and click OK. The Discover menu should be added to the Menu Bar. To load Discover every time MapInfo is started st arted check the Automatically Start Discover when MapInfo starts checkbox is selected in the Discover>Configuration>Settings dialog.


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Vector and Raster Data Data can be represented in MapInfo as either a vector map or raster image. Vector data consists of points, lines and polygons. One of the strengths of MapInfo is in its representation representation of vector data. Each point, line or polygon is referred to as a Map Object.

Raster images are composed of square elements called pixels (picture elements). Some common examples of raster data include Landsat or SPOT satellite images, scanned maps or DTM (Digital Terrain Models). The image may appear like a photograph however, if you zoom in, you will see that the image is composed of squares of equal size. Each pixel has a value associated with it and within a pixel any value (colour, height etc) is constant, so the size of the pixel limits the ultimate resolution of the image. Raster images may have a header file associated with them which details where the raster image is located in real world coordinates along with any projection information. Alternatively, a raster image may be georeferenced after being imported into MapInfo.

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Spatial and Attribute Data It is difficult to think of geoscience related related data that does not have both a spatial and textual component. The textual components are often referred to as attributes of the spatial data. The spatial data (points, lines, polygons, polygons, etc.) are often referred to as objects. For example: •

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A geochemical sample has a geographic location (the spatial component) and any number of assays (the textual component, or attributes) An exploration licence has a geographic boundary as well as attributes such as the licensee name, expiry dates, etc. A stream catchment has its boundary and attributes like the catchment area, number of contained samples, etc.

MapInfo and Discover provide an interface to visualise and analyse spatial data and their associated attributes.


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Data Display Windows MapInfo contains four different types of views. Geographical objects are displayed in a map window and attribute data is displayed in a browser window. Data may also be displayed in a graph window and maps to be printed to hardcopy output are displayed in a layout window.

Examples of different types of MapInfo windows

Configuring MapInfo The first task will be to configure MapInfo. You may wish to apply some of the following preferences preferences to your system at work. Exercise 1

Configure MapInfo Preferences. From the MapInfo menu bar, select Options>Prferences

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System Settings

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Paper and layout units should be in centimetres .

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Set Distance Units to kilometres or metres .

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Set Area Units to square kilometers or square metres .

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Enter in an appropriate Number of Undo Objects. The default is 10 which means that up to 10 edits can be undone using File>Revert Table after data has been modified. Change this setting to 600 to enable more modifications.


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Map Window

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From the When Resizing Map Window control, select Preserve Current Scale. This option will allow you to see more of a window if you resize the window. If you choose the Fit Map to New Window then you will always be presented with the same map view even after resizing the map window. Uncheck map window Scroll bars if desired Check the Autoscroll . Autoscroll will automatically scroll the map window view when the cursor reaches the map window limits. Check the Show Info Tips to display information such as the function of a toolbar icon or the first browser entry for a map object whenever the cursor is placed over icon or map object. Uncheck the Automatic Raster or Grid Zoom Layering options. When opening large raster or grid images or multiple images at once it may be desirable to automatically apply zoom layering so the images will only be visible within low zoom ranges. See Layer Control for more information on Zoom Layering ). ). Check the Cartographic Scale so as to view the map window in printed scale units. The Enable Hardware Acceleration for 3D Map Window is checked by default but if there are problems working with the MapInfo 3D map window turn off this option to improve graphics capability.

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From the Move Duplicate Nodes in control, select the Same Layer . This option when using Reshape will look for duplicates and move all at the one time.

Select how you wish to Display Coordinates: Degrees Decimal is usually the preferred option. Check Distance/Area using Spherical


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Start-up

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You have the option to save a workspace of the last working session (MapInfow.wor) when MapInfo is closed, and then re-load this workspace next time MapInfo is started. Save Queries in Workspaces enables any query tables created using the Query>Select or Query>SQL Select menu options to be saved in a workspace. If this is not checked then the queries will need to be saved as permanent tables and re-opened to be saved within a workspace. Save/Restore Printer Information to Workspaces will save current printer settings into the workspace and then restore these settings when the workspace is next opened.

To view the Display Quick Start Dialog every time MapInfo is started leave this option checked otherwise it may be unchecked.

Can also set a default DBMS connection to connect automatically when MapInfo is started.

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Directories

Change the default folder locations for a range of MapInfo file types. Locate and save files to commonly used directories or specific project areas. •

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Initial Directories for File Dialogs – Change the default folder locations for a range of MapInfo file types. Locate and save files to commonly used directories directories or specific project areas. Search Directories for Tables – Specifies the directories to search without qualified path references in workspaces

If necessary, change the following paths by highlighting the selection, pressing the Modify button and entering the correct path. Tables

C:\Encom Training\

Workspaces

C:\Encom Training\

Once set up you can utilise your MapInfo Places to quickly locate data.


Output Settings

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Display/Print/Export Raster in True Colour When Possible will display 24-bit raster or grid images in true colour providing the display settings are set to greater than 256 colours. Select Dither Method from Halftone or Error diffusion to determine how the pixels will be blended together to improve the look of an image.

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Choose Printing Output Method . Use Print Directly to Device to print image directly from MapInfo. Use the Print using Enhanced Metafile (EMF) to generate an enhanced metafile of the MapInfo image before sending it to the printer. This method decreases the spool size and must be used if the map contains translucent raster or grid layers Check the Print Border for Map Window option to print a black border around the printed image. Check the Internal Handling for Printing Transparent Vector Fills and Symbols box to use the internal MapInfo handling of transparent fill patterns and bitmaps for vector images during printing or exporting. Check the Scale Patterns box to print non-transparent fill patterns that look like what you see on your screen otherwise the printer driver will have exclusive control over rendering rendering pattern fills. Use ROP Method to Display Transparent Raster to enable internal ROP (Raster Overlay by Pixel) to manage the transparent pixel display and printing in raster images. Not all printers can use this display method.


You can also access the EMF EMF option through through the File > Print option click on the Advanced button to change the output method.

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Check Use Anti-Aliasing if you wish to smooth the raster image.

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Printer

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The Windows Default option displays the path to the default printer specified for your operating system. The MapInfo Preferred option enables you to choose a different default printer or plotter to use when printing in MapInfo. Default page size and orientation can also be set. Use the Network button to locate the default printer or plotter on the network if has not already been setup.

Styles

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Set the Default Object Styles region to a pattern fill of None. Set the Default Find Style to a symbol that will be quite visible in your map window. This symbol will display in the Cosmetic Layer.


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Image Processing

It is recommended that you leave the default settings as they are, but when you have an image that you wish to process then go to Map>Options and change your settings there. Reprojection MapInfo is able to recalculate the pixel values of your image and display them correctly. •

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Always – Will always reproject by way of recalculating the image’s coordinates based on a precise formula Optimised – The reprojected image is determined by the look of the destination rectangle after transformation into the original image space dependant on the Resampling Method used.

Resampling Method Options •

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Cubic Convolution provides more accurate image resampling as this method calculates a value for a pixel in the resampled image based on a 4x4 pixel window centred on the pixel in the original image. Recommended for satellite images or aerial photographs. Nearest Neighbour assigns a pixel in the resampled image with a value taken from the closest pixel in the original image. This method is the fastest and is recommended when reprojecting scanned images, raster grids or other raster images.

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Other Settings Options>Toolbars

To show toolbars “docked” under the MapInfo menus check the Show box next to the desired toolbars. To view the toolbars “floating” in the MapInfo screen check the Floating box.

To save the current toolbar configuration so that the positions will be retained when MapInfo is re-opened check the Save as Default box. Map>Options

Change the current map window settings for the current seesion. This will override any global settings selected in Options>Preferences>Map Window . These settings will be saved as part of a workspace.


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Tables and Workspaces A MapInfo table may contain textual and spatial information. The common MapInfo file format used to open a table is the .TAB file. This file is a header file and MapInfo uses it to determine how to open and access the data referenced within a table. Data may be stored in native MapInfo format or in any of the other file formats supported by MapInfo. Any file you want to open in MapInfo must have a .TAB associated with it. This applies to all raster, database or spreadsheet spreadsheet files. The MapInfo file format is called a table and can be made up of between 2 and 5 individual disk files as follows: •

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Tablename.TAB – contains the database description or header information Tablename.DAT, Tablename.DAT, .XLS, .MDB, .TXT etc – contains the attributes in rows and columns Tablename.MAP – contains the map objects (spatial data) for mappable tables Tablename.ID – contains the spatial index for mappable objects (i.e. links the spatial objects with their associated attributes) Tablename.IND Tablename.IND – contains column indices i ndices if created (speeds up the query process)

When you use the File>Open Table command from within MapInfo, you will only see the .TAB file listed in the file open dialog. When you view the contents of the folder in Windows Explorer, you will see the various constituent files, which accompany the .TAB file. Exercise 1

Opening native MapInfo Tables •

Select File>Open from the MapInfo menu bar.

It is possible to open a range of different file types from this dialog along with MapInfo workspaces. workspaces. If you click on the icons on the left hand side of the Open dialog the folder path should correspond to the path set-up in the Options>Preferences>Directories settings.

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Browse to the Australia folder. Select the AUSTRALIA.TAB file and then click Open to view the table in a map window. The Files of type pull-down list displays all of the available file types that can be directly opened by MapInfo (see Opening and Importing Files ) The Preferred View pull-down list determines determines how a table is to be displayed (in a Map or Browser window). The default Preferred View is Automatic which means that if a table has spatial data associated with it the table will be opened into a New Mapper . If a map window is already open the new table may be opened into the Current Mapper or into a New Mapper. Alternatively, the table may be displayed in a Browser window only or opened but not displayed in either Map or Browser window (No View). This last option may be used to open a table that you may not wish to use until later in the work session. Exercise 2

Open the AUSTCAPS, AUSRAIL, AUSHIWAY, AUSMAJRD and AUSMAJRV.TAB files. To open a contiguous list of tables from the same folder at the same time, select the first table, hold down the SHIFT key and select the last table to open. Press Open. To open non-contiguous tables from the same folder at the same time, hold down the CTRL key and select the files you wish to open. Press Open. Use the File>Close Table command to close a table and then re-open using one of the Preferred View options. To close all tables select the File>Close All menu option.


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Multiple Views of the Same Table Window>New Map Window MapInfo displays spatial data (e.g. polygons, lines or points that make up objects such as geological units, tenement boundaries or geochemical sample points) in a Mapper Window. A map object ALWAYS has an associated Browser record. Window>New Browser Window Textual (or attribute) data is stored in a row and column spreadsheet-like database view in a Browser Window. A Browser record MAY have an associated map object.

When you have opened a table the data can be viewed in a map window or in a Browser window. Data can also be viewed in a Graph window although the MapInfo Graph function will not be covered during this workshop. Multiple views of the same data simply show the data being displayed in different ways. Exercise 3

Experiment with opening tables into new map or browser windows. See that up to four tables can be added to a map window using this method. Display the AUSTRALIA table in both a map and browser window so that both windows can be viewed simultaneously. simultaneously. Use the t he Select Tool to highlight a record from the browser and see the corresponding map object selected in the map window. Then select another map object and see the corresponding browser record selected. Multiple map windows can therefore be opened all showing the same data but with different locations, zoom settings and display styles. Any changes made to the table will be viewed in all windows in which the table is displayed. When a map window is closed, the table itself is not being closed – only that particular view of the table.

Map Windows and Layering It is recommended that each table stores data which is represented by a single object type, e.g. all points, all polygons rather than points, lines, and polygons all stored in the one table. This makes it much easier to view the data in a map window and to make selections or modifications. MapInfo can display a number of different types of Map Objects namely: •

Text e.g. drillhole or sample id

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Points e.g. geochemical geochemical samples, spot heights, drillholes

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Lines e.g. drainage, roads, contours

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Polygons e.g. geological boundaries, tenements

When a table is displayed in a map window it may also be referred to as a “Layer”. This is because when there is more than one table being viewed in a map window, the tables are layered on top of each other. The order in which a table or layer appears in a map window depends on the type of map objects it contains. From top to bottom a map window will display text, points, lines, polygons and raster images. This is so the polygon or raster image will not obscure the other layers. MapInfo will automatically determine the layer order in which a table in a map window

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appears depending on the map objects it contains. This layer order can be changed manually. (See Layer Control and ELC )

Displaying Browser Fields If a table contains a large number of fields it may be useful to only display those fields you are interested in without having to use the scroll bars to see the data. Make the Browser window the active window (i.e. click in the blue header area) and then choose Browse>Pick Fields from the MapInfo menu bar. In the Pick Fields dialog use the arrows to add or remove fields to the Columns in Browser window.


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Workspaces If there are multiple tables open in various map window and browser window displays it would be convenient to save these settings so the table views could be re-displayed in the future. By saving a workspace a user is able to create a snapshot of the current working session and instead of opening each individual table in the future only the one workspace file needs to be opened. A MapInfo Workspace file is a text file that can be opened with any text editing software such as WordPad, NotePad, Word, etc. It contains a list of all the tables opened at the time the workspace was saved and the size, location and layers displayed in any open map, browser, graph or layout windows. Exercise 4

Display the open tables in a number of map and browser windows. Save the Training\Working session to a workspace called AUSTRALIA in the Encom Training\Working folder using the File>Save Workspace command. MapInfo will automatically append the .WOR extension.

A few important points about Workspaces to remember: •

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A workspace is a text file containing MapBasic statements statements which open tables, open map windows, build thematic maps, etc. You can manually edit workspace files but should always make a backup first. Selections created using the MapInfo Query menu can be saved in workspaces. (see Options>Preferences to check your settings). Only queries made using Query>Select, Query>SQL Select or via the MapBasic window will be saved. Workspaces store information about where tables are located on your hard drive. If a table used in a workspace is deleted, renamed or moved to a new location the workspace will not open properly or not at all. See Managing Tables and Workspaces for more tips and tricks on working with workspaces

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Workspace AutoSave Discover can automatically save a workspace every few minutes. The saving interval can be set to any number of minutes in the Discover>Configuration>Settings dialog or set to 0 to disable this feature. This workspace is called DISCOVER.WOR and is saved to the Discover configuration configuration folder. The Discover workspace is useful for recovering from user or program errors however unsaved data will not be saved by this function.

