Help & How-To
Guide (MCT EDITION)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 1
1. Getting Started: Opening a Project .................................................................................................. 3
2. Navigating: Using the Map ................................................................................................................ 4
Zoom In ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Zoom Out ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Zoom To Full Extent......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Zooming To Previous/Next Extent .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Panning ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Scrollbars ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3. Measuring Features on the Map ...................................................................................................... 6
4. Identifying Features on the Map ...................................................................................................... 7
Changing the Selection Tolerance .................................................................................................................................................. 7
5. Using the Legend ................................................................................................................................ 8
Legend Functionality ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Additional Layer Information........................................................................................................................................................... 8
Right Click Functionality .................................................................................................................................................................. 8
6. Layer Display Settings........................................................................................................................ 9
Change How a Layer is Symbolized ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Change a Layer Name ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Changing the Drawing Order........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Removing a Layer from the Map..................................................................................................................................................... 9
7. Labeling Features on the Map ........................................................................................................10
Adding a Label Theme...................................................................................................................................................................10
8. Selecting from the Map ...................................................................................................................11
Using the Selection Tools..............................................................................................................................................................11
Viewing Attribute Data of Selected Features ...............................................................................................................................11
9. Selecting by Feature Attribute ........................................................................................................12
10. Export a Map ...................................................................................................................................14
Exporting a Map as a Graphic.......................................................................................................................................................14
11. AccuGlobe Support & Keeping Map Data Up-to-Date...............................................................15
AccuGlobe Map Update.................................................................................................................................................................15
AccuGlobe Support and Assistance..............................................................................................................................................15
Map Corrections and Changes .....................................................................................................................................................15
Allegan County Land Information Services: AccuGlobe 2007 Help Document, MCT Edition (October 2011)
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Allegan County Land Information Services: AccuGlobe 2007 Help Document, MCT Edition (October 2011)
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1. Getting Started: Opening a Project
Each time you open AccuGlobe, the Start Using AccuGlobe dialog box appears. From this screen you have
multiple options, one of which is to load an existing project.
To start AccuGlobe and load an existing project:
1. Select the “An existing map project” option. (See the top image below.)
2. If a previous project has been used in the prior two months it will appear in the selection list. Click on the
entry in the list and jump to step four.
3. Click the OK button to launch AccuGlobe with the selected project.
1.
3.
2.
3.
4. If the project you need is not listed, you can also locate the “AccuGlobe Project” file by browsing the files
on your hard drive (e.g. using Windows Explorer or “My Computer”), then double-clicking on the appropriate file (see example below) or dragging the project file onto an open AccuGlobe 2007 window.
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2. Navigating: Using the Map
You can navigate around the map window using several tools. In addition, the AccuGlobe window has several
components, illustrated below:
Zoom In
Zoom
Out
Layer Control
& Legend
Pan
Previous/Next
Views
Zoom
to Full
Extent
Map Window
Scrollbars
Zoom In
•
•
Click the Zoom In button on the Tools toolbar and move the mouse over the map. Either:
o Single click to zoom in around a point.
OR If you wish to zoom to a specific area
o Click and hold the left mouse button.
o Move the mouse to drag a rectangle to create the area you wish to zoom to.
o Release the mouse button to complete the zoom.
Zoom Out
•
Click the Zoom Out button on the Tools toolbar and move the mouse over the map. Either:
o Single click to zoom out around a point.
• OR If you wish to zoom out to a specific area
o Click and hold the left mouse button.
o Move the mouse to drag a rectangle to create the area. The current map extent will be resized to fit
in the rectangle you draw. As a result the smaller the rectangle the further you will zoom out.
o Release the mouse button to complete the zoom.
Zoom To Full Extent
Zooming to full extent resets the map view so that every feature of every layer is contained within the
visible extent. To Zoom to the full extent of all your data layers, simply:
• Click the Full Extent button on the Tools toolbar.
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Zooming To Previous/Next Extent
Zooming to previous or next extent allows stepping back and forth through past map views. For example,
start with a map view at full extent then zoom in to an area on the map. Now click the previous extent button.
The map will return to the most recent previous map view, which was the full extent. Now click on the next
extent button. The map will return next to the extent originally zoom to from full extent.
To Zoom To Previous Extent:
•
Click the Previous Extent button on the Tools toolbar.
To Zoom To Next Extent:
• Click the Next Extent button on the Tools toolbar.
