How to Use the Newton County GIS Application
The Newton County GIS application will
load into the present session of your Internet Explorer web browser. The
leftmost column on the screen contains drop-down function groups for
some of the most common functions in the application. Clicking on the
arrow to the left of each group heading will expand the group to reveal
the functions available. Clicking on the function name will execute the
function. Clicking on the arrow beside an expanded group will collapse
the group, showing only the group heading. The remainder of the top
portion of the screen is the map window. Along the top of the map window
are controls for manipulating its contents. Below the map window is the
report area, where query results and reports will be displayed.
Manipulating the Map Display
"Hovering" the mouse pointer over each of the buttons at the top of the map window will reveal a "quick tip"
describing what each button does.
- Zoom
The Zoom control enlarges a portion of the map
display. There are two ways to use the Zoom control. To zoom in 50%,
making the displayed information appear twice as large, click the Zoom
control, then click in the map display. The map will redraw at the new
scale, with the selected point at the center of the display. It is
also possible to enlarge a specific area by clicking at one corner of
the area, and holding the mouse button down while dragging the mouse
pointer to the opposite corner of the area to be enlarged. When the
left mouse button is released, the selected area will be redrawn to
fill the map window.
- Zoom Goto
Zoom Goto is used to find and view specific
features of interest on the map. First, click on the Zoom Goto
control. Select the desired feature type from the pulldown list. Next,
enter the criterion for the search, and the width of the area to be
displayed around the feature. If more than one match is found, a list
of all matching features will be displayed. After selecting one of the
features from the list, the display will redraw at the specified
width, centered on the selected feature.
- Zoom Out
The Zoom Out control expands the extents of the map window, doubling the scale of
the display. Select the Zoom Out control, then click a point in the map window.
The screen will redraw centered around the selected point, displaying an area twice as
large as the previous display.
- Zoom Previous
The Zoom Previous control will reset the extents of the map window to the previous settings.
This control can be clicked multiple times to step backward through several consecutive
zooms in/out.
- Unzoom
When the Unzoom control is clicked, the map display will reset to the entire county.
- Copy
The Copy control puts the contents of the map window on the Windows Clipboard so it
can be pasted as a graphic image into other applications.
- Pan
The Pan control allows the information in the map window to be repositioned without
changing the scale of the display. Click and drag the mouse pointer across the map window
to change the area being viewed.
Using the Legend
The grey area between the function groups and the map window is the legend.
The layers in the legend are dependent on the scale of the map window. At smaller scales, more
layers may be visible in the legend. Map layers in the legend can be turned on or off by clicking
the corresponding checkbox in the legend. When a layer is enabled, a small graphic image will appear
below the layer name to illustrate how that layer will appear in the map window. Layers in the map
window are drawn in the order they appear in the legend, so layers at the top of the legend will be
drawn on top of layers that appear lower in the legend. If a layer is enabled, but it does not
appear in the map window, it may be obscured by a layer that is drawn on top of it.
Measuring Distances
To measure distance on the map, right click in the map window and select "view" and "distance"
from the popup menu. Click at the starting point. Move the mouse pointer to the end point.
The display will indicate the distance. To measure along a complex shape, left click along the
shape to set intermediate points. The display indicates the total distance and the length of the
last segment. Click the right mouse button to stop measuring.
Getting Information about Items on the Map
- Selecting Features
In order to view data associated with the map
layers, features must first be selected from the map window. Single
selections are made by clicking the Select control at the top of the
map window, then clicking on a map feature. When selected, map
features are highlighted in black. When features are selected, the
status bar at the bottom of the map window will indicate how many
features are selected. Multiple selections are made by holding down
the "Shift" key, while clicking individual selections. Multiple
selections can also be made by holding down the left mouse button, and
dragging the pointer across the screen, "rubber-banding" a selection
box around the features to be selected. Use the Clear Selection
function to un-select all currently selected features. Selections are
made from the map layers in the order that they appear in the legend.
To select features from a layer near the bottom of the legend, it may
be necessary to turn off all the layers above it, select the feature,
and then turn the other layers back on. Some layers do not contain
selectable features.