Map Window Navigation Tools The MapInfo navigation tools allow you to move around the map window and are found on the Main Toolbar. These tools are only available when a mapper is the front-most or “active” window. If a mapper is not the active window then these tools will be disabled. To Zoom in on a particular area, choose the + magnifying glass. Either click once to zoom around that point or hold down the left-mouse button and drag a rectangle around the area to zoom. Note that if you click once to zoom in, your map will be centred on the point you clicked and the map window will zoom in by a factor of two. To Zoom out, choose the - magnifying glass and click in the mapper. The map window will zoom out by a factor of two. To Pan the view, choose the hand-like grabber tool and drag the map whilst holding down the left-mouse button. The Change View question mark ? magnifying glass allows you to edit the view parameters. You can either change the zoom, scale or centre of the map window with this tool.

Map>View Entire Layer or select View Entire Layer from the right-mouse click pop-up menu. Zoom to the extents of selected layer or zoom to extents of all layers which will display the data extents of the largest layer in the map window. Map>Previous View or select View Entire Layer from the right-mouse click popup menu. Toggle between previous map window view and current view. Map>Change View or select change View from the right-mouse click pop-up menu. Change the zoom width displayed in the map window, specify a map scale or map window centre X and Y coordinates. View Zoom Width and Map Scale from the Status Bar.

Notice that if you pan across the edge of the map, the map “autoscrolls”. This allows you to move very easily across large distances in the map window. You can turn Autoscroll on and off from the map window pop-up menu. (right-mouse click to display)


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Info and Ruler Tools The Info Tool, located on the Main Toolbar, provides an easy way to view the attributes of a particular spatial object. Click on an object with the info tool and its attributes will be displayed in the Info Tool window. The Info Tool is like a skewer that penetrates through through all of the map window layers at a specific point. If a map object is intersected in a layer at that point, the attributes for that object will be displayed in the Info Tool window. If more than one object has been intersected use the arrow keys to move through each entry or List to display all intersected objects. The Info Tool window can be expanded by dragging with the cursor. Edits can be made directly into the Info Tool window. The Ruler Tool, located on the Main Toolbar, enables distances between map objects to be measured. Click on the point you wish to measure from and select a destination point. To add another distance leg, simply click again at the desired location. A Ruler window is displayed that shows the distance between the last two points clicked and also the total distance from the start location. To end a distance measurement, double-click with the left-mouse button or press the ESC button on the keyboard. To change the distance and area units displayed select Map>Options and choose the desired units from the pull-down lists.

The Discover>Map Window>Distance and Bearing tool enables the browser entries for a selected table to be viewed continuously continuously as the cursor moves over map objects in the map window. The current cursor location in coordinates from one or more projections is also displayed. Click in the map window and move the cursor to another location to measure the distance and bearing between the two map window locations.

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Projections Every MapInfo table that is mappable, (i.e. contains map objects) must have a projection that the objects have been created in. This is called the “native” projection of a table. A projection forms part of a coordinate system that is made up of parameters designed to take objects from the spherical surface of the earth and display them on a flat screen. Different coordinate coordinate systems will distort objects in different ways. For example, Equal Area projections show regions with the correct area relationship but the shapes may be distorted particularly near the poles. Conformal projections such as Mercator and Lambert Conformal conic show the shapes of small features accurately, but distort the shapes and areas of large regions. To display the coordinates of a given location in the map window change the bottom left hand corner of the Status Bar to display Cursor Position. Depending on the projection of the map window coordinates will displayed in degrees or metres. Press S on the keyboard to go into “ Snap Mode” which enables you to actually snap to an object to obtain accurate coordinates. To permanently save a table in another projection, use the File>Save Copy As menu option and select the new projection using the Projection Button.

Mapper Projection The default MapInfo projection is Longitude/Latitude which is an equidistant cylindrical projection using longitude/latitude coordinates. A map window will open in the projection of the first table opened into that map window. To view the projection of a map window right-mouse click in the map window and choose Current Mapper Projection from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, choose Discover>Map Window>Current Mapper Projection . The projection of a map window (or a table) can be changed to any of the projections listed in the MAPINFOW.PRJ file. This file can be opened and viewed in any text editor such as WordPad. So long as a projection is listed in this file data can be captured or displayed using this projection. When the projection of a map window is changed all the map objects from each layer in the map window are transformed on-the-fly to display at the correct position in the new projection. This does not affect the “native” projection of each table. To change the projection of a map window choose Map>Options . Alternatively, set up a Discover>Map Window>Favourite Projections list to save your commonly used projections in a separate projection projection list (DISCOVER.PRJ). (DISCOVER.PRJ). To change the projection of a map window simply choose Discover>Map Window>Favourite Projections and select the desired projection from the pulldown list. Exercise 5

Change the Projection of the current map window to Longitude/Latitude (GDA94) . If the projection is not there use the Add button and then find it in the lists displayed. Click Apply to change the map window view. Observe the cursor position readings are now in degrees in the status bar. Choose File>Close All to close all currently tables.


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Map Window Options When a map window is the active window there are a number of options that can be modified relating to that map window. Select Map>Options to display the Map Options dialog. Note that many of the options here are the same as those in the Options>Preferences>Map Window dialog. Any changes made to the Map Options dialog will be reflected in the current map window only, if they need to be saved they then require to be part of a workspace.

Map Autogrid The Discover Map Autogrid utility displays a dynamic grid in the front map window. The map window grid coordinates are updated automatically whenever the map window is zoomed or panned. Map Autogrid re-displays the new map window coordinates on the fly when the window view dimensions are modified and can be turned on and off as required.

The Map Autogrid can be displayed in the current map window projection or in a different projection. Two grids can also be displayed at the same time, e.g. UTM and Lat/Long or UTM and Local coordinates. The Map Autogrid display is best used for viewing a basic grid in the front map window. To create grids for presentation purposes it is recommended that a static map grid is applied to the map window through the Discover Map Grid or Scaled Output utilities.

Layer Control

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Layer Control Layer control is at the heart of MapInfo. It is here that t hat you can change the appearance of all objects in a table, allow objects to be edited or selected, set up labelling parameters and configure advanced features such as zoom layering or hotlinking. Exercise 1

Open the Encom Training\Working\ AUSTRALIA.WOR AUSTRALIA.WOR workspace saved from the last exercise. Remember to change the Files of Type: in the Open dialog to Workspace and click on the Workspace Directory button on the left hand side of the dialog. To open the layer control dialog make sure that a map is the active or front window (select blue map window header) and select Map>Layer Control . The Layer Control dialog may also be selected by clicking the Layer Control button on the Main Toolbar or from performing a right-mouse click in a map window and selecting the option from the pop-up menu.

When displayed in a map window, any given table can be referred to as a layer in that map. Each mapper has its own layer control settings. The layer control dialog will reflect the settings of the currently active map.

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Visible, Selectable, Editable and Label Settings Notice the columns of the checkboxes in the layer control dialog. These checkboxes allow the various layer settings to be turned on or off, as described below: Controls whether or not a layer is visible Controls whether or not a layer is editable. Only one layer at a time can be editable Controls whether or not a layer is selectable Automatically generates generates labels for a layer To change the settings for a layer make sure the layer is highlighted and click the appropriate checkbox. Layers can be added or removed from a map window by clicking the Add or Remove buttons and selecting the table from the available list. Only tables that have been opened will be on the list of available tables. To manually change the order of the layers in a map window simply highlight the layer to be moved and use the Up and Down buttons in the Reorder control. Alternatively, hold the left mouse button down and drag the layer to the appropriate level. •

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Exercise 2

Insert Style – define a table-based style that can be used to add new features to an editable layer. The style information is saved as metadata in the table record. Depending upon the layer, more than one style button may display. Display – change the appearance of data in a map window, view a layer within zoom constraints, show object centroids, line direction or nodes. Label – Controls how labels are displayed in a layer. Thematic – Available only when when the selected layer is a thematic map. Alters the display settings of a thematically mapped layer.(See Thematic Mapping for more information) Hotlink - Link external documents to map objects

Open the Layer Control dialog for the open map window. Move the AUSRAIL table below the AUSTRALIA table. Click OK to observe the changes to the map window.

Layer Control

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Style Override The way in which map objects in a layer are displayed in a map window can be changed using the Style Override function. Changes made using Style Override do not permanently change the appearance of a map object, they only override the default style in the current map window. Style Override is accessed using the Display button in the Layer Control dialog. Style Override can be used on point, line, polygon and text objects. Exercise 3

Select the AUSTCAPS layer and click Display. Check the Style Override box and press the point button to display the Symbol Style dialog. Change the symbol and colour to an appropriate one. Click OK in the Layer Control dialog to observe the changes to the map window. Repeat for the AUSRAIL, AUSMAJRV, AUSMAJRD, AUSHIWAY and AUSTRALIA layers. Style Overrides are only retained if a workspace is saved.

Zoom Layering When navigating around a map window that contains large detailed layers it may take some time to redraw each time the map window view is modified. To save redraw time it may be useful to turn off the visibility of particular layers when the map window is zoomed in or out. This is referred to as Zoom Layering which can be turned on or off by highlighting a layer in the Layer Control and then selecting Display. Very detailed layers such as aerial photographs or satellite imagery may only want to be displayed when the map window is at low zoom levels and turned off the rest of the time. Exercise 4

Select the AUSTRALIA layer and click Display. Check the Display within Zoom Range box and enter a minimum and maximum zoom range to display the layer such as 2000 and 100000. Click OK in the Layer Control dialog and use the navigation tools to change the map window zoom and observe how the zoom controlled layer behaves. When the layer is outside of the specified zoom range open the Layer Control note that there is a Pink tick in the Visibility box to denote that the layer is present in the map window but is not currently displayed as the map window view is outside the zoom layering limits.

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Auto-Labels When the Auto-Generate labels option is selected for a layer all map objects in that layer are labelled with either the data value in the first field of the table or another specified column or expression.

Label font type, size and colour can all be modified and label lines can be used to link a label with the associated map object. The position of the label is relative to the centroid of the map object and can be offset. For linear map objects the label can be rotated so it is in alignment with the map object. Exercise 5

MapInfo Auto-Labels and Custom Labels 1.

Highlight the AUSTCAPS table in the Layer Control dialog. Click the AutoLabel box and click on the Label button. Select Place_Name from the Label with pull-down list.

Layer Control

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Examine the rest of the label options. Display within range is similar to the Zoom Layering function in that labels can be set to only display between specified zoom levels. This option is useful for detailed datasets. The Allow Duplicate Text option is selected by default. To view all labels regardless of Overlapping whether they overprint in the map window check the Allow Overlapping Text option. Label Partial Objects will create labels for polylines that are only partially visible in the map window. 2.

Click on the Styles button and choose an appropriate font, size and colour for the Auto-Labels.

3.

Select a Label Line type. Label lines connect a label to the map object. Types available include None, Simple or Arrow .

4.

Select a position or “Anchor Point” for the Auto-Label. The blue diamonds represent the centroid of the map object and the red rectangle the position of the label relative to this centroid. Change the label offset to 5 points. Click OK twice to display labels in the map window. To remove labels from the map window uncheck the Auto-Labels box in the Layer Control dialog.

5.

Once the labels have been created it is possible to edit them individually (or make a selection) and either double-click on the label to display the Label Style dialog or use the Text Style button from the Drawing Toolbar to modify the Auto-Label. Move or modify a few text labels and turn AutoLabels on/off.

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Once an Auto-Label has been modified or moved from its original location it becomes what is known as a “Custom Label”. When Auto-Labels are turned on or off from the Layer Control the custom label remains in the window. To re-display custom labels in the future a workspace must be saved. 6.

Note

Upon completion of this exercise remove all custom labels using the Map>Clear Custom Labels menu option.

To add individual labels use the Label tool on the Main Toolbar. Any labels created using this tool are custom labels. To save Auto-Labels as “Text Labels” in a permanent MapInfo table load the Labeler Tool in the MapInfo Tool Manager. Auto-Labels can be saved into either the Cosmetic Layer or a new table and will only save the labels in the current map window view.

Exercise 6

Use the MapInfo Auto-Label function to create labels using “ Expressions ”. You can construct the text label from f rom an expression using the Expression Builder syntax required for the MapInfo Select , SQL Select and Update commands. Expressions can be used to label a map object with data from two or more columns, display data on separate lines, add qualifying data for a label value or even display information stored for a map object such as Area. 1.

Select the AUSTRALIA layer in the MapInfo Layer Control and click on the Label button.

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Choose Expression from the Label with pull-down list. The Expression Builder dialog is displayed. Build your expression by directly writing the syntax or picking the columns, operators and functions required from the pull-down lists.

3.

To display labels with data from more than one column select the columns and separate using the + from the Operator pull-down list. Enter the following syntax: STATE + TOTPOPCUR Click the Verify button. MapInfo will notify you if you have entered an invalid syntax. Click OK and make sure you have checked the Auto-Label box in the Layer Control next to the AUSTRALIA layer. Click OK to view the labels in the map window.

Layer Control

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To add spaces between the individual labels these will need to be entered in the Expression . Go back into the labelling dialog and choose Expression again. Enter a number of blank spaces enclosed in “” to insert spaces. STATE + “ ” + TOTPOPCUR Click OK twice to view the labels in the map window.

5.

To view each label entry on a separate line we need to insert another function Chr$(13) Chr$(13) where we want the new line to start. Go back into the labelling dialog and choose Expression again. Insert the Chr$(13) from the Functions pull-down list as follows: STATE + Chr$(13) + TOTPOPCUR Click OK twice to view the labels in the map window.

6.