Panning
Panning allows you to move the map display around to show areas outside of the current viewing
area without changing the scale of the map. To pan in your map window:
•
•
• Click the Pan button on the Tools toolbar and move the mouse to your map display window.
Click and hold down the left mouse button.
Move the mouse, still holding down the mouse button. The map will move with the mouse.
• Release the mouse button to complete the pan operation.
OR
• Move the mouse over the map.
• Click and hold down the right mouse button. When using the right mouse button the Pan tool does not
need to be selected.
• Move the mouse, still holding down the mouse button. The map will move with the mouse.
• Release the mouse button to complete the pan operation.
Scrollbars
In addition to the Panning tool (above), you may also adjust your map window by using the scrollbars located
on the right and bottom sides of the map window itself. These scrollbars behave like scrollbars do in most, if
not all, other applications.
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3. Measuring Features on the Map
The measuring tools are found near the right end of the Tools toolbar, as shown below:
Measure distance
Measure area
The measurement tool is used to calculate distances between
two or more user-defined points on the map. To measure
length on the map:
•
Click the Measure by Line tool on the Tools toolbar.
•
•
Move the mouse over the map to the starting position.
Using the left mouse button, click-and-release the button once
and move to the next position. A line will draw as the mouse is
moved.
Using the left mouse button click once to define the end position.
•
•
•
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to create a longer line with multiple
segments, if desired.
To complete the measurement, double-click instead of single
clicking for the final point with the left mouse button. The distance will be calculated and displayed (see
image at right).
To measure an area on the map:
• Click the measure tool on the Tools toolbar.
• Move the mouse over the map to the starting position.
•
•
•
•
Using the left mouse button, click-and-release the button once
and move to the next position. A line will draw as the mouse is
moved.
Using the left mouse button click once to define the end position.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to create the necessary polygon (area).
To complete the measurement, double-click instead of single
clicking for the final point with the left mouse button. The area will
be calculate and displayed (see image at right).
Also note that the current segment length is displayed near the lower left corner of the application window in
the status bar area while you are measuring:
Segment and total length
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4. Identifying Features on the Map
The Identify tool is the simplest way to retrieve attribute data about a feature on the map. Attribute
data is information contained in the databases which are associated with each map layer. For
example, the parcel table includes a Parcel ID, address, owner, etc. (see example at right); while the
table for the roads layer contains attributes such as road name, address ranges, type of road, etc. By using
the Identify tool, you can find the attributes for any of the features you see on the screen.
•
•
•
•
Single-click on the name of the layer you want
to view the attributes for in the Layer Control
& Legend window on the left side of your
screen. (This makes that layer “active.”)
Click the Identify button on the MapTools
toolbar.
Move the mouse over the map and click on
the feature to be identified.
The Identify dialog will be displayed. In the
left panel are all the features the identify tool
found in the location clicked. If more than
one feature is listed in the left panel, click on
the feature number (e.g. “187” in the
example at right) to display its associated
attribute data in the right panel.
By default, the Identify tool identifies features on the active selected map layers. This behavior can be
changed by using the drop down list at the top of the Identify dialog. Choose “Top Most” from the Options
drop down menu to only identify the top-most layer in the map window, or choose “Build from Current
Layer(s) Selection(s)” to only identify on the active layer.
Another handy feature of the Identify dialog box is the ability to right-click on any of the identified features in
the left panel. In the example image above, if you right-clicked on the parcel identified as “187” in the left
panel, the map window would zoom to that parcel and flash it with a red color to highlight it for you.
Changing the Selection Tolerance
The Identify result tool has a limited
radius of effect, meaning it will only
identify those features on your map
within a certain distance of where
you click with your cursor. Change
this by the following process:
• Click the View menu from the
main menu, and then click on
Properties.
• Click on the “Map” tab in the
Properties dialog box.
• Under “Map Options,” you will
see an area to enter a
“Selection Tolerance” in pixels.
• Enter a valid pixel tolerance.
• Press the Close button.
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5. Using the Legend
The Legend, found on the left hand side of the screen, lists the map layers in your AccuGlobe project as well
as allows you to view each layer’s symbology. In the Legend, you can also change layer symbology, group layers together, and the turning on or off of themes within a layer.
 At left is a sample of the AccuGlobe Legend where the symbology for the Roads layer
has been expanded, while the other layers
remain collapsed.
 At right is an example of the pop-out menu
that appears when you right-click on any of
the map layer names in the Legend window.
(See the “Right-Click Functionality” below.)
Legend Functionality
The Legend displays its information in the following format:
• The first square (
+) indicates there is additional information regarding this layer that is currently hidden.
