Navigating the Map

This section provides information on using the Map Tool Palette, working with My Layers and My Sites available in the Select Location and Explore Community tabs, and Zoom Tools and Map Types.

Map Tool Palette

The Map Tool Palette contains tools available for all workflows and can be displayed or hidden by clicking the arrow.

Pin defines a point on the map and identifies the address or latitude/longitude of the point. You can also move or delete the point.

Select allows you to select features on a web map. This tool can only be used in web maps. Click here for more information.

Zoom-In creates a closer view of an area on the map. Click and draw a box around the region with the mouse pointer.

Zoom-Out creates a zoomed-out view of an area on the map. Click and draw a box around the region with the mouse pointer to the area.

Pan allows you to pan the map.

Clear Map allows you to clear points on the map. A dialog box appears with a list of points, sites, and layers that you can clear. Click the check box for the items you want to clear, or choose Select All as a shortcut, and click Clear. The sites are cleared from the map but are not deleted from Business Analyst Online.

Map Capture allows you to save the current view of the map in an image file.

Create PDF allows you to create a map and save it as a PDF. The PDFs are saved and can be accessed in Previous Reports under the Custom PDF Maps tab.

My Layers

My Layers is available in the Select Location and Explore Community tabs. The recent map layers, point layers, geographic boundaries and maps appear in the My Layers list and allow you to easily view the layers, points, and boundaries that you have created. You can access the layers of imported locations to quickly turn them on or off. You can also delete any of the layers listed under Point Layers and Web Map Layers.

Click My Layers.

The My Layers dialog box appears with a list of layers, points, and options for viewing borders and labels. Recent Map Layers opens as the default. Click Point Layers or Geographic Boundaries to open the respective layer or boundary.

Recent Map Layers

To view the recent map layer, select the radio button to the left of the layer name under Recent Map Layers. Once selected, the layer appears on the map. The recently applied color-coded variable appears when you select a Color-Coded Map or Smart Map Search Layer. You can turn them on and off using the radio button. None is selected by default.

Point Layers

To view a layer of points, click the check box to the left of the layer name under Point Layers. Once selected, the points appear on the map. These points are imported as layers and search results. You can turn a layer on and off using the check box.

To change the symbol of an imported layer, click the current symbol, and a dialog box appears. You can change the icon, color, and size. You can also import an image by clicking Browse to navigate to the image on your local machine. This change can be made at any time and the new symbol immediately appears on the map.

To delete a layer of points, click the x in the red box to the right of the layer name under Point Layers. The points will be deleted.

Geographic Boundaries

To indicate the borders and layers for viewing on the current map, click the border and/or label check box for the respective boundary. Once selected, the border and/or layer appears.

Web Map Layers

The web map layers can be accessed and deleted here. See More Maps for viewing basemaps and adding web map layers.

To view a layer, click the check box to the left of the layer name. Once selected, the layer appears on the map. Click on <Legend> to view additional layers. The icon indicates the map can converted to a site. Hover the cursor over the layer name to access more info which provides information about the map layer or the slider that allows you to change the transparency of the individual map layer. See Web Maps for information on adding web map layers.

To delete a layer, click the x in the red box to the right of the layer name. The layer will be deleted.

My Sites

The sites that you have created appear in the My Sites list. You can access your previously created sites to view them on the map. When you add a site to your map using the My Sites dialog box, the map centers on the site, and the name of the site is displayed under Sites displayed on the map in My Sites.

Click My Sites.

In the Sites displayed on the map section, you'll see a list of all the sites you've worked with in your current session.

• If the box is checked, the site appears on the map.
• Uncheck the box to remove the site from your map. The site remains in the upper section until you close and reopen My Sites.
• Check the box in the header next to Name to add all sites in that section to the map.

The View your previous sites section shows all your sites.

• When you check the box next to a site in this section, it displays that site on the map and adds it to the top section.
  Note:

  If you check the folder, all the sites in the folder are added to your map. If you have many sites in the folder, it may take considerable time to add them to the map.

• Check the check box next to Name to add all sites in that section to the map.
• Click the list view button
  to see your sites in a single list.
• Click the folder view button to see your sites organized by folder.
• You can sort by clicking the arrow. The arrow is to the right of Date in the list view and to the right of Name in folder view.

Zoom Tools and Map Types

Zoom Tool

The Zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out of a map area. Click the plus sign to zoom in and the minus sign to zoom out. You can also move the horizontal bar to zoom in and out.

When placing the pointer over the Zoom tool while in the Color-Coded Maps tab, pop-ups appear to indicate the level of zoom. You can choose from Block Groups, Census Tracts, ZIP Codes, Counties, and States. You can click any of these to zoom to its respective map level.

Map Types

The Map Types menu bar allows you to set your map background to street view, satellite view, or select more map types.

Click Streets to see the map in street view. As you zoom in, you will see more detail such as street and place names.

Click Satellite to display satellite imagery on your map.

• Click Place labels to see the place labels of a city, state, and so on.
• Click Road labels to see road and highway labels.
• Click Image Dates to see when the photo was taken and to get information on specific areas on the map.

  The Satellite Image Data dialog box appears to provide the date at the center point of the map in the current view.

  

  You can also use the Identify tool

  to select another location, and another Satellite Image Data dialog box appears with the date specific to the selected location.