Finally, we can add qualifying text to the labels so we know what each value refers to. Go back into the labelling dialog and choose Expression again. Enter the following qualifying text: “State: ” + STATE + Chr$(13) + “Pop: ” + TOTPOPCUR Click OK twice to view the labels in the map window.

7.

Go back into the labelling dialog and choose Expression again. This time we are going to use the Area function to display the Area for each State on a third label line. The Area function is located in the Functions pull-down list: “State: ” + STATE + Chr$(13)+“Pop: ”+ TOTPOPCUR + Chr$(13) + “Area: ”+ SphericalArea(obj, "sq km") + “ Sq kms” 2

Alternatively to get km , you can use the keystroke Alt+0178 8.

Upon completion save the workspace to retain the labels.

The Cosmetic Layer Every map window has a layer known as the cosmetic layer. The cosmetic layer is like a sheet of transparent film overlayed on a paper map. You can draw objects and annotations on the transparent film without altering the map itself and you can discard it at any time. The cosmetic layer, which is always the top-most layer in the layer control dialog, serves a similar function. You can draw and annotate without editing any of the data in the underlying layers. Anything that is drawn onto the cosmetic layer is temporary and must be saved either to a permanent table or in a workspace to be retained.

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Discover Enhanced Layer Control (ELC) Discover provides you with a flexible and powerful way of working with Map Windows and layers. The Enhanced Layer Control (ELC) allows you to manage multiple Map Windows from a single control. Multiple layers can be selected and operated on simultaneously. simultaneously . Layers can be organized in natural groupings that can be independent of their display order and aliases can be used to provide a more natural and consistent naming of data. The ELC also provides complete control over the standard layer attributes such as selectability, editability, visibility and label display.

ELC controlling 3 open Map Windows and their associated layers.

The standard MapInfo Previous View function has been enhanced to allow multiple previous views of Map Windows. As you pan and zoom a Map Window, the ELC records its limits. If you click on the Previous View button at the bottom of the ELC the current Map Window is redrawn with its previous limits. Every time you click this button the Map Window is redrawn with the appropriate limits. If you have resized your window then Zoom Previous does not change its size back to what it was previously but centres the previous zoom and redisplays at the previous scale. When you first load Discover, the ELC is displayed in a ‘floating’ window that you can position and resize as required. required. If you want to remove it, click on the X in the top right hand corner of the window. To restore it, select the ELC button from the Discover toolbar.

As an alternative, double clicking the left mouse button in the ELC header bar will ‘roll-up’ the window. Double clicking again ‘un-rolls’ the window. There are also minimise and restore buttons on the title bar which allow you to minimise the

Layer Control

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window to any position on the screen and then restore it back to the original position. If you want to disable the ELC altogether then go to the Discover>Configuration menu option and set the Use Enhanced Layer Control to Off. Note that the ELC displays information as a three-level hierarchy. The top level describes the map windows, the second level shows groups of layers and the third level describes the layers contained within these groups. If you have open Browsers, Layout Windows etc. they are also displayed and can be controlled by the ELC. In a similar fashion to Windows Explorer, you can expand or contract the tree by clicking on the + or – sign to the left of each Map Window. This has no effect on your data – it is just for your convenience.

ELC Options You can control the general characteristics of the ELC. For example, you can indicate whether you want the ELC to appear automatically whenever Discover is activated. You can also indicate whether you want the ELC to display layer information for all open Map Windows or just the current Map Window. These general characteristics characteristics can be set either by clicking on the Options button at the bottom of the ELC or by selecting the Options item on the pop-up that appears when you right click on a Map Window name or layer name in the ELC. When you do this, the following dialog is displayed:

Enhanced Layer Control options dialog •

Apply changes immediately – If this box is checked, then each time you check/uncheck the visibility box for a layer, move a layer or change its display characteristics, the corresponding Map Window is redrawn. If the box is unchecked, you can defer the redrawing of the Map Window until all changes have been made.

This second mode of operation is convenient if you are making a number of changes at once. When you have made your changes, click on the Apply Changes button and your Map Window and ELC are updated reflecting all changes that you have made.

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Show all windows in workspace – If checked, all open Map Windows are displayed in the ELC. If unchecked, unchecked, the ELC only displays the active window.

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•

Note

Use layer name aliases – If checked, the ELC displays layer name aliases (if they exist). If unchecked, unchecked, the actual .TAB file names are displayed.

The Use Layer name aliases option will only work in the ELC and some of the Discover dialogs. All MapInfo dialogs will still show the name of the original table (.Tab file) even when an alias name has been set. •

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Allow layer logical grouping – If checked, the ELC tree can be displayed in Grouped view. Open branches for all windows – If checked the ELC displays all layers and themes (or groups and layers in Grouped view) for all open Map Windows. If unchecked, only the current Map Window appears expanded. Open when Discover starts - Open the ELC on startup.

Layer Controls The ELC provides a set of visual controls for controlling layers. The visibility of each layer is controlled by the check box to the left of each layer name. Check a box by clicking in it and the layer is displayed, uncheck it and the layer disappears. Note

You can display or hide all layers (other than the Cosmetic layer) for a Map Window by checking/unchecking checking/unchecking the visibility box on the t he Map Window title in the ELC. The visibility boxes for Cosmetic layers and Legend Windows are always checked – you cannot uncheck them. Editability, selectability and auto-labels are controlled by clicking on the appropriate icons to the right of the layer name (these have the same appearance and the same functions as the equivalent controls in the standard MapInfo layer control). The icon on the far right of each layer allows you to zoom to the data extents of the particular layer. If you click on the cosmetic layer control (labelled All), it zooms to the extents of all layers. With the ELC, you can change the order of layers by ‘dragging and dropping’. Select a layer by clicking on it and then while holding down your mouse button, move to the place where you want to drop it and release the mouse button. You can even move layers between Map Windows using this method. You can select multiple layers by using your mouse cursor in conjunction with the CTRL and SHIFT keys.

Layer Control

43

Layer Properties If you select a layer by clicking with t he right mouse button, a pop-up menu appears that provides all the layer controls that are available from the standard MapInfo layer control:

Pop-up menu from a layer selection and right mouse click

The ELC is aware of the contents of the layers and consequently, the options on the pop-up menu are determined by the layer type. For example, a layer containing vectors or points has a menu as shown above but a layer containing a grid image would not have the Grid option but instead a Grid Filter… option. The available options on the layer menus are: •

Select All – Select all objects in a layer

•

Unselect All – Unselect all items in a layer

•

Add Layer… – Add an open table to the current Map Window

•

Remove Layer – Remove one or more layers from the current Map Window

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Create Stacked Profile … – Initiate the Stacked Profile Tool (refer to Creating a Stacked Profile ) Create Grid… – Initiate the Gridding Tool (refer to Creating a Grid Surface ) Open Table – Open MapInfo table. Equivalent to the File>Open Table menu item. Close Table – Close a MapInfo table. Equivalent to the File>Close Table menu item. Display… – Change a layer’s line, pattern or symbol style. Add Group… – Create a layer group. Refer to Creating Groups in the Discover Reference documentation for additional information. Modify Theme… – Modify a thematic layer. Unlike MapInfo, the Discover ELC displays thematic layers underneath the parent layer.

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•

•

Modify Labels… – Modify label appearance and style.

•

Show Table Projection – Display native projection parameters of the table.

•

Show file path… – Shows the full file path to the selected .TAB file.

•

•

•

•

Exercise 7

Modify Hotlinks… – This allows you to control layer and object Hotlinks. For details refer to your MapInfo documentation.

Reset Alias Name – Remove alias name metadata from layer .TAB file and display original layer name. Reset Group – Remove group metadata from layer .TAB file Add to Favourites… – Adds a table table to the ELC Favourites Favourites list. The ELC Favourites list is a list of user defined tables and is stored separately to the Discover>Table Discover>Table Utilities>Favourite Tables list. Options… - Options of the Enhanced Layer Control (refer to ELC Options)

Open the ISA.wor workspace from the Encom Training\Mt Isa folder. Using the File>Open option on the ELC Layer pop-up menu open the following three tables: ISA_FAULTS table from the Encom Training\Mt Isa\Structure folder ISA_GEOLOGY table from the Encom Training\Mt Isa\Geology folder QLD_EX table from the Encom Training\Mt Isa\Tenements folder Using any of the Layer Control tools and methods discussed previously display three map windows as follows: f ollows: 1.

Map window containing the roads, drainage, towns, geological province and Australian state boundaries.

2.

Map window containing faults and geology.

3.

Map window containing tenements

Aliases and Groups The ELC allows individual layers to t o appear with alternate titles (aliases). These are useful if you want to abbreviate the filename (MapInfo uses this as the default layer name) or want to use something more descriptive. To define an alias for a layer, double click on the layer name in the ELC and type the new alias name. Aliases are stored as metadata in .TAB files. You can also organise layers into logical groupings that reflect a natural order more suited to your application. For example, you may wish to group layers called Veins, Dykes, and RockTypes under a group called Geology. If you create a group you can show/hide all layers within the group with a single mouse click. You can also move a group of layers in the ELC rather than having to move each layer individually. Exercise 8

Make sure the Use Layer name aliases box is checked in the Layer Control Options dialog. Create alias layer names by double-clicking on a layer name and entering a more appropriate title for each map layer.

Layer Control

45

Map Controls The ELC allows you to control the Map Window name and zoom scale. Right click on the Map Window in the ELC to activate the pop-up menu then select Window Properties.

The pop-up menu items available from the Map Window level of the ELC

The available options on the Map Window menus are: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

Add Layer… – Add an open table to the current Map Window Window Properties – Update the Map Window title, location, size and status (maximised, minimised etc.). Open Table – Open MapInfo tables. Equivalent to the File>Open Table menu item Close Layer – Use Close Layer to close a Browser Window Map Linking – allows the preservation of scale or extent of layers between linked map windows Match window Sizes – alter the size of all linked map windows to the same dimensions Options… - Options of the Enhanced Layer Control (refer to ELC Options).

Window Properties

From the Window Properties item of the Map Window pop-up menu you can update the Map Window title, its location and its status (maximised, minimised etc.)

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Window Properties dialog

Setting specific positions and sizes can be useful if you need to setup a workspace that someone else is going to use. Window height and width are also useful parameters to define for consistency in setting up map layouts. Sometimes when a workspace is moved between computers that have screens of differing resolutions, you might find problems in accessing minimized windows (which are positioned off screen on one resolution or the other). By selecting a Map Window in the ELC and then selecting Window Properties from the Map Control menu you can maximise the window and thereby regain control of it. Exercise 9

Assign each of the three open map windows an appropriate title using the Window Properties dialog.

Standard Views Discover>Map Window>Standard Views

Select a pre-set geographic view for a map window from a list. Save new views to this list. Discover allows you to store any number of Standard Views in a list. You can quickly zoom to one of your stored views by selecting that view from the list. Exercise 10

Zoom and Pan each of the three map windows and then save each one as a standard view. Select the Add button in the Standard View dialog to add a new view. Name the views: Isa Regional Geology, Queensland Tenements and Isa Location Map This is a very useful tool to keep track of various projects or to return to a map view after zooming or panning. To display a standard view simply select the correct view from the list and click on the Restore View or Restore View and Size buttons.

Map Linking Discover>Map Window>Map Linking

Map Linking provides the ability to "geographically link" mapper windows so that any pan or zoom update applied to one mapper is automatically applied to all other map windows included in the linked group.

Layer Control

47

Map Linking dialog to select and enable mapper windows

The Map Linking dialog lists all currently open mappers and the projection of each. Use checkboxes next to Map names to select/unselect mappers. Select All and Unselect All buttons are also provided. Two mapper linking methods are available: •

•

Fixed extents - The windows are synchronised so that the window centre point and the X axis extents are always visible in the map window regardless regardless of either the map scale or the window dimensions. Fixed scale - Following a pan or zoom, the new map centre and scale are applied to the other linked mappers. Thus, each linked mapper window has the same centre coordinate and scale but the amount of data shown in each depends on the individual window dimensions.

Individual mappers can also be linked via the Link this map option on the pop-up menu from a right mouse click in a mapper. A tick next to this menu item indicates that the mapper is linked. Selecting the option toggles the linkage. Exercise 11

Arrange the three map windows so they are not overlapping. Select Map Window>Map Linking, click the Select All button and choose Fixed Extents as the Linking Method. Observe changes to the map windows as you zoom and pan. Select Map Linking from the map window right-mouse click pop-up menu. Change the Linking Method to Fixed Scale. Observe the changes to the map windows.

Interactive Cursor Positioning Interactive Cursor Positioning creates an interactive cursor that automatically automatically connects geographic locations in separate mapper windows by placing a symbol at the position you click. An option is also provided to automatically pan any map windows to show the geographic location of the identified position if it is not visible in the map window. Cursor positioning is a useful function when you wish to use a map window as a ‘locator’ and review data at different scales in additional windows. An example of two windows with the location symbol placed at the same geographic position but with different scales and information information content is shown below.

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Exercise 12

Select Map Window>Cursor Position menu and choose Select Mappers from this menu. Click on the Select All button and check the Pan mapper to show cursor position box. Select Cursor Position On or the Cursor toolbar and click in a map window. Observe how the other map windows are panned to display the same location. At the end of the session select Cursor Position Off . Save the currently open tables as a workspace named ISA_PROJECT in the Encom Training\Working folder. Close all currently open tables at the end of this session.


5

49

Opening and Importing Files Opening Files Using MapInfo MapInfo supports a wide variety of different file formats in either a read-only or a read and write basis. A number of common file formats f ormats can be accessed by using the MapInfo File>Open command: •

Text ASCII (.TXT)

•

Comma Delimited ASCII (.CSV)

•

MS Excel (.XLS)

•

MS Access (.MDB)

•

dBASE (.DBF)

•

Raster Image (e.g. BMP, .JPG, .TIF, .GIF, .PNG, .PCX, .ECW, .TGA, .SID, .WMF, .PSD, etc.)