This can be exposed by clicking on the 
+ symbol.
•
•
The second square (  ) indicates whether a layer is visible (checked ), hidden (blank ) or is scaledependent (grayed ). Simply click on this square to toggle between visible (“on”) and hidden (“off”).
(Scale dependence needs to be altered from the layer properties.)
Text: This is the name of the map layer. Double click this text to bring up the properties of the layer.
Additional Layer Information
A layer may have a theme associated with the data. By looking at the Roads layer in the example image
above, the legend indicates that this layer has both a value theme and a label theme associated with it. The
value theme has been expanded by clicking on the 
+ to show the individual map symbols. In a value theme,
each individual value can be toggled on or off by clicking the checkbox next to the value. In the Roads example above, you may wish to hide the “Unclassified” roads by un-checking the box to the left of that symbol. To
see the properties of a theme, double-click on the theme name.
Right Click Functionality
The Legend offers an additional menu to quickly access many commonly used functions. These functions,
accessed by right-clicking on the layer name, are listed in the “AccuGlobe 2007 Advanced Help” document.
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6. Layer Display Settings
Note that none of the following processes will affect (or permanently change) the underlying map data, just
how that data is being displayed in AccuGlobe.
Change How a Layer is Symbolized
1. Double-click on the layer name in the legend. The Layer Properties dialog will be displayed.
2. Click on the Main Symbol tab at the top of the dialog box.
a. Under the Pen section of the
window, you can change the
symbol for the style, color and
size of a line symbol (e.g.
railroads, rivers, etc.) or the
style, color and size of the
outline of a polygon or area
symbol (e.g. parcels, lakes,
municipal boundaries, etc.).
b. Under the Fill section, you can
similarly change the style, color
and opacity of the fill for
polygon or area features. As
lines have no “fill,” this section
only applies to polygon or area
features.
3. You can hit the Refresh button to
see
your
changes
before
dismissing the window and go
back and make additional changes, if desired. In addition, you can change the symbols used when features in this layer are selected or edited by clicking on the Selection Symbol and Edit Lock Symbol tabs
as well.
4. When done, click the Close button to close the Layer Properties dialog box.
Change a Layer Name
1. Double-click on the layer name in the legend. The Layer Properties dialog will be displayed.
2. Change the text in the Friendly Name box. This will be the new layer name.
3. Click the Close button to close the Layer Properties dialog.
Changing the Drawing Order
1. Click on a layer in the legend and hold down the mouse button.
2. Drag the layer up or down the list to the desired location.
3. Let go of the mouse button.
Removing a Layer from the Map
1. Right-click on the layer in the legend. A new menu will pop up.
2. Choose Remove Layers. (To remove more than one layer at a time, first select all of the layers you wish
to remove in the legend by holding down the Control key and clicking on each layer.)
3. Right-click on one of the selected layers and select Remove Layers.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have a suggestion or request for changing the way a layer displays on the map within
AccuGlobe by default, feel free to contact the LIS Department and they can make that change for you.
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7. Labeling Features on the Map
Label themes allow you to add dynamic text labels to features on your map. You will choose a field from the
attribute table to be used as the label text. For example, you can use the values in the “Roadname” column
in the Roads layer to label read road with its name.
Adding a Label Theme
1.
2.
3.
4.
Double-click on the layer in the legend. The Layer Properties dialog will be displayed.
Click the Themes tab.
Under the New Themes section, click the Label button.
The Label Theme dialog will be displayed. (See image below.)
5. Type in a theme name. For example, ‘Road
Names'.
6. Select the Source Column which will supply the
text to generate the label.
7. For point layers, an optional field may be used
to provide a rotation angle for the label. Set this
using the Rotation Column drop-down list.
8. For polygon (area) layers, check Fit Labels Inside Feature to make sure labels only draw inside the area of the shape.
9. Check Compute Label Angle to have labels align
with the feature on the map. If unchecked, all
labels will be placed horizontally. For example,
road names should align with the road they are
labeling.
10.Check Unique Labels to eliminate any duplicate
labels.
11.Check Link To Value Themes to hide labels for
features that have not be drawn. If a value
theme or interval theme prevents a feature from
being drawn, and this option is checked, the la-
bel associated with this feature will not be
drawn also.
12.Set the label priority. If labels or shields from different layers overlap the label or shield with the
highest priority will be drawn.
13.Change the font properties as desired.
14.Set the label offset to indicate how many pixels
a label should be offset from the feature.
