User guide

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ultimately a combination of many factors (such as the number of indicators

included in the XML data files, the speed of an Internet connection the

report is viewed over, the performance of the computer used to view the

report, etc.). The guideline upper limit is 10,000 features but the only way

to be sure whether the report will perform acceptably is to test this with

your own data/Internet connection/computer/etc.

A digital map file not only stores the geometry of geographic features but

also the attributes of each feature. These attributes are held in one or

more fields, or columns, within the map file. To be used in InstantAtlas,

your ESRI shapefile or MapInfo interchange or TAB file must have a field

that contains codes identifying the geographic features. It should also

have another field that contains the names of the geographic features if

these are different from the codes.

For example, if you have a digital map file with the boundaries of post code

sectors in Edinburgh (UK) it might contain two fields like this:

CODE

NAME

EH111

Sector EH11 1

EH112

Sector EH11 2

EH113

Sector EH11 3

EH114

Sector EH11 4

etc.

The Publisher will list all the available fields in the digital map file you have

uploaded in the ‘Feature code field’ and ‘Feature name field’ drop down

lists. In the example shown in Figure 6 the map file has six fields. Note

that the names of fields in your map file can be anything. The name of the

field is not important – it is the contents that are important.

Figure 6

In the ‘Feature code field’ drop down list select the field containing codes.

Every feature must have a code in this field. The code for each feature

must be unique. The Publisher will warn you (when you click the ‘Next’

button) if the field you have selected is not suitable. The field chosen must

contain the codes of any features that will be used in the data file for your

report.

In the ‘Feature name field’ drop down list select the field containing names.

These names will be displayed in your report if you choose to publish with

dummy data. However, if you do not have a suitable name field in your

map file, simply select the same field as that selected in the ‘Feature code

field’. You will be able to specify different names for geographic features in

the data file(s) for your report (see section ‘E. The InstantAtlas Excel Data

Manager’ for more information on entering names).