Bar Map

$image\barmap.gif$ Bar maps represent one or more data items side-by-side in a bar chart format. The height of each bar is proportional to the associated data value. The position of the bar chart is relative to the polygon, polyline, or point centroid. Centroids may be moved using the Move Centroids command.

Bar maps can be made for polygons, polylines, or points.

For polygons, the bar charts are drawn at the polygons's centroid (geographic center). The polygons use the default fill and line properties, or you can set unique fill and line properties for each area on the map.
For polylines, the bar charts are drawn at the midpoint along the polyline.
For points, the bar charts are drawn directly on top of the points.

Creating and Editing a Bar Map

Click the Map | Create Map | Bar command to create a bar map. Edit bar map properties in the Property Manager.

See Creating and Editing Thematic Maps for information on creating a map, changing a map to another map type, and changing map properties.

Bar Map Properties

The Property Manager for a bar map contains General, Data Labels, Info, Bars, Bar Labels, 3D Settings, and Map pages. Click the preceding hyperlinks for information on properties in each of the property manager pages.

Map Page

The bar map Property Manager Map page contains general bar style, size, and position properties. See the Bars page for variable specific bar properties.

Change bar map properties in the Map page of the

Property Manager.

General

The General section of the Map page properties control the general bar properties in a bar map.

Click the Use constant values for all variables to use the same relative sizes for all data variables represented on the map. The Use constant values for all variables options should be checked when data values are related and/or have the same approximate magnitude. Differences between data in the smaller data columns are not easily discernible when Use constant values for all variables is clicked. When Use constant values for all variables is active, size, tick, negative bar, and baseline properties for all variables are edited on the Map page.

If the Use constant values for all variables property is not active, the bars are scaled relative to their individual variable data. Size, tick, negative bar, and baseline properties are edited for each variable in the Bars page.

Select a Vertical or Horizontal bar direction in the Orientation list.

Select Stacked or Adjacent in the Stacking list to stack the bars or show them side by side.

Click the Shade bar face check box to apply shading to the bar face.

Click the Show ticks on bars check box to add reference tick marks to the bars. If Show ticks on bars and Use constant values for all variables is active, the Tick value can be changed by typing a number into the Tick value box. If Use constant values for all variables is not checked, the tick value is edited for each variable independently on the Bars page.

Size

The Size section specifies the Width, Depth, Min height, and Max height for the bars. The Size properties are only available on the Map page when Use constant values for all variables is checked. If different values are used for each variable, the bar size properties for each variable are edited in the Bars page. The Width and Depth fields change the size of all the displayed bars. The Min height value is applied to the minimum data value for all variables used in the bar map. The Max height value is the height of the bar corresponding to the largest data value for all variables used in the bar map. The remaining bars are sized proportionally between the minimum and maximum bar heights. Type a number in page units into one of the size fields or click the buttons to change the bar size.

Position

Select the bar position by clicking Center, Left, Right, Above, Below, or User Defined in the Centroid offset list. Selecting User Defined enables editing in the X offset and Y offset boxes. Type a value in page units into the X offset and Y offset fields or click the buttons to move the bar position relative to the object centroids. Object centroids can be moved with the Move Centroids command.

Bar line

Change the bar line properties in the Bar line section of the Map page. See the line properties help page for more information on editing line properties.

Baseline

The Baseline section of the Map page contains properties to show a baseline, set the base value, and edit baseline line and fill properties. Click the Allow negative bar check box to allow bars to grow in the opposite direction (down for Vertical bars, left for Horizontal bars) for negative data values. When Allow negative bar is not active, data value difference from the data minimum is represented by the bar height. When Allow negative bar is checked, the data value difference from the Base value is represented by the bar height.

Click the Baseline button to show a baseline on the bar charts

The Base value field sets the base value when Allow negative bar and Use constant values for all variables are active. The Base value can be set by typing a number into the Base value field. If constant values are not used for variables, edit individual variable base values in the Bars page. When Allow negative bar is not checked the Base value is disabled and set at the minimum data value.

See the line properties and fill properties pages for more information on editing baseline line and fill properties. Apply a gradient fill to the baseline by selecting Linear or Radial from the Type list. Click on the Colormap selection to pick a predefined colormap for the gradient, or click the button to create a custom colormap in the Colormap dialog. Select a Vertical, Horizontal, Inward, or Outward gradient direction in the Gradient Direction list.