15.If map units have been set for the project this
theme can be made to be scale dependent.
16.Click the OK button to add the theme.
17.To make further changes to this label theme, select it from the list and click the Edit button.
18.To remove the label theme select it from the list
and click Remove.
19.Click the close button to exit the Layer Properties. The map will redraw and apply your
changes.
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8. Selecting from the Map
You can select features from the map in one of five
different ways: by clicking at a point or by drawing a
line, rectangle, circle or polygon. Any features of the
active layer (the highlighted layer in the Legend) that
fall within the selection tolerance will be selected. To
change the selection tolerance, see the information in
the Identifying Features section.
Using the Selection Tools
1. Click on the layer you want to select feature from on the Legend. This will highlight the layer’s name in
the Legend and make the layer active.
2. Click the appropriate Select By… button (Select by Point, Line, Rectangle, Circle or Polygon) on the SelectionTools toolbar.
3. Move the mouse over the map and to:
a. Select by Point, simply click on the map window and the feature(s) of the selected layer
which exist at that point will be selected.
b. Select by Line, click a single point to start the line and release the mouse button. Then move
the mouse to another location. Single-click to add another point to the line. To finish the line,
double-click the mouse button. Features of the selected layer falling within the selection
tolerance will be selected.
c. Select by Rectangle, click and hold the mouse button. This click will represent the first
corner of the rectangle. Then move the mouse to another location, keeping the mouse
button held down. Release the mouse button to specify the opposite corner of the rectangle.
Features of the selected layer that fall within the selection tolerance will be selected.
d. Select by Circle, click and hold the mouse button. This click will represent the center of the
circle. Then move the mouse to another location, keeping the mouse button held down.
Release the mouse button to specify the size of the circle. Features of the active layer that
fall within the selection tolerance will be selected.
e. Select by Polygon, click the mouse button. This click will represent the first point of the
polygon. Then move the mouse to another location and click mouse button to place the
second point in the polygon. Repeat this step as many times as is required to draw the
desired polygon. To finish (close) the polygon, double-click the mouse at the last point. A line will
automatically be drawn from the location you double click the mouse to the first point in order to close
the polygon. Features of the active layer that fall within the selection tolerance will be selected.
4. If you pan the map window away from your selected features, you can always return to them by clicking
the Zoom to Selected Features button in the SelectionTools toolbar.
5. To remove the selection highlight from your map window, simply click on the Clear Selected Features or
Clear All Features buttons in the SelectionTools toolbar.
Viewing Attribute Data of Selected Features
1. Right-click on the layer in the legend. A new menu will popup.
2. Click on Open Attribute Table.
3. The Attribute Table dialog for the layer you clicked on will open. Click on the Show Selected Features button to see only the attributes of the selected features.
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9. Selecting by Feature Attribute
You can select features in your map based on the attributes of those features in the database. While
this method of selecting features is a bit more complex than simply clicking or drawing a shape on
the map window, selecting by attributes is a very powerful way to find all of the features which
satisfy certain criteria or that answer your questions.
This is the basic process for selecting
features on your map which satisfy
criteria that you set:
1. Single-click on the desired layer in
the Legend to highlight it and make
it active. For example, if you want to
select all segments of a certain
street, click on and highlight the
Roads layer.
2. Click the Select By Attributes button
on the SelectionTools toolbar (or
press F10 on your keyboard). The
Select By Attributes dialog will
appear. (You can also access the
Select By Attributes dialog by rightclicking the desired layer name in
the Legend.)
3. Choose the type of selection you
wish to make:
a. Create New Selection Set – creates a new set of selected features. Any features already selected on
the map view will first be de-selected. This is the default and the setting you will likely use most often.
b. Add To Existing Selection Set – adds to the set of selected features already selected on your map.
c. Remove From Existing Selection Set – removes the features from those already selected on your
map, based on the filter you define in the next step.
d. Select From Current Selection Set – selects features only from those you have already selected, ignoring any unselected features.
4. To locate specific features in a layer on your map by their attribute, you need to “filter out” all of the
other features in that layer. Continuing our Roads example above, if we wanted to find all of the segments of “Allegan St” on our map, we need to create a filter to search the attribute field in the database
containing the road names for each segment of roadway.
5. Click on the Add button. The New Filter
dialog will appear.
6. Under “Field”, use the dropdown menu to
choose a field from the database table
that contains the information you are
searching for. In our example, we would
choose the Roadname field.
