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GIS Manifold, something more with layouts
- October, 2012
- Posted by: Golgi Alvarez
- Category: Manifold GIS

Some time ago I spoke in an article How print presentations are created using Manifold GIS. At that time we made a fairly basic layout, in this case I want to show a more complex one. This is the example of an agrological productivity map; as the main map is the current use from a satellite image, at the bottom is the agrological capacity maps of the Simmons Map and the potential use of FAO.
First, it is important to understand the structure of objects that Manifold uses, as I explained in previous article, Since those same objects are loaded into the layout according to the utility.
Drawing
This is the vector layer, which in Manifold is indistinct, can contain mixed shapes, lines or points, since they are all contained in a database with a .map extension. This drawing can have as children, other representations such as:
- Table, which is the tabular display of the layer. This is unique by drawing.
- Labels, which are the dynamic labels of a field displayed on the map. You can create as many layers of labels as you want, they are nested in the drawing and can also be unlinked.
- Themes, I did not talk about these before, but they are thematic representations of the layer, they can be several and they are also nested to the map.
The map
It is the conformation of layers. This is armed with different themes, labels, raster. They can be drawings directly but it is not recommended as they will change as they are painted with a different theme, for that it is preferred to call the themes. You choose what is on top, what is transparent, what colors of theming, line, thickness, weft ... to our liking.
See the example in the previous image. This is how the foot map you see on the initial map is created. It shows how the labels, table and theme of the FAO land use map are nested, and these are loaded on a map type display.
The Layout
It is the presentation for printing and is nested in the map. You can have as many as required, and you can also be independent.
Being in the layout view, the following contextual buttons are presented, similar to what is done with Arcmap, the first ones are for alignment and placement of text boxes. Then there are the options to make horizontal lines, vertical lines, box, box from a center point, text, legend, north symbol, and scale bar. They are not shown on the bar but there are also commands to align and distribute. Are loaded with Tools> customize> alignment.
The following example shows the case of the legend, it can be loaded separately or within a dataframe. Additionally, I have added a horizontal dividing line but vertical lines can also be added so that legends can be made across the width.
So although Manifold does not bring more than a poor template, the greatest work is in putting together the maps, then they just drag them to the sheet and adjust to taste. In the properties (with double click) you can choose if we want it to have a grid in the contour, if we want it to be geographic coordinates or UTM projected. Also the scale, symbols and north.
Additionally you can upload images as I have done with the corner shield and also Linked Excel tables As I have done with the blue box at the bottom.
So, in short, the same project supports many layouts, which are armed by maps, these by thematizations and thematizations are representations of vector layers.
And also the text boxes can have macros, as shown in the following image, where Layout name, description, date or project facilitates the layout.
And of course, once mapped it can be duplicated to create another, editing the source dataframes without having to build the template from scratch.
To send it out, right-click on the layout and choose whether to print, save as a layered pdf or as a high resolution image in .ems format. It can also be in .ai format for Adobe Illustrator.
In conclusion, very robust and attractive. Although it takes a while to understand their logic.
Author:Golgi Alvarez
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