VIEWING MAPS USING THE NATMAP RASTER VIEWER

Overview Map Pane Moving around the map Accessing help and the Web Changing Layers Map Windows Window control buttons Coordinate Display Exporting Printing

VIEWING A MAP - OVERVIEW

The following image shows the appearance of the view a map screen.

The screen contains windows, buttons and text boxes. This section provides an overview of the screen. Subsequent sections provide more detail about each button, text box, etc.

The screen is divided into two broad areas: the right pane that displays the map, and the left pane that contains controls. These are called the map pane and the tools pane respectively.

The map pane contains:

• the main image of the map
• a blue cross hair that marks the centre point of the map
• two overlay windows: the Locator window and the Magnifier window

(the three other overlay and popup windows - Map Information, Legend, and Climate - are not shown in the example). More information about these windows is available in the Map Windows page.
• the current map name and sheet number displayed at the top right of the screen for the appropriate layer you are viewing. Note that the Satellite Image layer in the Mosaic displays the 1:250,000 scale map name and number.
• the icons for the pan, zoom, click-pan, and zoom-to-extents tools at the top left of the screen.

The tools pane is split into vertical sections.
At the top is the select-a-map graphic that allows you to return to the Select Map mode.
In the middle of the left pan are a series of buttons and text boxes. From top to bottom these are:

• buttons to show or hide the locator, magnifier or map information window, and the centre marker
• buttons that select the type of position information: latitude/longitude or grid; its format: decimal degrees or degrees/minutes/seconds; and the datum for the co-ordinate system: GDA or AGD for lat/long, MGA or AMG for grid
• text boxes to display the position information
• buttons to export or print the entire map or the current map view.

To maximise the clarity of the map, check that you have optimised your screen colour settings. You should also refer to the note on image clarity for other tips on improving the display of the map.

THE MAP PANE TOGGLE BUTTON        

The fraction of the screen used by map image can be increased by hiding the left pane. To hide the left pane of the map screen, click on the icon at the top left side of the map screen.

The icon acts as a toggle: one click hides the left pane. Another click un-hides the left pane.

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MOVING AROUND A MAP

At the top left side of the map pane are four buttons with icons. These buttons are used to select particular modes. When the cursor is over the map display area, its shape is determined by which mode has been selected.

The Zoom to Extents tool   

The Zoom to Extents button will cause the map to be redisplayed showing its full extents. The map sheet will fill the map display window.

The Hand-Pan Tool   

Clicking on this tool selects Hand-Pan mode. To pan the map, place the mouse over the map, press and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the mouse in the direction you wish the map to pan. To complete the pan, release the left mouse button.

Notes :

• It is possible to drag the map completely off the screen. To relocate the map into the viewable area, use the Zoom to Extents button described below. 
• This tool only allows panning on a single map sheet. To move to another map sheet, use the click-pan method described below, or select the desired map using the select map methods.

You can switch from Pan mode to Zoom mode temporarily by pressing both the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously, or by pressing the shift key followed by the left mouse button.

The Zoom Tool   

Clicking on this tool selects Zoom mode. To increase the zoom of the map, place the mouse over the map and press and hold down the left mouse button.  Move the icon towards the bottom of the screen. As the mouse moves the map will zoom. When the map has been zoomed enough, release the mouse button. The map will now refresh itself and show greater detail. There may be a short pause as additional image data is read from the CD and decompressed. To zoom out drag the icon towards the top of the screen.

Note that even in zoom mode, the map will recentre onto the position you clicked.

You can switch from Zoom mode to Pan mode temporarily by pressing both the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously, or by pressing the shift key followed by the left mouse button.

This style of Zoom tool is standard to all ER Mapper applications. No Zoom Box tool, which is the more common style of Zoom tool used in Windows applications, is available as yet with the standard ER Mapper software developers kit which was used in developing the NATMAP Raster Viewer. At some point in the future ER Mapper may include the Zoom Box tool in their software developers kit, in which case it will be added to the NATMAP Raster Viewer.

Click-Pan and Panning from Map to Map

Clicking on this icon selects Pointer mode, which is used to:

• obtain the position of locations on the map;
• click-pan mode
.

In Click-Pan mode, clicking on the map will cause the map to be panned so that the clicked point is now the centre of the map (as indicated by the blue cross hair).

In Mapsheets, if you click on a point that is beyond the edges of the current map region then a new map will be loaded that contains the clicked location. The new map will be at the same zoom level as the previous view and will be centred on the clicked point. There is no difference between the Click-Pan tool and the Hand-Pan tool for Mosaic images, as there is only one image to be loaded.

Click-Pan is intended to make it easy to pan the map to follow a feature such as a road or river. Simply click on a point on the road or river you wish to follow and the map will be centred over the clicked position. For Mapsheets layers, if the river or road moves off the current map simply click on the blank spot next to the current map and the neighbouring map will be loaded in the position that you clicked.

Click-Pan is also provided by the Locator and Magnifier windows. Clicking on the maps within the Magnifier and Locator windows causes the map that matches the clicked point's location to be loaded in the main map view, centred on the clicked point. In this way the magnifier and locator windows can be used to select and load a new map.

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HOW TO ACCESS ON-LINE AND HELP DOCUMENTS

In the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, there are four links to on-line and help documents:

	Clicking on the BASIC HELP text will open a new window with the Quick Help Guide. This page contains an overview of basic searching and viewing tools.
	Clicking on the USER GUIDE text will open a new window with this User Guide.
	Clicking on the BUY MAP text will open a new window which links to the on-line NATMAP Retailers page on the Geoscience Australia website. You can find your nearest NATMAP retailer using this tool. You will need an Internet connection for this tool to work.
	Clicking on the NATMAP logo will take you to the Geoscience Australia web site. You will need an Internet connection for this tool to work.