7. Then click the box next to “View” just below that to get a listing of all the unique
values, in this case street names, from
the field you just chose above. We would
scroll through the list of street names until we saw the value we are searching for,
in this case “Allegan St,” then click on it.
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8. If you were composing a complex query, you would choose the necessary logical operator under “Logical.”
9. Under “Predicate,” you tell the system how to search for the attribute you are looking for. The default is
equals (=). In our example, we wanted to find all street segments where the value in “Roadname” equals
“Allegan St.” (The “Not” checkbox allows you to do the opposite. For example, if you wanted to find all of
the streets NOT called “Allegan St,” you would check this box.)
10.Click the Add button to add the
filter. Your filter statement will
appear in the “Filters” portion of the
Select By Attributes dialog box. For
our example, the filter would read
“ROADNAME = Allegan St”. (See example at right.)
11.At this point, you can add additional
filters to further query down the
data if you desire. You can add new,
edit existing and remove unneeded
filters using the corresponding
buttons.
12.Click on the Execute button to
execute your query.
13.When
the
selection
query
completes, the number of features
matching your selection filter(s) will
appear in the lower left corner of the dialog box. In our example, it would read “12 out of 573 selected”
as there are 12 segments of Allegan St in our map. Those features satisfying our query will also be highlighted on the map.
14.Click the Zoom to Selected buttons to zoom the map into the features you highlighted with the query.
Note: If you find you are using the same query filters over and over, you can also save those filters for future
use by clicking the Save button. Then, in the future, you can load that filter by clicking the Load button.
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10. Export a Map
You can export the map image you see in your AccuGlobe map window for use in most normal “office”-type applications, like word
processing, spreadsheet, presentation, or image-editing software.
While AccuGlobe allows you to export the attribute table data and
the actual GIS features, this process will allow you to export a
graphic version of the map which you can import or paste into a variety of applications.
You can export your map as a PNG (Portable Network Graphic), JPEG
(Joint Photographics Export Group), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format),
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) or BMP (Windows Bitmap Image
Format) file. Most normal “office”-type applications and all imageediting software will be able to read these formats.
Exporting a Map as a Graphic
1. Zoom and center your map so that the appropriate area is visible in the map window. What you see in your map window will be
what is exported to the graphic image in this process.
2. In the File menu, choose Export Map As… (See illustration at
right.)
3. In the Export Map View dialog (see illustration below), click the
.... button to access the Save As dialog.
4. Choose the appropriate drive and folder, give your file a name,
and choose the file format you wish to save your map as in the
Save as Type menu (e.g.
PNG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, or
BMP).
5. Hit the Save button.
6. Back in the Export Map
View dialog, you can also
specify the width and
height of your map image, if necessary. If you
do not have specific
width and height measurements, simply leave the default values as is. (You can often resize the image in the program in which
you will be using your exported map image.)
7. Click the Export button.
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11. AccuGlobe Support & Keeping Map Data Up-to-Date
There are three main components to keeping your AccuGlobe mapping system up-to-date and running
smoothly: the AccuGlobe Map Update, application support and assistance, and submitting map corrections
and changes.
AccuGlobe Map Update
Allegan County LIS staff are constantly updating the GIS mapping data you use in AccuGlobe.
The "AccuGlobe Map Update" will help you keep the data within AccuGlobe as current as possible.
When your MCT is connected to the network, simply double-click on the "AccuGlobe Map Update" icon (see image at right). The process should take no more than three minutes to complete. You should update your mapping data at least every couple months to make sure you have the latest
data.
AccuGlobe Support and Assistance
If you need help or assistance with AccuGlobe or the software is not working, follow the standard MCT support procedures.
Map Corrections and Changes
Everyday, the staff in the Allegan County Land Information Services (LIS) department work to keep dozens of layers of GIS (mapping) data accurate and
up-to-date. Since things in the “real world” change every day, it is a neverending job trying to make sure all of the changes are recorded and any errors are corrected.
People making use of any of the maps, software and data that Allegan
County LIS creates and maintains are not only using that information,
they're also one of the best sources for information which has changed or is incorrect. Users contributing updated information to LIS not only benefit by getting the map data updated for their own use, they're helping
countless other County and local government users and the general public as well!
Allegan County Land Information Services staff:
• Chris Bessert, GIS Analyst
(269) 673-0518 [email protected]
• Neil Besteman, GIS Manager (269) 673-0518 [email protected]
• Valdis Kalnins, LIS Director (269) 673-0518 [email protected]
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