•

ESRI Shape (.SHP)

•

Grid (.GRD, .DEM, .MIG, GRC, DT0, etc)

Text and Excel and Comma Delimited files are read-only and although MapInfo will allow you to create points from coordinate data in these files you cannot edit or change the table structure. The file will need to be saved into native MapInfo format using the File>Save Copy As command.

The above procedure can be bypassed by checking the Create copy in MapInfo format for read/write . This will automatically automatically create a native MapInfo format file that will no longer have links to the Text, Excel and Comma Delimited file formats. In the next few exercises we will open a number of different data formats into MapInfo.

Excel Spreadsheet Exercise 1

Open an Excel spreadsheet containing mineral deposits of Australia and display points in a map window 1.

Open the AUSTRALIA.WOR AUSTRALIA. WOR saved in the previous exercises.

2.

Select File>Open and change the Files of Type: to Microsoft Excel (.xls) .

3.

Select MIN DEPOSITS.XLS file from the Encom Training\Australia folder.

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4.

Check the Create copy in MapInfo format for read/write box

5.

In the Excel Information dialog check the Use row above selected range for column titles box.

6.

Leave the default Types in the Set Field Properties dialog.

7.

Click OK to display the excel spreadsheet in a browser window.


8.

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Examine the data and note there are two columns containing Latitude and Longitude information in decimal degrees. We need to create points using this data so we can view the mineral deposit locations in a map window. Use Table>Create Points to create sample points. Use an appropriate symbol from the ETGeoexplore Symbol library and use the Latitude/Longitude (AGD84) projection.

Note you will need to multiply the Latitude or Y coordinates by -1 to make sure that the data points plot in the southern hemisphere. 9.

The newly created points are not automatically automatical ly opened into a map window. To view the points you will need to go into the Layer Control in the AUSTRALIA map window and click Add Layer and select the MIN_DEPOSITS layer from the list.

10.

If the points plot upside down, all in one location or in a straight line there has been a problem with the X and Y coordinates selected and/or the projection information. To re-create the points go to Table>Maintenance>Table Structure and uncheck the Table is Mappable box. Click OK to delete the graphical objects and follow the Table>Create Points steps again.

Access Database MapInfo can read and write data directly to MS Access databases enabling you to readily access information without having to export and import the data each time. As MapInfo can write to Access tables you are able to perform most MapInfo and Discover functions. When MapInfo reads an Access database it is only reading the attribute or tabular information from the database. You will still need to use the MapInfo Table>Create points function to view the data on a map. When you create a map from data contained in an Access database, MapInfo creates a .MAP file to contain the object information. This object data is not stored back to the database. Exercise 2

Open an Access Database table containing Australian mine deposits and display the locations in a map window. 1.

Select File>Open and change the Files of Type: to MS Access (.mdb).

2.

Select MINES.MDB from the Encom Training\Australia folder.

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3.

Choose the Mines table and click OK. The data is displayed in a browser in MapInfo.

4.

Examine the data and note there are two columns containing Latitude and Longitude information. This time the Latitude has negative values to enable it to automatically plot in the southern hemisphere.

5.

Select the MapInfo Table>Create Points menu option. Select an appropriate Mine symbol from the ET GeoExplore symbol library. Choose the Lat and Long fields from the pull-down list and select the Projection Longitude/Latitude (Australia AGD84) outlined below:

6.

When the points have been created use ELC>Add Layer to display the MINES layer in the current map window.

7.

Select File>Save Workspace to overwrite the existing AUSTRALIA workspace and then File>Close All to close all currently open tables.

ASCII Text Files Exercise 3

Open a Text File containing geochemical sample data over the Darlot region in Western Australia 1.

Select File>Open and change the Files of Type: to Delimited ASCII (.txt).

2.

Select TRACE ELEMENTS.TXT file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geochemistry folder.


Note

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3.

Check the Create copy in MapInfo format for read/write box

4.

MapInfo will present a dialog asking for some basic information on the file structure (delimiter (delimiter type) and the location of the column titles. A delimiter is what separates one column of information from another i.e. Commas, spaces, tabs etc.

5.

For this exercise select TAB as the delimiter and check the box “Use first line for column titles”. Click OK to display the data in a Browser window.

Before you can import ASCII data into MapInfo you need to know the basic structure of the text file otherwise you may find all the data is loaded into one column or you do not have any column titles. MapInfo has now created a native ASSAYS table which is displayed in a browser window only as there are no spatial objects associated with this table. 6.

Create points for theses geochemical samples using a 6pt red circle and projection Australian Map Grid (AGD84) Zone 51 .

Update Table using Values from another Table Exercise 4

Update geochemical table with geological data from another table. 1.

Select File>Open and change the Files of Type: to MapInfo Table (.tab) .

2.

Select MAJOR ELEMENTS table from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geochemistry folder.

3.

Open the table into a browser and observe the columns of data. Compare with the TRACE ELEMENTS browser.

4.

Select the Table>Update Column menu option. Choose TRACE ELEMENTS as the Table to Update and “REGOLITH” as the Column to Update.

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Select MAJOR ELEMENTS from the Get Value from Table pull-down list. In order to update a table with data from another table a tabular join needs to be specified. In this instance both tables contain a sample number field which we will use to join the tables together.

Once the join is specified select Value from the Calculate pull-down list and Regolith as the data field to update with from the MAJOR ELEMENTS table. 5.

Repeat the update column process for the Geol_Unit and Type columns and save table. Close all browser windows on completion of this exercise.

ESRI Shape Files MapInfo v7.0 and later is able to open ESRI Shape files directly from the File>Open command. If the File>Open command is used the TAB will still reference the original Shape file. This means that the file will be read-only and will be unable to be edited. When an ESRI Shape file is imported using the Universal Translator a MapInfo native table is created. This table is no longer linked to the original shape file so the map objects and browser information can be edited.

Universal Translator Tool The Universal Translator tool can also be used to translate files from one data format to another for both file importing and exporting. The Universal Translator tool can be accessed via the MapInfo Tools>Tool Manager . The Universal Translator can translate the following file formats: •

AutoCad (.DXF/.DGN)

•

ESRI ArcInfo Export (.E00)

•

ESRI Shape (.SHP)

•

Intergraph/Microstation Intergraph/Microstation (.DGN)


Exercise 5

•

MapInfo MID/MIF (.MID/.MIF)

•

MapInfo (.TAB)

•

Spatial Data Transfer Standard

•

Vector Product Format

55

Open an ESRI Shapefile which contains Regolith polygons using the Universal Translator tool 1. Select Universal Translator>Universal Translator from the MapInfo Tools menu.

2.

In the Universal Translator dialog Source controls click on the Format arrow and select ESRI Shape from the pull-down list. Click on the Browse button and highlight the REGOLITH.SHP file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geology folder.

3.

Check the Use projection setting in source file box to automatically read the assigned in-built file projection. Alternatively the projection can be selected using the Projection button. Projection Category: Australian Map Grid (AGD84) and the Category Member : AMG Zone 51 (AGD 84).

4.

In the Destination controls click on the Format arrow and select MapInfo TAB from the pull-down list. Note that ESRI shape files can also be converted to MID/MIF files as well. Click on the Browse button and browse to the Encom Training\Darlot\Geology folder. This is where the native MapInfo table will be stored.

5.

Check the Log to File box to create a log file which documents the translation process. If a table fails to load correctly this file could be useful to see where the import is failing.

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6.

Click OK to start the translation. Upon completion the following dialog should be displayed:

7.

Close the Universal Translator Translator dialog by selecting the Cancel button. Select File>Open and open the newly created REGOLITH.TAB file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geology folder.

MapInfo Files Exercise 6

Open native MapInfo tables containing structure and drainage data and add to current map window 1.

Select File>Open from the main MapInfo menu and change the Files of Type to MapInfo (*.tab)

2.

Select STRUCTURE.TAB file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Structure folder and change Preferred View to Current Mapper . Click Open.

3.

Select DRAINAGE.TAB file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Topography folder and change Preferred View to Current Mapper . Click Open.

4.

Save a Workspace named Darlot in the Encom Training\Working folder at the completion of this exercise.

Raster Data MapInfo can open and display images in a range of different raster formats including BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, ECW etc. A raster image may be displayed in two ways: registered in geographical space (Georeferenced) and used as a backdrop for other vector data layers or displayed in a non-earth map window. Some common types of raster images that are displayed in non-earth windows are company logos and digital photographs which are used to enhance map presentations. If an image has an associated header file (text file containing coordinate coordinate registration information) MapInfo can automatically display the image in a map window in the correct geographical location. If there is no associated header file then the image will need to be registered (Georeferenced). This is the process whereby locations on the image are selected and matched to known real-world coordinates. Once an image has been opened and either displayed or registered in MapInfo a TAB file is created. The image can then be opened using the TAB file each time. Exercise 7

Display satellite raster image in map window. This image has already been georeferenced and has an associated TAB file created. 1.

Select File>Open from the main MapInfo menu and change the Files of Type to MapInfo (*.tab)

2.

Training\Darlot\Satellite Select DARLOT LANDSAT.TAB file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Satellite Imagery folder and change Preferred View to Current Mapper . Click Open.


3.

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Training\Working folder. Save a workspace called DARLOT in the Encom Training\Working

In MapInfo 8.5 the projection of the image will be transformed on-the-fly to match the projection of the current map window. In versions older than 8.5 the current map window projection will be altered to match the projection of the newly added raster image.

Register Raster Image Both MapInfo and Discover have utilities to enable the registration of raster images. To register an image using MapInfo simply open the raster image using the File>Open menu option and choose Register from the dialog that appears. For more information on how to register an image in MapInfo see the On-line MapInfo help. Note

When registering an image using MapInfo the map window projection will be distorted to fit the image if the registration is not exact. This may also cause the distortion of any overlaying of vector data. Unlike image registration using MapInfo, the Discover Rectify Image tool can perform rectification (ie. register images that have been stretched, skewed or rotated so that they will display in the correct geographical geographical location). This process, also known as “Rubber-Sheeting” enables portions of an image to stretched or warped to fit the entered control points. The greater the number of control points used, the more accurate this rectification process will be. In order to register a raster image a number of control points need to be added for which real world coordinates are known. If the scanned image has a map grid then the intersections of this grid can be used as control points and the real world coordinates entered manually. If there is no coordinate information available on the image then coordinate information may be extracted from vector data open in a map window such as road intersections, drainage convergence points, fence lines or property boundaries. Ideally control points should be placed over the entire image and the more control points (providing they are accurately placed) the better the final rectification. In this exercise we are going to manually enter in the control points based on map grid intersections on our scanned image. A number of transformation methods are available to determine the location of a pixel in the registered image, including Projective, Affine, Conformal and higher order polynomial depending on the number of control points used.

Exercise 8

Register the Sir Samuel SG5113 scanned 1:250,000 geological map using coordinates extracted from a 250K Map polygon Training\Australia 1. Open the AUSTRALIA and MAP250K tables from the Encom Training\Australia and Encom Training\Australia\Mapsheets folders into a new map window.

2. With the mapsheet layer on top, display the map sheet name as labels and pan the view to find the Sir Samuel map sheet. If you are having trouble finding the Sir Samuel map sheet select Discover>Data Utilities>Select by Group and populate the dialog as follows:

58


Click on Select to display the Sir Samuel boundary in the map window. 1.

Choose Images from the main Discover menu. Select the Images>Rectify Image menu option from the newly added Image menu. In the Rectify Image dialog click on the Load an Image File button and select the SG5113.JPG image from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geology folder.

2.

When the Loading Control Points dialog appears click NO. The image is then opened into a new map window.

3.

Click on the Projection button and change it to Longitude/Latitude (AGD66) . Check the DMS box to enable coordinates to be entered in degrees, minutes, seconds instead of decimal degrees (default).


4.

To add a control point, press the New Point button. Click on the control point row to be added so it is highlighted. An icon will appear to the left of the row to indicate the selected row.

5.

In the Image window zoom to the top left hand corner so the corner intersection is visible. Back in the Rectify Image dialog click on the Image button and move the cursor to the image window. The cursor is now displayed as a cross-hair (+). Click on the control point location in the top left image map window. The location of the X and Y pixel coordinates in the image are automatically updated in the control point Image_X and Image_Y cells.

59

To remove control points use the Delete Point button. The last change applied to a control point row can be reversed using the Undo Change button. 6.

To specify the Map X and Y coordinates for a control point manually click on the control point row to be edited. An icon will appear to the left of the row to indicate the selected selected row. Enter coordinates coordinates by clicking in the Map_X and Map_Y cells and overwriting the (null) values with the real world X and Y coordinates. Note that the Rectify Image tool only accepts lat/long coordinates coordinates in decimal degrees. DMS measurements will need to be converted to decimal in order to register correctly. Also do not forget to prefix latitudes in the southern hemisphere with a “-“.

7.

To select the Map_X and Map_Y coordinates from the 250K map boundary polygon make sure the control point to be edited is highlighted. Click on the Map button and click on the title bar of the map window containing the MAP250K table. With this map window selected press “S” on the keyboard to activate “Snap Mode”. This will enable the cursor to snap to nodes on an object in order to obtain a more accurate location measurement. The cursor should now displayed as a cross-hair with a circle in the map window. Place the cursor over the top left corner of the Sir Samuel map sheet polygon. The cursor should change to a large cross-hair when it is located exactly over the corner point/node. Left mouse click to add this cursor location to the Map_X and Map_Y cells for the selected control point row.

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Exercise 9

8.

Follow the above procedure to add the remaining three control points. When all the points have been added, click out of the Map_Y cell so that the RMS and ResidualX and ResidualY are calculated. The aim is to make sure these values are as low as possible. High values may indicate incorrect control point assignment or values or incompatible projection. These figures relate to the number of pixel cells that the image may be out in the translation t ranslation..

9.

When you are satisfied with the control points click the Save button so that if for some reason the registration needs to be modified the original control points can be re-displayed.

10.

