Inserting a Map
Last updated
Last updated
The chart displays data plotted on a map to show data against geographical location. Examples of Maps include airline flight numbers by city and flight delays between cities. The Map chart shows bars at locations, and optionally provides links/arcs between locations.
A map requires a data table with a field that corresponds to locations. The data is aggregated on location and displayed over a map with bars positioned based on the locations. The height of the bar is based on a count of the items aggregated to the location, or the sum of another numeric field in the same table.
The location must be mapped to a position on the map; this is typically done by a geo-code, a pair of latitude and longitude. The mapping of location to geo-code may be done using a separate mapping table. ADVIZOR Analyst comes with a number of mappings and others may be added. Alternatively, the data table may already include latitude and longitude fields.
In the Author Ribbon, click on the "Add New Chart" button (under Pick Charts) and click Map.
Click the configuration button to display the ADVIZOR Map Wizard. This wizard guides you through the process of creating a map. The Welcome wizard page displays. Click "Next".
The Configure Map Data Properties wizard page is displayed. Using the dropdown lists, select the table to use with the Map, and then select the field that defines locations. Locations must be associated with geo-codes (latitudes and longitudes). This can be done ins several ways:
The strings in the location field can be mapped using a mapping file to geo-codes. ADVIZOR Analyst comes with a set of mapping files. The contents of the location field are examined and compared to the location mapping files to see if a match can be found; if found, that mapping is automatically selected.
Remember that locations often require multiple names to uniquely determine them. For example, city names may not be unique, but may require an additional name such as "state". If you do not have such a combination in your data, create it with the Expression Builder.
You can manually select a mapping file.
You can get more geo-code translation files by using the "Where do I get more geo-codes?" link, which goes to a web page that contains a collection of geo-code translation files and map images.
You can select 2 fields in the data table that already contain latitudes and longitudes.
The Display Links Between Nodes wizard page displays (only if there are multiple data tables available). Use this to define links between locations; they will be drawn as arcs on the map. A link is defined by a separate table with 2 fields that name the 2 ends of the link. You may not wish to have links displayed; then leave this page unchecked.
Select Map Background wizard page. Maps can be in either of these forms:
An image. ADVIZOR Analyst comes with a set of map images. When you enter this page, the range of geo-codes in you data is scanned and an image that covers that range is automatically chosen. You can choose another image by clicking the "Browse" button and selecting an image. You can choose any image file, not just the images that come with ADVIZOR Analyst (you will need to provide additional information still). (Adding your own images is discussed below.)
An outline file may be selected. ADVIZOR Analyst comes with predefined outline files.
Locations may be plotted on a globe; this always is an image of our very own planet, the Earth.
If you chose your own map image in the previous step, you have to define the geocode range of the map in this step. If you chose a standard map, the geocode range is already known and this step is not displayed. Use this wizard page to specify the latitude and longitude ranges associated with the map.
If you don't know the geocode range of the entire map image, you can drag a rectangle on the image from any two point, and enter the coordinates of these points using the input dials on this page. These range will be used to calculatge the range of the entire map. Because of rounding inaccuracies, you may need to adjust the range manually to have locations fall correctly.
The Completing ADVIZOR Map Wizard page is displayed. Click Finish to close the wizard and create the chart.
Location names in your data must be translated to geocodes (latitudes/longitudes) to give placement on a map. A collection of mappings from common location names is provided with ADVIZOR Analyst, or you can add your own mappings (below). The location name in your data must exactly match the key in the mapping, including case.
Each mapping is provided by a single file, stored in the "Maps" subdirectory of the ADVIZOR Analyst installation directory; the file name appears in the menu of mapping files. You can also modify the mapping files provided with ADVIZOR Analyst by changing these files yourself.
The mappings provided are:
Name
Description
Sample Key
Canadian Cities
Canadian cities, formatted with city name and province
BRETON Breton Alberta -114.48 53.11 P
Countries
Country name, with an initial capital letter
Aruba
US City ST
United States cities formatted "City STATE", with city name followed by 2 character state abbreviation in all caps, separated by a space
Abbeville SC
US City State
US cities formatted "CITY STATE", with city named followed by 2 character state abbreviation, both in all caps
ROBERTS ID 43.698922 -112.173195
US City ST
United States cities formatted "City, STATE", with city name followed by a comma, a space, and the 2 character state abbreviation in all caps
Mundelein, IL
US State Abbr
US state as 2 character abbreviation, all caps
AL
US State Capitals
Location of US state capitals; key is state name spelled out
Alabama Montgomery
US States
US state name, spelled out, with an initial capital letter
Alabama
US Zips
US 5 digit numeric zip codes
35004
World Cities
A collection of major cities around the world. City names are unique.
Tokyo
Plotting data on a map requires two things: a background image or outline (the "map") and translation of locations in your data to "geocodes" (latitudes and longitudes). ADVIZOR Analyst comes with a set of map images, map outlines, and location-to-geocode translation (or "mapping") files. These standard map images and translation files stored in the "Maps" subdirectory of the directory where ADVIZOR Analyst is installed (typically "c:\Program Files\ADVIZOR Solutions\Analyst\Maps").
You can add your own map images, location-to-geocode translation files, or shape files here and they will be provided as options by the Map Wizard.
You can also add additional locations to any of the location-to-geocode translation files provided with ADVIZOR Analyst by adding additional lines to these files; the format is described below.
To provide your own map image, copy the image file to the "Maps" directory. Map images are image files in JPEG (".jpg") or Bitmap (".bmp") format. Map images should have latitudes and longitudes of equal size; this is a "Mercator projection". (Note that Mercator projections distort the size and shapes of large objects.)
When you reference your own image file in the Map Wizard, it will prompt you for the range of geocodes covered by the image; you provide these as the latitudes or longitudes for the left, top, right, and bottom of the geographical area covered by the image. As described above, you can also sweep a smaller area and enter coordinates of that range, which will be adjusted to cover the entire image for you.
Location-to-Geocode translation (mapping) files should have a ".txt" suffix and should include "Latitude" and "Longitude" fields; these should be real numbers. The first field in the file should be named "Key" and should be the location name.
Files in the "Maps" directory must ALWAYS be written using US English conventions for number ("." for decimal point), even if you are in a different locale. Files containing geocodes that are stored in any other location should use the current locale convention, however.
Shape files should have a ".csv" suffix and should follow the format of the existing files.
