Map
A Map chart is a Data Constellation graph drawn over a groundplane map. The map may be an image or a set of polygons. It could also be wrapped around a globe rather than a plane. The Map has most of the behaviors already described for a Data Constellation chart, so this will only describe the differences. Learn about each Map chart feature below:
Drill-down to Regional Maps: zoom in to a selected subset of data.
On a densely-plotted Map of a large geographical area, like the Continental United States, you could select a few glyphs in a smaller region, like Miami, FL. By clicking the arrow button on the right edge of the Map chart, the US map image will be replaced by that of the state of Florida, or even of the city of Miami.
Successive clicks on the right arrow button cycle through all the smaller regional maps available that contain any selected glyphs.
Clicking the left arrow button returns to the configured level, the continental US.
Data Constellation: its a Data Constellation!
The Map chart is a specialization of the Data Constellation chart. So it has most of the same capabilities and behaviors as a Data Constellation. We won't repeat them here, you can read them there.
Links: connect your nodes.
As a Data Constellation chart, a Map can optionally be configured with links to show connections between nodes on top of the Map.
Note that since a Map is always displayed in 3D, links between nodes cannot show directionality.
Map background: image or polygon background.
A Map is a graph placed on top of a representation of geography. This representation may be an image, or it may be a set of polygons that are the outlines of the geographical regions.
With polygon backgrounds, a table in the Data Pool specifies the polygons. The polygons are colored based on the coloring of that table. See the Reference for more details.
The Map image or polygons may actually be anything, as long as your node coordinates "map" correctly on top of the image/polygons. Coordinates are limited to the ranges -180 to 180 horizontally, and -90 to 90 vertically.
Polygon-based Map Chart
Globe: use a globe for world-wide data.
Data from around the world can be shown on a globe constructed as a Mercator-projection image and/or outline polygons mapped around a sphere. Coordinates must be latitudes and longitudes, and the range of coordinates is -90 to 90 for latitude and -180 to 180 for longitude.
Links can be displayed on a globe; by setting the "LinkSize" property, the height of the link reflects the value of the statistic (the line weight is always the same). The relative height of bars is given by NodeSize rather than NodeHeight.
Of course, the Map chart can be configured without specifying links.
Map Chart as Globe
Placement: positions on your Map.
Unlike a Data Constellation chart, the location of nodes in a Map chart must be based on geographical coordinates (sometimes termed "geocodes"). You must provide the geocodes (typically as longitudes and latitudes) in your data table.
Viewpoint: orienting your Map.
In order to adjust the orientation of the Map chart from the default positioning, you can use the mouse to pan, rotate, and zoom the display by selecting corresponding Chart Toolbar buttons. Note that you can display the precise property values for the current viewpoint by typing an "x" into the window, which will display them in a pop-up Message Box.
See also:
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