Click on the Rectify button. A Save As dialog will prompt for an output file name and location. By default the output rectified table will contain the original image file name with a “_rectified” suffix. Save the rectified image table to the same folder as the original image leaving the default extension.

11.

When the Save button is pressed, a status bar is displayed at the bottom of the Rectify Image dialog showing the rectification progress status. When the rectified processing is completed, the rectified image is displayed in a new map window. Close the Rectify Image dialog using the Close button.

12.

To check that the image has been registered correctly add the MAP250K table from the Encom Training\Australia\Mapsheets folder to the map window containing the rectified image. If the raster image does not look correct and is distorted in the map window you will need to open the image back into the Rectify Image dialog and modify the control points.

Clip the registered Sir Samuel SG5113 image to the 250K map boundary 13.

If the image appears to be registered correctly select the SIR SAMUEL map sheet polygon. Select the Images>Clip Image menu option. Choose the Clip Outside Polygon option and clip against *Selection*. (This refers to the selected SIR SAMUEL map sheet polygon). Click OK. Enter an appropriate filename for the clipped image and click Save.


Exercise 10

61

Reproject the clipped Sir Samuel SG5113 image into MGA94 Zone 51 projection. 14.

Select Images>Reproject Image and populated the dialog as follows:

The NTv2 grid shift method enables selected projections to obtain more accurate transformations when transforming between these coordinate systems. See the Discover Reference Manual or On-Line Help for more information about NTv2 transformation. Exercise 11

Set a colour in the reprojected Sir Samuel SG5113 image to transparent and apply a translucency. 15.

Select the Table>Raster>Adjust Image Styles menu. Choose the SG5113_REPROJECT SG5113_REPROJECT raster table. In the Adjust Image Styles dialog click the Transparent box, click on the Select Color button and click on the white area on the border of the image. Move the Translucency slider to 50% and click OK.

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Exercise 12

16.

These settings are automatically automatically saved saved to the the image table. Alternatively, Alternatively, these these changes may be set in the Layer Control>Style Override and saved as part of a workspace.

17.

Close all tables on completion of this exercise.

Open and register the SYLVANIA_SCANNED.TIF located in the Encom Training\Sylvania\Geology folder. Use the Australian Map Grid (AGD84) Zone 54 projection. Manually enter the Map_X and Map_Y coordinates into the appropriate cells from the map grid intersections. intersections.

Web Map Service File>Open Web Services>Open WMS

The MapInfo Web Map Service (WMS) utility enables map data to be sourced over the internet and displayed as a raster image. A TAB file is created for each dataset which can then be loaded at a later date simply using File>Open . Note

An active internet/intranet connection must be available whenever WMS data is retrieved or used. Web map data is stored on a WMS Server and conforms to Open GIS Consortium (OGC) standards. standards. MapInfo contains a list of common WMS Server sites but new sites can be added to the list. MapInfo supports the following image formats for WMS: •

PNG

•

JPEG (JPG)

•

TIFF (GeoTIFF and TIFF)

•

GIF


Note

63

The MapInfo WMS utility cannot access ECW files stored on remote servers. See ECWP in this chapter for viewing ECW files over the internet.

Web Feature Service File>Open Web Services>Open WFS

Similar to WMS the Web Feature Service (WFS) utility enables map data to be sourced over the internet and displayed as raw coordinate data. A TAB file is created for each dataset which can then be loaded at a later date simply using File>Open . Note

An active internet/intranet connection must be available whenever WFS data is retrieved or used. Web map data is stored on a WFS Server and conforms to GML2 (Geography Markup Language version 2) standards. MapInfo contains a list of common WFS Server sites but new sites can be added to the list.

64


Note

The MapInfo WFS utility has been developed in accordance with OGC WFS Specification 1.0.0. Therefore data cannot be accessed from WFS servers which are compliant with earlier or later versions of the OGC specification.

ECW Images High-resolution digital imagery such as aerial photography or satellite imagery can create extremely large files in the order of 1,000’s of Gb in size. ER Mapper (Earth Resources Mapping) has developed an open standard wavelet compression format called ECW (Enhanced Compressed Wavelet) that can compress large digital imagery down to ratios of 10-100:1 of the original size. ECW image files can contain embedded projection information which can be used to automatically display ECW images in MapInfo. The easiest way to view ECW images in MapInfo which enables the embedded projection information to be read and the image to be displayed in the correct geographical space is to use a free program called MapImagery. This application can be downloaded from the www.mapimagery.com.au website. Make sure the latest Production version is downloaded. The MapImagery software creates a TAB file for the ECW image which can be used to open up the image in the future. For example, to create the TAB file for the SF5114 Gunanya 250K topographic raster image the following complete the following steps: 1.

Download and install MapImagery software from the website.

2.

Select MapImagery>Open ECW Image. In the Open ECW Style dialog make sure the Open Local.ecw file and View Directly via ECW for MapInfo options are selected.


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3.

Browse to the Encom Training\Miscellaneous folder and select the SF5114.ECW image and click Open.

4.

The embedded projection information is displayed along with the corresponding MapInfo projection. There may be instances where the projection details may have to be selected manually if no coordinate system has been embedded.

5.

Click OK to display the ECW image in the correct geographical location in a map window.

6.

Compressor utility which is To convert an image to ECW use the free ECW Compressor available on the MapInfo installation CD.

Web ECWP Servers MapImagery can also be used to view ECW files stored on remote ECWP servers. 1. Select MapImagery>Open ECW Image. In the Open ECW Style dialog make sure the Open Local.ecw file and View Directly via ECW for MapInfo options are selected.

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2.

Enter the URL path for the ECW image.

3.

Select the corresponding coordinate system in the MapInfo projection list.

Grid Data Files If the data is in grid format such as ER Mapper (.ERS) or Geosoft (.GRD), then you can use Discover to load and register the grid file. This can be done using the Discover>Surfaces>Import Grid File menu. Discover can read the grid file header and then ask you to select a compatible MapInfo projection for the data. Once this is done the grid image is loaded and registered. When you load a gridded dataset using Discover you are actually loading the raw data into memory in MapInfo as a dataset. This means you can click on any grid cell in the image and MapInfo will display the raw value for that cell. If you load a raster image (.TIF, .BMP etc) instead of a grid image you cannot query the actual cell information. Applications such as MapImagery for MapInfo will also read and load ER Mapper format datasets and ECW files. Unlike Discover, MapImagery uses the raster engine provided by ER Mapper to read the raw grid data and it then converts this information into a conventional raster image for display. The advantage of this technique is that it is much quicker to load and display the image. The down side is that you cannot query the gridded data or use any of Discover grid manipulation functions.

Importing Files using MapInfo Another way of accessing a data file is through the MapInfo Table>Import utility. This utility can be used to import file formats such as: •

AutoCad (.DXF)

•

MapInfo Interchange (.MIF)

•

OS MasterMap (.GML)

When MapInfo imports a file it automatically creates a native MapInfo table of the data.


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The MapInfo Data Interchange Format is an ASCII format that enables spatial/graphical objects and textual data to be transferred between different GIS applications. The graphical data resides in the MIF file which also contains the header information. information. The textual data is stored in the MID file. For MapInfo users Geoscience Geoscience Australia provides vector topographic data in MID/MIF format. Exercise 13

Import road and vegetation data in MID/MIF format for the Darlot 100K Map Sheet 1.

Select Table>Import and change Files of Type to MapInfo Interchange (*.mif). Select the ROADS.MIF file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Topography folder.

2.

Once the table has been imported it will need to be added to a map window using Add Layer.

3.

Repeat this process and import the VEGETATION.MIF VEGETATION.M IF file from the same folder and add to the map window. Note that graphical attributes are retained in a MID/MIF file.

Discover>Table Utilities>Multi_MIF Utilities>Multi_MIF Import To import multiple MID/MIF files use the Discover>Table utility.

Importing Files using Discover The Discover Import and Export menu provides a comprehensive suite of data Import and Export tools to use in conjunction with those already available available in MapInfo. The additional tools in Discover include: •

Advanced import to read fixed and delimited ASCII files and delineate column names from header information

•

Automatic detection of Datamine point and polyline ASCII files

•

Import Surpac String files

•

Import MineSight SRG files

•

Import Vulcan Archive files

•

Import MicroMine Data and String files

•

Import Geosoft, acquire or DataShed database tables

•

Multiple layer DXF import to single table

•

Import Gemcom BT2 files

•

Import Profile Analyst EGB files

AutoCad DXF Files There are three different options for importing DXF files into MapInfo: •

MapInfo Table>Import menu and select AutoCAD DXF (*.dxf) as the file type

•

MapInfo Tools>Universal Translator menu option

•

Discover>Import and Export>DXF Import

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Each option provides a different level of support for the DXF file structure. The MapInfo Table>Import function is probably the least flexible of the three options although it will generally work with most DXF file formats. The Tools>Universal Translator tool is a general-purpose translation engine provided by Safe Software for MapInfo Professional. This tool can convert data from or to a number of different formats and is very useful for importing most non-native data into MapInfo Professional. The Discover>Data Utilities>DXF Import utility is a more generalised import utility and will handle most common format DXF files. It has an added advantage over the MapInfo import tool in that it will automatically store attribute elevation data for 2D or 3D DXF files. This can be very useful when importing contour data as it enables you to rapidly produce a gridded DTM image. Exercise 14

Importing a contour DXF file using Discover 1.

Select the Discover>Import and Export>DXF Import option and select the Input file CONTOURS.DXF file from the Encom Training\Darlot\Topography folder.

2.

Utilise the default name and folder in which to save the output TAB file. Press Save.

3.

In the Create object type pull-down list choose Auto Select to import the data as it is represented represented in the DXF file e.g. as points, lines or polygons. The Points Only option will convert all lines and polygons to point data. Click the Set Projection button, and assign Longitude / Latitude (WGS 84) .

4.

Select Top from the View from pull-down list. The north, south, east and west view options can be used to import cross-section DXF files. Click OK to run the import. At completion, a dialog will ask whether to display the imported DXF in a new mapper window. Click OK.

Advanced ASCII Import The Discover Advanced ASCII Import utility is designed to import external multicolumn ASCII data files into a MapInfo .TAB file. Some features of the Advanced ASCII Import are:


•

•

•

•

•

•

Exercise 15

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Flexible import format can accommodate any number of ASCII data columns Read ASCII files with either fixed width (defined by column size) or delimited by user-defined characters Easy interface for column naming can use a header line or interactive dialogs. Unwanted header records can be skipped during the import. Comment lines are accommodated, as are various data formats such as real and scientific notation Data specification can include multi-channel and banded data (for example, EM data) Use or save templates to describe the data format for re-use. Comments, headers and nulls are all handled in the templates.

Importing a space delimited text file containing shotpoint locations and building seismic lines. 1.

Select the Discover>Import and Export>Advanced ASCII Import option and select the SHOTPOINTS.TXT file from the Encom Training\Miscellaneous folder.

2.

Select the column format if it has not automatically automatically been detected i.e. space

3.

Enter the correct Number of lines in header, this should be 7. The header information will be coloured green in the Data preview window. Check Field names are in header on line to enter the row number that contains the Field names. This will be line 5.

4.

Scroll down in the Data preview to see if the column separators look correct. If you want to accept the default header names names click the button Get field names ,

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this automatically populate with the existing naming convention. convention. Alternatively you can right mouse-click on the first column header titled “Skip” and choose Properties. Enter the column name “LineName”. Repeat for all other columns. To attribute spatial columns right click on Longitude and Latitude , respectively assign them with the Set as X (Easting) field and Set as Y (Northing) field properties. 5.

Click Import and accept the default TAB name and location. Select the Longitude/Latitude (AGD84) Projection. The shotpoint file should now be displayed in a MapInfo browser and the point locations are also visible in a map window view.

Build Objects from Table In MapInfo we can use the Table>Create Points menu option to create points from columns of X and Y coordinates. coordinates. That is fine if we just want to create point locations but how do we create polylines or polygons from point or node coordinates? If you only have a few coordinates to enter you could use the Discover>Object Editing>Key in Shapes menu option to manually type in the object coordinates. For large numbers of objects import the coordinates from an external file and provided each object has either a unique identifier such as line number or a keyword at the beginning or end of the coordinate, we can build objects from ASCII tables. 1.

Select Discover>Table Utilities>Build Objects from Table .

2.

Select the Column delimited x,y Polylines (from table) option. If we were creating polygons we would check the Convert closed polylines to regions box.

3.

Choose the SHOTPOINTS table from the pull-down list and select the correct Easting and Northing columns.


4.

Note

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Choose Unique Attribute in column LineName . Assign a new table to save the newly created polylines and click Save. You may need to open up a new map window to view the polylines.

Make sure the order the points or nodes are stored in the ASCII file are the correct line order otherwise the resulting polylines or polygons may not be correct.

MapInfo Export Options A number of options are available to export data. The MapInfo Table>Export menu options enable tables to be exported as: •

ASCII text files

•

Comma Delimited CSV files

•

MID/MIF files (enables graphical and textural data to be opened in other GIS applications)

•

AutoCad DXF

•

Dbase DBF

The Universal Translator can also be used to export a MapInfo table in AutoCad DWG/DXF, ESRI ArcInfo Export (E00), ESRI Shape File (SHP) or Intergraph/Microstation Intergraph/Microstation (DGN) format. To save a map window view as a raster image, use the File>Save Window As menu option. Available image formats include BMP, PNG, JPG, TIF, WMF, EMF.

Google Earth Link The MapInfo Tool Manager contains the Google Earth Connection Utility to enable data to be viewed on top of Google Earth-hosted aerial photos. Maps can be exported as raster images (in .JPG format) or as selected vector objects in Google .KML format. The Google Earth program must first be downloaded and installed on your computer. There are four Google Earth products available including a free download which does not require licensing. 1.

Load the Google Earth Connection Utility from the MapInfo Tool Manager.

2.

To export data as a raster image create a map window view containing all the required layers, thematic maps or labels. Thematic legends are automatically transferred and displayed in the Google Earth image window.