- Using Reports to View Data
After one or more map features have
been selected, reports can be used to view the data associated with
these features. Click the "View Report" control at the top of the map
window. A dialogue box will appear, listing the reports that are
available for the selected features. If no reports appear in the
dialogue box, there is no information associated with the selected
feature(s). Select a report from the list, then choose OK in the
dialogue box. The data associated with the selected features will be
displayed in the report area at the bottom of the screen. The report
may contain text fields that are "hyper-linked" to supplemental
information. Clicking the Parcel ID Number in the parcel report will
create a new window containing a data report for the parcel. Clicking
the owner name will cause all parcels with the same ownership to be
listed. To close the additional report window(s), click the "X" button
at the upper right corner of the window.
Using the Buffer Function
In addition to viewing reports, selected features can be used to select other features in
the map window. This is done by generating a buffer at a specified distance from a feature, then
selecting all the map features that overlap the buffer. After a feature is selected from the map,
expand the "Buffer" command group on the left side of the Application screen. Pick one of the
predefined distances, or select the Enter Distance function and type the distance in the dialogue
box that appears. A crosshatched buffer will be generated around the selected feature(s) at the
specified distance. The Remove Buffer function will erase all buffers that have been created.
To customize the way a buffer looks, click on the buffer area to select it, then click the right
mouse button. From the popup menu, select "view" then "buffer". In the dialogue box that appears,
the buffer distance, fill pattern, and border style of the buffer can be changed. To select the map
features that overlap the buffer, select the buffer, then click the right mouse button. From the
popup menu, pick "select" and "within". Another popup window will appear containing all the
selectable layers. Pick the layer for the map features to be selected. If the results are not as
expected, it may be necessary to change the selection method being used. To do this, right click in
the map window and pick "help" and "preferences" from the popup menu. In the dialogue box that
appears, make sure the selection mode is set to "Intersection".
Finding Specific Parcels
Another powerful feature of the GIS Application is the ability to find specific items
on the map. If you know the address, key map number, or the owner name, you can quickly locate
the parcel in the map by using the query functions. To search for an address, click on the Query
Address function and type the house number in the dialogue box. To search for a Parcel, click the
Query Key Map # function and type the map number. To search for property that is titled to a
particular name, click the Query Owner function and type the owner name.
Using "My Query" function
This special feature allows
users to create custom queries and reports using any dataset available for the map's layers. Whether or
not you know specifically what to look for or just part of the information, you can still produce
report based on that information.
For each map layer there may be several different sets of data. To
start, select a map layer. The list of tables will change depending on
the layer selected. From the list of tables, pick the table containing
the desired data. The columns in the selected table will appear in the
next section of the form. To display a column in the report, select the
column name and use the "Add" button to add the column name to the list
on the right side of the form. To add all the table's columns to the
report, select the "ALL COLUMNS" item and click the "Add" button. To
include columns from other tables to the same report, select a different
table, then add columns from that table to the list.
The next section of the form allows the user to set conditions for
the search, based on the data in the selected columns. The first
dropdown list in this section contains all the columns selected for the
report. Choose the column upon which the query will be based. Select one
of the conditional statements from the next dropdown list, then enter
the desired value in the next text box on the form. If your query will
contain multiple conditions, select one of the logical operators from
the last dropdown list. Click the "Add Condition" button to add the
condition statement to the query. When finished adding conditions,
select a column name in the "Sort By" dropdown list and choose either
Ascending or Descending order, then click the "View Report!" button. The
search results will be shown in the report section of the Application,
below the map window.
Printing Maps and Reports
- Page Setup
This function allows users to modify the default appearance of the map by turning off the
legend, north arrow, or scale bar. Users can also enter a title for the map and specify a scale,
if desired. Printer settings can be changed by clicking on the "Print Setup" button in the lower
right corner of the dialogue box.
- Print
Sends the current map
view to any output device available.
Users can print the contents of the report area by clicking anywhere in the report area,
then right clicking and selecting "Print" from the popup menu. On the options tab of the print
dialogue box, make sure that "print only the selected frame" is selected.
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