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To export data as vector objects make a selection in the map window. 3.

Click on the Export Map to Google Earth icon on the Tools toolbar or select the Map>Google Earth Link>Export to Google Earth menu option.

View Map Image

If the data is to be exported as a map window raster image the following Export Map Image to Google Earth dialog is displayed:

Select the Output Path and File Name. If there is any copyright text file that must be displayed with the data select the appropriate file. View Map Objects

If the data is to be exported as a map objects the following Export Map Objects to Google Earth dialog is displayed:


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The export the selected objects as vectors select the Export selected objects (KML) option. In the following Export Map Objects to Google Earth dialog enter an Output Path and File Name. The number of objects is displayed in the Description window. To display a label next to each map object in Google Earth either enter a constant value or select a column in the browser such as Sample No or Hole ID.

Select an option to Position objects according to their height. Choose from the Google Earth terrain heights or enter a constant height value or select a field containing height values for each object. Select the browser columns to send across the Google Earth. The information from these fields can be displayed when an object is selected in Google Earth.

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4.

Click OK to view the map or objects in Google Earth.

MapInfo exported raster images or map objects are stored under Temporary Places in the Google Earth Places list as a MapInfo Saved View . Transparency can be applied to a map image using the slider bar at the bottom of this window. To Rename a view in Google Earth right-mouse click on the MapInfo Saved View and enter in a new name. Temporary views can be transferred to My Places so they will open up automatically next time Google Earth is started.

Discover Export Options A number of export options are available in Discover. The Discover>Import and Export menu can export a table as:


•

Surpac String File

•

Datamine ASCII File

•

MineSight SRG

•

Vulcan Archive

•

Profile Analyst EGB

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Convert Map to Registered Raster To capture and save a map window view as a registered raster image, use the Discover>Map Window>Convert Map to Registered Raster menu option. This enables the view to be opened in a new map window in the correct geographical space so other data can be overlain. This is a good way to subset data for use in Discover Mobile. World files can also be generated to enable registered rasters to be viewed in third party software packages that cannot read TAB files.

Make Movie or Animation The Discover>Map Window>Make Movie or Animation tool is designed to capture a series of different map window views which can be then be viewed as a continuous animation sequence within MapInfo. Alternatively, the animation sequence can be exported as a movie file which can be replayed through software such as Microsoft Windows Media Player. The utility can be used to enhance presentations by adding new data layers to a map window to show the exploration history of a project area or to show the relationship between local and regional exploration features.


6

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Selecting Selectin g and Querying Data Understanding Understanding “selections” is essential if you wish to work effectively with MapInfo. Because MapInfo works with its data as a database, you use selections of the data to assist in processing and analysis, much like any other database. A selection is a subset of a larger database, based on some criteria. The criteria may involve the spatial location of the data (for instance you could point at certain sample locations on the screen to select them) or one or more of the textual attributes of the data (for example, all assays over 10 ppm). The power of selections in MapInfo lies in the fact that, once you have made selections, you can perform operations on them. For example, you might select a number of sample locations based on grade, and then: •

save them to a new file

•

display them in a new map or browser

•

multiply them by a normalizing factor

•

graph them

•

change their graphical style

•

delete them

These are a small sample of the actions you could make on a selection. Many more will become apparent through this course. We will now explore various ways of making selections.

MapInfo Graphical Selection Methods Graphical selections are made using the selection tools on the Main Toolbar. Select tool is the most commonly used selection tool. Operate by point and click. Marquee Select draws a rectangle within which objects will be selected. Radius Select defines a circle within which objects will be selected. Polygon Select defines a polygon within which objects will be selected. Boundary Select selects objects within an existing polygon. Unselect All will unselect the current selection. Invert Selection selects the objects which are currently unselected and deselects those objects which are currently selected

Exercise 1

Experiment with the different map window selection tools available in MapInfo and Discover.

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1.

Open the AUSTRALIA workspace from the Encom Training\Workspace folder listed.

2.

Use the Select Tool to select the WA state polygon. Hold down the SHIFT key and select the SA state polygon. You will see that both states are now selected. You can select as many map objects as you like from the t he same table while holding down the SHIFT key and they will all remain selected. To deselect a map object simply click on the selected objected again.

3.

To deselect all the map objects use the Unselect All tool or Query>Unselect All.

4.

Use the + Zoom Tool to zoom in on a region in Western Australia. Use the Marquee , Radius and Polygon Select tools and observe what happens. The Marquee and Radius Select tools are click and drag whereas the Polygon Select tool is used by pointing and clicking to define a region around the objects to be selected. Note that the objects are selected from the t he first selectable layer in the Layer Control.

5.

Open the WA_EX table from the Encom Training\Darlot\Tenement folder. Zoom to this layer if not already visible in the map window using View Entire Layer.

6.

Select a few different tenements using the Select Tool. Notice that sometimes when you click on one tenement a number of other tenements are also selected. This type of map object is referred to as a Multi-Polygon. Although it is made up of a number of map objects it is still only linked to one record in the browser table. Other objects made up a number of map objects are Multi-Point, Multi-Line and Collections. A Collection is an object made up of different map objects, e.g. point and lines, polygons and lines or all three types.

7.

Highlight the WA_EX table in the Layer Control and press Display. Check the Show Centroids box and click OK twice. Repeat the previous step using the different multiple selection tools.

8.

While you are using the select tools note which layers the map objects are being selected from. How do you think you can select map objects from another layer when you keep selecting objects from the layer above?

9.

Zoom out so the whole of Australia is visible. Select the Boundary Select tool. Click on a state. What can you observe about the samples selected using this tool?

10.

While you still have samples selected from the above exercise choose the Invert Select tool to select all currently unselected unselected map objects from this layer and deselect those map objects currently selected.

Discover Graphical Selection Methods 11.

There is one additional selection tool available to select map objects. This utility allows you to select one map object and then select all the other map objects that have exactly the same or selected graphical attributes in common. Open the GEOLOGY table from the Encom Training\Darlot\Geology folder. You may like to turn off the visibility of some of the other layers to make the geology polygons easier to see.


12.

Exercise 2

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Select a geological polygon in the map window. Open the Discover>Map Window>Select by Graphical Styles tool. Leave all the defaults selected and click OK to see all the polygons with the same graphical attributes selected in the map window. Experiment with selecting different map objects by their graphical style in the current map window.

Viewing selections in a new map or browser window 1.

Select a number of geological polygons and choose the Window>New Browser Window menu option. Leave the Selection option highlighted and click OK. A new browser window is opened, showing only the records for the polygons selected in the map window.

2.

The title of the new browser window is called Query1.

3.

Select a number of geological polygons or deposits from the map window again and choose Selection in the Window>New Browser Window menu option. This current selection is now called Query2.

4.

Each time you make a selection from either the map or browser windows and open this selection into a new window it is assigned a consecutive Query number. This enables you to keep track of each selection made.

5.

Choose Window>New Map Window. In the pull-down list of available tables to display note there is listed Query1 and Query2. Choose Query1 and press OK.

6.

A new map showing only the geological polygons from the original selection are displayed.

Textual Selection Methods Another method of selecting data is by specifying criteria that the attributes of objects need to meet in order to be selected. For example, you may wish to select stream sediment samples where: •

The BLEG assay is over a certain value

•

The assay was analyzed by a particular laboratory

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•

The sample was collected by a particular geologist

•

The sample was collected during a specific time period

Discover has a utility which make textual or attribute querying very easy. The Select by Group utility allows you to list all the unique values in a specified column and select the records with the required values.

Exercise 3

Ensure you have the WA_EX table visible in a map window and press the Select by Group button on the Discover Toolbar or choose the Discover>Data Utilities>Select by Group menu option. Replicate the options in the pictured dialog above using the Holder_1 as the search column. Press Select to view a new map window containing all of the Newcrest Operations Ltd tenements. Rather than opening the above selection in a map window you could choose for the selection to be represented in a browser window or to zoom the current map window to the selected tenements. The Discover>Data Utilities>Table Split tool takes the Select by Group function a step further and can create separate tables containing objects with a unique attribute extracted from a source table.


Exercise 4

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In the Table Split dialog select the MINES table. This is the table we wish to split into a number of tables based on the state in which they are located. Populate the dialog as above and accept the default output options. Click OK to create and display the new tables.

Saving Selections MapInfo does not automatically save the results of queries produced from map or browser window selections. These queries are called Temporary Tables as they will be lost if all the tables are closed. They cannot even be saved to a workspace. The only way to save a selection from a map or browser window is through the File>Save Copy As option that enables the temporary table to be saved to a permanent native MapInfo table. When a temporary table is saved using this process the permanent table is not automatically opened in MapInfo nor is the temporary table just renamed. The new table must be opened into MapInfo using the File>Open command after creation. The File>Save Copy As command can also be used to save a copy of a permanent table or to save a table using a different projection.

The Query>Find Selection Tool The Query>Find Selection tool enables a user to select a map object or number of map objects in a map window and then display the corresponding browser records for the selection. The browser will be re-positioned to show the first selected entry at the top of the browser window. Alternatively, a browser record or number of browser records may be selected and their corresponding map objects will be highlighted in the map window. If one record is selected and the map object is not visible in the current map window view the window will be panned to display the map object in the centre of the map window. If a number of records are selected the map window will zoom to the extent of all the selected map objects.

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Exercise 5

1.

Display the WA_EX layer in the map window and zoom in on a couple of tenements. Open a browser window of the WA_EX and display both windows side by side.

2.

Select a tenement in the map window and choose Query>Find Selection to view the associated Browser record.

3.

Experiment with the Query>Find Selection tool by selecting tenements or browser records in each window.

4.

Select several tenements from the Browser window by holding down the SHIFT key and the choose Query>Find Selection to zoom to the extents of the selected tenements in the map window.

The Query>Find Tool The Query>Find can only be used on tables that have an indexed field. An indexed field is a field on which a copy of the table has been sorted alphabetically, numerically or chronologically and stored in an .IND file. Indexing a field speeds up querying as MapInfo can go straight to the records it needs rather than sorting the table each time. The Query>Find tool can only find one map object at a time so ideally the indexed field should contain unique values. If this is not the case another table can be used as a refining table so as to find the correct map object. Query>Find does not select the map object instead a marker is placed over the centroid of the map object in the Cosmetic Layer . Any available symbol may be used and these markers can be saved to a permanent table using the Map>Save Cosmetic Objects option. When entering the text to find you only need to enter the first few numbers or characters as MapInfo can display a list of available records to choose from.


Exercise 6

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1.

Set up the Query>Find command to search the WA_EX table and the Name column for the E3700637 and E3700673 tenement boundaries. (make sure to enter two spaces between E and the number).

2.

Open the MIN DEPOSITS table from the Encom Training>Australia folder into the current map window. Select Table>Maintenance>Table Structure and choose the MIN DEPOSITS table. In the Modify Table Structure check the Indexed box next to Deposit_Name . Click OK to save the changes.

3.

Use the Query>Find tool to find the Claude Hills mineral deposit.

4.

Upon completion of this exercise use the Map>Clear Cosmetic Layer to remove the Query>Find marker symbols.

The Query>Select Tool In the Query menu of MapInfo you will see that there are two separate selection menu items - Query>Select and Query>SQL Select. What is the difference between the two commands? The SQL Select command can do everything that the Select command is capable of and a lot more, while the Select command is designed for very simple select queries where you wish to return multiple results from a single table.

1.

Select the table to query from the pull-down list.

2.

Enter an expression directly into the “that satisfy” window or click on the Assist button to display the Expression dialog. An expression may be comprised of a column field and a constant/s (specific data values) or a function.

The Expression dialog contains three pull-down lists to help you to design a query: •

•

•

Columns - displays all the fields in the selected table Operators – used to determine how the data in a column is to be selected or modified Functions – perform an operation on data values in a column to produce a new value

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The Select command does not allow joins between two or more tables, the creation of new fields in the query browser for data aggregation or the selection of returning only selected fields in the query browser. As the Select utility uses the same syntax as that used in the SQL Select dialog we will show you how to query data using the Query>SQL Select Tool.

The Query>SQL Select Tool The SQL Select dialog may contain up to six components in any SQL statement, however it is often unnecessary to fill in all of the sections in the dialog.

From Tables

The first step in creating an SQL query is to choose the Table(s) we wish to work with. This is done by selecting a table from the Tables pull down list in the top right of the dialog. We can work with more than one table in an SQL query, however if we do then each table must be separated by a comma. When you select a table from the table list MapInfo will automatically automatically list the columns for that table under the Columns pull down list. Select Columns

The Select Columns area is where we specify which columns we want returned in the results query table. When the SQL Select dialog first appears, this section contains a single asterisk (*). The asterisk indicates that all of the columns from the base table(s) will be included in the results table. If you only want a selection of the columns to be returned then you can delete the asterisk and replace it with a list of the column names you require. The list of column names must match the names of the column in the base table and they must be separated by a comma. You can choose the column names by selecting them from the Columns pull-down list on the right. Some functions and aggregates performed on data values in a column are entered here along with any alias names for columns. Where Condition

The Where Condition area is where we specify filtering conditions for the query. For example, if we want to select only samples with Cu values greater than 10000 ppm in a given table then the Where Condition box would contain the following statement:


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Cu > 10000 The resulting query will contain only those records that satisfy this criterion. If we needed to select data from two or more tables, then we must also specify the criteria for how these tables are to be joined together so that the required information is correctly matched between the separate tables. MapInfo allows us to join tables that have either a common attribute field or common graphic object. Group by Columns

The Group by Columns section allows us to perform aggregate functions such as sub-totals, averages, averages , or counts. If you place the name of a column in this control then any rows in the table that have identical data value in this column are grouped together as one record. Grouping rows together is often used in conjunction with other aggregate functions placed in the Select Columns section. Order by Columns

The Order by Columns section is used to set the order in which records appear in the resulting query. The order by field can be used to present data in ascending, descending or even multi-level nested order. Into Table Named

You can specify a name for the resulting query table by typing a name of your choice into the box. If the box contains the word Selection , then the resulting query will be called Selection. If that selection is used used in any way way (i.e. in a browser) it will be automatically automatically renamed renamed QUERY1, QUERY2, QUERY2, etc. If you have changed the name of the query table you must make sure you change it back to Selection or enter another name before performing another query otherwise the information in the previous query will be overwritten. Save and Load Template

The save and load template button allows a complex SQL query to be saved and reloaded to enable use at a later date or so the SQL query can be shared and distributed to other users.

Basic SQL Syntax When selecting records from a table based on constant data values in a column there are certain conventions that must be used. When querying character or text fields the string value selected as a constant should be enclosed in quotations. quotations. Numerical data values should not be contained within quotations or have thousands separators, currency symbols or any other characters other than numerals, decimal points or minus signs. For Example: Holder_1 (Column) Cu (Column)

= (Operator) >= (Operator)

“Plutonic Operations Ltd” (Constant) 10000 (Constant)

Note that dates may be expressed in 2 or 4 digits and should be enclosed in double quotations. Dates may be separated by hyphens or slashes.

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Wildcards

Instead of entering an entire string clause wildcards may be used. Enter a string or clause preceded or followed by a % to return all records that contain the clause regardless of any other data in the column entry. For example, to return all PLUTONIC tenements including those held by Plutonic (Baxter) Pty Ltd and Plutonic Operations Ltd create an expression like this: Holder_1 like “Plutonic%” Operators

There are four main types of operators: •

Mathematical operators such as +, -, *, /

•

String operators such as + to concatenate (join) (join) two text strings together

•

•

•

Comparison operators such as =, <>, >, <, >=, <= These operators can also be used with character strings which will be treated as alphabetically alphabetically greater or less than. For logical data format columns such as the OBJ column which contains information on whether a browser record has an associated map object the logical comparisons can used. To select all those records which have a map object (T) simply enter the column name OBJ. To return all records without an associated map object enter Not OBJ. Geographical operators – see section on SQL Queries for detailed description of these operators Logical operators such as AND, OR, NOT can be used to combine expressions. A record will either be true/false for each expression and those that satisfy all criteria will be returned in the results query. For example:

Holder_1 like “PLUTONIC OPERATIONS LTD.” OR Holder_1 like “NEWCREST OPERATIONS LTD” and Type like “Application” Keywords

Keywords are designed to make it easier to select multiple entries without having to use the logical comparisons and enter each data value separately. •

•

•

Any – select any item in a list of selected items. Name = any(“Granite”, “Volcanic”, “Igneous”) “Igneous”) Can also substitute “in” for “= any” to get the same result. All – used mainly to select all records apart from those listed. Type <> all (“Granted”, “Moratorium”) Can also substitute “not in” for “<> all” to get the same result. Between – use to select a range of numeric or alphabetical values between two data values. Number between 10 and 500 will return all Cu values between 10 and 500 ppm in the results query.

Functions

As mentioned previously, Functions take data values and perform an operation in order to produce a new value. Functions generally take the following format: FunctionName (Function Parameters)


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There may be one or two parameters which need to be set in order to use a Function correctly. Some Functions query map object parameters in order to return information such as the area, perimeter, length, centroid X and Y coordinates of that map object. When querying this type of data the column used is the OBJ column which will be available for selection in the column pull-down list for every mappable table. Some of the more commonly used Functions in exploration may include: •

Area(obj, unit)

Calculate Area of a region/polygon

•

CentroidX(obj)

Return Centroid X of map object

•

CentroidY(obj)

Return Centroid Y of map object

•

Distance(x1,y1,x2,y2, Distance(x1,y1,x2,y2, units)

Calculate distance between two points

•

Format$(value, pattern)

Format numeric data with characters $,.(),% etc

•

Instr(position,string,sub Instr(position,string,substring) string)

Search a string for a text substring

•

ObjectLen(obj, unit)

Calculate length of lines and polylines

•

Perimeter(obj, unit)

Calculate perimeter for regions, ellipses, rectangles and rounded rectangles

•

Round(number1, number2)

Round number1 by the number of places designated by number2

See MapInfo User Guide Appendix D for more information on creating query expressions. Exercise 7

Create the following simple expressions in the where Condition of the Query>SQL Select dialog: •

All WA_EX application tenements held by Newmont

•

All MINES with a tonnage > 10000

•

All MINES with a tonnage > 10000 with Au as the primary commodity

•

•

•

•

All MINES with a tonnage > 10000 with Au as the primary commodity in Western Australia All WA_EX tenements which have a tenement status of “L” sorted by Tenement Name All WA_EX tenements that expire between 01/01/07 and 31/12/07 sorted by Holder_1 All MINES which have Cu, Pb or Zn as the primary commodity

Close all currently open tables on completion of this exercise.


7

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Create Tables and Map Objects In this chapter we will look at how to create and modify the appearance of spatial map objects along with storing attribute data with map objects. We will also look at how to create a native MapInfo table and add data fields for attribute data to and the different data formats available. In the first exercise we will demonstrate demonstrate how to create map objects and modify their appearance. In the later exercises we will use a real-world example involving a scanned geological map containing tenement boundaries, mine and deposit locations, faults and geological boundaries to create four MapInfo tables with both map objects and attribute data.

Create Map Objects As mentioned previously, a map layer in MapInfo may be made up of the following types of map objects: •

Point – defined by a single XY coordinate pair

•

Line – has a start and an end point only

•

Polyline – consists of multiple nodes joined together, has a length but no area

•

Arc – has a start and end point and angle

•

Region – a closed polyline that has an area and perimeter

•

•

Ellipse, Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle – has a width and height, cannot be projected Text – has start and end points and an angle, to define a bounding rectangle

MapInfo Drawing Toolbar

All of the MapInfo drawing tools are located on the Drawing Toolbar. Exercise 1

Experiment with using the various MapInfo map object drawing tools and editing the created objects. 1.

Open the DRAWING_DEMO table from the Encom Training\Miscellaneous folder. This table is designed purely to practice creating and modifying map objects and using some of the MapInfo and Discover object editing tools and is in non-earth metres coordinates.

2.

Make the DRAWING DEMO table editable in the Layer Control or ELC.

3.

Select the Symbol tool from the Drawing Toolbar and place a point in the map window. To change the symbol type, colour, size or rotation angle select the map object(s) and click on the Symbol Style? toolbar button.

4.

For individual map objects simply double-click on the point map object to bring up the appropriate Style dialog. Note the information displayed for the

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different map objects, i.e. polygons show area and perimeter information, lines show length, etc. 5.

Experiment with creating map objects using the other drawing tools and changing their style using the appropriate style buttons.

6.

See what happens when you hold down the SHIFT key while creating line and polygon map objects.

Moving, Deleting and Copying Map Objects Delete map objects by selecting them and pressing Delete on the keyboard. Alternatively, use the Edit>Clear menu option. This will remove both the map object and any associated attribute data. If you want to just remove the map object but retain the browser record use the Edit>Clear Map Objects Only option. To move a map object select the object(s) and then hold down the left-mouse button and drag the object to a new location. To copy a map object select the object and press the Copy button on the main toolbar. Press the Paste button and another map object is created directly over the top of the original object. Use the left-mouse button to drag the new map object to its new location. You can also copy and paste map objects between different layers in the same map window.

Re-scaling and Rotating Map Objects To re-scale a map object click on the object and observe the four black squares that appear around the object. These black squares represent the minimum bounding rectangle of the object (the object extents) and if you click on one of these squares with the left mouse button and drag you will find that the object is then re-scaled to fit within the new minimum bounding rectangle. To rotate a map object click on the black star that appears to the bottom right of the minimum bounding rectangle squares. If you hold down the left-mouse button you can then rotate the map object to the desired position.

Reshaping and Adding Nodes to Map Objects To reshape a map object make sure it is selected and click on the Display Nodes button in the Drawing Toolbar. You can then select a node and drag it to the new position. To add a new node select the Add Node button (you must have nodes already displayed) and click along the polyline or region where you want to add the new node. You can then drag this node to the correct position.

Snap Mode, AutoTrace and AutoNode To make adjacent map objects fit together seamlessly it is often necessary to have common node boundaries. Press S on the keyboard to activate Snap mode toggle. Snap mode enables you to create a node in one object at the exact same position as a node on another object by “Snapping” to the node on the second object. To turn off Snap mode, press S on the keyboard again. By snapping to nodes line segments and polygon sides aligned without gaps or overlaps. To trace complex existing polylines or polygons node for node use the MapInfo AutoTrace feature. Instead of snapping to each individual node to create a seamless join between two or more objects, whole object segments can be traced easily and quickly. Press T on the keyboard to activate AutoTrace toggle. To turn off AutoTrace , press T on the keyboard again. Select the Polyline or Polygon drawing tool and click on an object to trace. Hold the cursor over the last node to


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trace and you should be able to observe the traced nodes which are highlighted along the object. Click to create the traced line and either finish creating the map object or move to the next object to trace along. See the exercise in this section relating to digitizing geological boundaries for AutoTrace example. When digitizing complex polylines and polygons over a scanned image for example, the AutoNode utility can be used. Press N on the keyboard to activate AutoNode toggle. To turn off AutoNode , press N on the keyboard again. Click in the map window and move the cursor over the polyline or polygon to trace.

Create MapInfo Table When you create a MapInfo table (a table is a type of database) you define columns or fields to hold data. Data is then added to the table as a series of rows or records. You also need to indicate what type of data each column is going to contain. The following data types are available: Character

Alpha-numeric characters/text characters/ text

Up to 254 characters

Small Integer

Positive/negative Positive/ negative whole numbers

Up to +/- 32,767

Integer

Positive/negative Positive/ negative whole numbers

Up to +/- 2,147,483,647

Float

Positive/negative numbers – varying Width and number of decimal places

Decimal

Specified width & number of decimal Places

Date

Date – format dependent on Operating System eg. dd/mm/yyyy

Logical

True/False, Yes/No

Aside from determining what fields and data type a table will have you will need to also specify the projection if the table is to contain map objects. Exercise 2

Create new table containing rock chip sample locations and display in a map window 1.

Select File>New Table to display the New Table dialog.

2.

Check the Open New Mapper and Create New from the Table Structure options. If you had another table open and you wanted to copy the structure of this table into the new table you can select the Using Table option. Press the Create button to open the New Table Structure dialog.

3.

In the second New Table Structure dialog create the following table fields.

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To create a field press the Add Field button and enter a name in the Field Information area. Select the data type to be stored in the column from the Type pull-down list. Make sure that field names do not contain spaces, punctuation marks or begin with a number. 4.

Press the Projection button. Select the Longitude/Latitude Category and Longitude/Latitude (AGD 84) Sub-Category.

5.

Press Create and name the new table ROCKCHIP SAMPLES

6.

A blank ROCKCHIP SAMPLES map window is displayed. Open the table into a browser window and manually enter in the following information:

Sample No

Geo

Au

As

Longitude

Latitude

CV-100

WSD

50

20

121.3051

-27.5607

CV-101

WSD

100

50

121.3267

-27.5954

CV-102

IMH

75

40

121.3548

-27.59

CV-103

IMH

10

2

121.3605

-27.5982

To add a new row to the browser window select Edit>New Row or use CRTL-E from the keyboard. Left mouse click in the first row and enter the sample number. To move to the next column, use the TAB key. Move back to the previous column with a SHIFT-TAB keystroke combination, or by clicking in the column with your left mouse button. 7.

Once all the attribute data has been entered use the Table>Create Points menu option to create map objects.

8.

Using the Symbol button click at a location within the tenement boundary boundary where these rockchip samples are located and enter some attribute data into the browser record.

9.

Save the table using File>Save Table upon completion of this exercise and close all currently open windows.


Exercise 3

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Digitize a new tenement and add to an existing tenement table. Update attribute data with tenement name, company and tenement area. 1.

2.

Open the SYLANIA_SCANNED SYLANIA_SC ANNED registered image from the Encom Training\Miscellaneous folder into a map window. Overlay the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS table from the Encom Training\Sylvania\Tenements folder. Make sure the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS table is editable. As the E52/1354 tenement has a common boundary with tenement E52/1083 it is best to select nodes where both polygons intersect in order to create seamless joins between the two tenement objects. Click on the E52/1083 polygon and turn on the Reshape icon to view the polygon nodes. Note that there is no node where the top left hand corner of the E52/1354 tenement intersects this polygon. To insert a node at this intersection click on the Add Nodes icon and then click on this intersection. When finished click on the Reshape icon again to remove the polygon show nodes view.

3.

To digitize the E52/1354 tenement tenement from the screen first click the S key on the keyboard. This activates “Snap” mode which enables the cursor to create objects by snapping to existing nodes. With snap mode activated select the Polygon tool from the Drawing Toolbar. Place the cursor over the top left hand corner of the E52/1354 tenement and when the large cross-hairs appear denoting that the cursor is snapped to an existing node, click with the left mouse button. Continue clicking in a clockwise direction and double-mouse click to close the polygon.

4.

Use the Info Tool and click on the E52/1354 tenement and enter the tenement name and the current date.

5.

Select Table>Maintenance>Table Structure and choose the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS table. Add two new fields called Company (Character 50) and Area (Float). Note that when the table structure has been modified that the layer is removed from all map window and browser window views. Use Layer Control>Add Layer to add the tenement layer back into the map window.

6.

Make the table editable and use the Table>Update Column menu option to update the Company field with “Sylvania Resources Ltd”.

7.

With the Select Tool active double-click with the left mouse button in a tenement to bring up the Region Object dialog. This contains information about the polygon object such as minimum and maximum X and Y bounds, area and perimeter information and the region style. Click OK. Instead of finding out what the area of each polygon is manually we can update our Area field in the tenements table with this information using using the Table>Update Column menu option. Enter the details below:

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Exercise 4

8.

Finally, right-mouse right-mouse click on the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS layer in the ELC window and choose Select All from the pop-up menu. Click on the Region Style button and choose the following pattern:

9.

Save the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS SYLVANIA_TEN EMENTS table and close table. Leave the SYLVANIA_SCANNED image open.

Select data according to structural type and modify line style. 1.

Overlay the SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE table from the Encom Training\Sylvania\Structure folder on the SYLVANIA_SCANNED image. Make the SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE table editable.

2.

Open a browser view and note that there are two types of structure data: Faults and Quartz veins. Use the Query>Select command to create a query to extract all of the FAULT records.

3.

With the FAULT records selected click back in the map window and then choose the Line Style icon from the Drawing Toolbar. Change the line style to a dashed line of thickness 3 pixels. Click OK to view the changes.

4.

Click on the Unselect tool to deselect the fault lines.

5.

Select the Discover>Data Utilities>Select by Group utility. This utility allows you to select all records from a field in a table which have the same attribute.

6.

Select the StructureID column and highlight the Quartz Vein attribute. Make sure the Browse Selection option is checked and click the Select button.


Exercise 5

7.

With the QUARTZ records selected click back in the map window and then choose the Line Style icon from the Drawing Toolbar. Click on the Linestyle icon and change the linestyle to a suitable colour, linestyle and thickness. Click OK.

8.

Click on the Unselect tool to deselect the quartz veins.

9.

How long is the fault line that passes through the Sunny South Gold Mine?

10.

Save the SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE SYLVANIA_ST RUCTURE table and close table. Leave the SYLVANIA_SCANNED image open.

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Digitize new mineral deposits and add to an existing table. Update attribute data with tenement name, X and Y coordinate locations and mineral deposit type. 1.

Overlay the SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS SYLVANIA_D EPOSITS table from the Encom Training\Sylvania\Mineral Occurrences folder on the SYLVANIA_SCANNED SYLVANIA_SCANNED image. Make the SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS table editable.

2.

Digitize the remaining two mines - Pilliwinkle Gold Mine and Coobina Chromite Mine. Digitize the remaining two prospects - Kullamulla North and North End. Enter the name of each deposit into the Deposit_Name field and the deposit type into the Deposit_Type field.

3.

Query all the map objects with a “Mine” attribute and choose an appropriate symbol using the Point Style icon. Hint: The Encom installed font ET GeoExplore contains many commonly used exploration symbols. Repeat this procedure for the “Prospect” map objects.

4.

Select the Discover>Data Utilities>Update Coordinates menu option. This option extracts the X and Y centroid coordinates of map objects in a specified projection and either updates existing columns in a table or adds two new columns. In the Update Coordinates dialog select the following options:

Leave the Projection set to Auto. This means that the coordinates added to the table will be in the native table projection. ie. AMG Zone 54 (AGD 84). The Mapper>Browser update mode will extract the centroid X and Y of the mineral deposits and add to the browser window.

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Select New Column from the X Coordinate pull-down list and assign the name “X”. Repeat this procedure for the Y Coordinate field. Click OK and add the modified layer into the current map window. View the new coordinate fields in the browser window. 5.

Open the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS SYLVANIA_TEN EMENTS table from the Encom Training\Sylvania\Tenements folder. To determine which tenement each mine or prospect is located within we can use the Discover>Data Utilities>Assign Utilities>Assign Values utility. The Assign Values utility uses the spatial relationship between map objects in order to update fields in one table according to information derived from data in another table. Complete the Assign Values dialog as shown below and click OK:

The Container in this example is the tenement polygon and the Contents refer to the mineral deposit point locations which lie within the tenement. The Tenement_Name from the TENEMENTS table is assigned to the Tenement field of the Deposits table for each of the mineral deposits according to the tenement that they are located within.

Deleting and Renaming Tables If you need to delete or rename a MapInfo table, then you should use the MapInfo Table>Maintenance>Rename and Delete commands. Every file that comprises the table needs to be renamed or deleted, not just the .TAB file. If you move a table using Windows Explorer, make sure all of the associated files are moved as well or the table will not open and you may lose data.

Packing Tables Occasionally you may need to ‘pack’ a table, an operation, which removes “redundant” space from the table and improves the speed with which MapInfo redraws and processes information. When records are deleted from a browser although the data is removed the records are still part of the table and display as “greyed out” records. These records still take up space and table size may be dramatically reduced by removing these records. Packing is required after the map objects in a table are edited or attribute data is deleted but packing can also be beneficial just to ensure your data is optimised. Use the Table>Maintenance>Pack menu item to compact data tables. To pack more than one table at a time, use the Discover>Table Utilities>MultiPack utility.

Map Making Tools

8

97

Map Making Tools The Layout Window The Layout window is where you arrange and annotate the contents of one or several windows windows for printing. It represents a page page size that is set using File>Page Setup…. Depending on what type of printer you are sending it to, page sizes can be set from A4 to A0. To open a Layout window go to Window > New Layout Window…

The user has the choice of which map window they would like to see in the new Layout window. Click OK. If No Frames are chosen, a blank Layout is displayed.

To add a Mapper or Browser to the Layout choose the yellow frame tool in the Drawing Tool bar. Using the left mouse, click and drag the approximate area where you would like to see your map. The following dialogue appears.

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If you want to produce your map to scale, uncheck the Fill Frame with Contents box, as this will differ from the representation in the Mapper. Type in the required scale and click OK. Any open window can be displayed in the Layout in the same manner. To alter the scale of your map, double click the on the framed object and type in a new scale. The Layout can be used to set up plan templates. Instead of opening a new Layout window, a Workspace is opened that displays a border, frames, title block, north point etc. The contents of the required Mappers and Browsers are added, the Workspace is then saved off as another name or number. Note

A Layout can only be saved and reopened in a Workspace.

Create a Map using Scaled Output Discover>Scaled Output

Insert a correctly sized and scaled frame of the front map window (with map grid) into a layout, optionally using a layout from an existing workspace. Alternatively use a mapsheet boundary to size and scale the frame. Additional frames for scalebar and titleblock are added to the layout. The Discover Scaled Output function gives you a wizard-style interface to simplify the creation of hard-copy output from a map window. Step 1 – Select the output map scale and paper size required Step 2 – Specify map grid parameters Step 3 – Specify titleblock parameters Step 4 – Save the map and exit.

There are two ways in which the area to be displayed in the layout is chosen and each method affects how Scaled Output works. If you choose a map scale and a frame size, Discover places a temporary map sheet rectangle on the map which is the size of the map sheet that you have specified. You can then move t he map sheet rectangle until it is correctly positioned. This method provides maximum flexibility. Alternatively, you can create a region yourself, select it and use Scaled Output to automatically resize the map view to this area. With the second method you can easily create multiple printed maps covering standard areas.

Map Making Tools

Exercise 1

99

Create a scaled output map with a map grid, titleblock and scalebar. 1.

Open the following tables from the folder Encom Training\Sylvania into a map window: SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS, SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS, SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS, SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS, SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE, SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE, SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE_ANNO SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE_ANNO and SYLVANIA_GEOLOGY

2.

Turn on the Auto-Labels for the SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS table by clicking on the Label button. Select Overlapping text and change the font to 10 point bold with a white halo. Offset labels to 8 points.

3.

Turn on the Auto-Labels for the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS table by clicking on the Label button. Select Overlapping text and change the font to 10 point bold with a white halo. Change the colour to Dark Brown and Offset labels to 2 points. Once the labels are created move them to the desired location in the tenement.

4.

Select the menu Discover >Scaled Output or press the Scaled Output button on the Discover toolbar. The Scaled Output dialog is displayed:

With the Discover Scaled Output feature, you are asked to nominate an output scale and a paper size.

WARNING

5.

Select 1:100,000 from the pop down list of map scales, and A4 Landscape as the paper size. Note that Discover lets you know how big the map will be on paper as well as the area covered on the ground. Press OK.

6.

Discover now draws a rectangle in your map window. For this exercise, the rectangle represents the area covered by a 1:100,000 map on A4 paper. Discover has placed the rectangle in the middle of the map. You can position it as desired by clicking on the rectangle to select it and then dragging it with the Select tool.

Be careful not to resize the rectangle. This would happen if you clicked on one of the four black squares at the rectangles corners. 7.

When the rectangle is correctly positioned over the area you wish to plot, choose Scale Output>Accept Map Position from the Scaled Output menu (this menu has been added to the menu bar to the right of the Discover menu item).

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Overlay Map Grid After defining the position and size of the map area to use, Discover prompts for coordinate grid parameters. The default parameters always produce a grid with a suitable line spacing, but you may wish to modify these parameters to: •

•

Alter line spacing Use a different coordinate system (e.g. Place Lat/long grid lines and labels on a UTM map)

•

Change the appearance of lines, crosses and edge ticks

•

Change the label appearance or labeling frequency

•

Display labels in a mask around the edge of the map

•

Display multiple coordinate grids (e.g. Lat/long and UTM grids together)

8.

Accept the default grid spacing and check the Place labels in mask polygon outside map frame. Click the Save As button and save the Map Grid as SYLVANIA_MAPGRID in the Encom Training\Working folder.

Map Making Tools

101

Add Titleblock and Scalebar After the coordinate grid has been generated and placed onto the map, Discover prompts you for details to insert into the titleblock. The titleblock is displayed as a separate frame within the layout window. The titleblock is stored as a template in a non-earth “cm” based table and can be customised. The dialog displayed for data entry of titleblock details depends upon how the titleblock table is customised. Discover ships with a simple titleblock that allows you to enter details for Title, Author, Office and so on. Other details such as date, scale and the coordinate system used for the map are inserted automatically. The titleblock also includes a scalebar that shows the scale in the current distance units used in the map. The scalebar can be drawn in one of 6 formats including types suited to either metric or imperial measurement systems. ScaleBar 1 Format

ScaleBar 2 Format

ScaleBar 3 Format

You can modify the appearance of the titleblock to include a company logo or additional details such as Project, Workspace Name, etc. This process is described in Appendix A – Titleblock Customising in the Discover Reference Manual .

9.

Click the Titleblock Save As button and save the titleblock as Training\Working folder. SYLVANIA_TITLEBLOCK in the Encom Training\Working

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WARNING

10.

When titleblock titlebloc k details have been entered, click OK and the scalebar and titleblock are drawn. A layout window is opened and the map frame is inserted. You can then position the map and titleblock frames for legends, overview maps etc.

11.

Select File>Page Setup and enter the correct printer and page size. This will show the correct page size in the Layout window. See Options>Preferences>Printer for setting up a default MapInfo Printer and page size. To print this layout make sure the Layout window is the active window and select File>Print.

12.

You should end Scaled Output by selecting the Scaled Output>Exit Scaled Output menu item and saving a workspace. The layout window can be only be saved as part of a workspace. Save the current workspace as Training\Working folder. SYLVANIA_MAP.wor SYLVANIA_MAP.wor in the Encom Training\Working

Discover re-uses the same file for the Autogrid, Titleblock and Scalebar each time you run Scaled Output. If you already have one of these files open Discover prompts you to save these tables with a new name before continuing. If you do not save the tables with a new name the existing files will be overwritten. When you exit Scaled Output you will also be prompted to save these temporary tables, as well as a workspace. If you do not wish to save the map, simply ignore these these prompts. Points to note regarding Scaled Output: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

The “Set Map Position” button allows you to type in an x, y coordinate pair and have the map frame aligned about that point (one of the corners or centre of map). If you change the view (pan or zoom) in any of the map windows after accepting the map position, the map scale and appearance of the map in the Layout window will be altered. If scaled output is still running, you can use Scaled Output > Restore Map Window menu option to restore the map to the correct aspect ratio and scale. If any polygon is currently selected in the front map window when Scaled Output is run, the dimensions of this polygon are used to size the map window. The selected polygon does not need to be a regular shape like a map-sheet. You can use the MapInfo Set Clip Region command with Scaled Output to quickly produce a plot of just that map data which lies within a given tenement. If the layout appears to not be positioned correctly on the layout frame, check the printer that you have installed. The paper size must correspond to the choice used in the Scaled Output setup. If you find that only a portion of your map is plotted, then you should consider increasing the amount of RAM in the plotter, or writing the layout window to a plot file (which uses the computer hard disk for storage). When running Scaled Output on a dataset that takes a long time to redraw the screen, use the ESC key to interrupt the MapInfo redraw. Be careful not to cancel from dialogs for map grid and titleblock details. Alternatively, set complex or large layers to invisible until ready to print.

Map Making Tools

•

•

•

•

103

Use the Page Settings dialog to define other frame sizes such as oversized A0 for large maps, or wide margin A4 and A3 for printing small maps on large format printers (with large non-printing margins). If you find that the resulting map is not exactly at the scale you choose, check the following: Double click on the layout window. Is the scale correct? If not enter the correct value. MapInfo sometimes rounds numbers off and thus instead of 10 km, you might have 10.0001 km Do a calibration plot from the plotter. Over time, the plotter can require recalibration.

Create Map Legend To make a simple legend to add to a map window, use the MapInfo Map>Create Legend tool. This legend will create one map object for each unique map style in the tables nominated to display in the legend. The legend can also display text for map objects from a selected column. The legend window created using this method is not a true MapInfo table and can only be edited by double-clicking in the legend window. Exercise 2

Create a simple map legend and add to layout window. 1.

Select Map>Create Legend from the MapInfo menu bar.

2.

Add the tables listed above to the Legend Frames window and click Next.

3.

In the Create Legend – Step 3 of 3 click on the SYLVANIA_DEPOSITS table in the Legend Frames. Enter Map Legend as the Title and check the unique map styles control. Label Styles with the Deposit_Type column.

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4.

Delete the Title for the SYLVANIA_STRUCTURE SYLVANIA _STRUCTURE table legend and Label Styles with the StructureID field.

5.

Delete the Title for the SYLVANIA_TENEMENTS table and leave the default

Encom Discover 2D Complete Training

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