button in the upper right corner of the main MapViewer
window. The MapViewer window fills
the screen, and the entire status bar is displayed.One of MapViewer's strengths is the ability to add layers to your maps. Each time you open a new map window, Layer #1 is automatically created and it is the active layer, ready to receive any type of input such as imported boundary files, drawing objects, and so on. Layers are like transparencies in that you can see through each layer to the underlying layers. An important characteristic of layers is that each layer can have only one thematic map and can have only one data file associated with it.
The active layer is indicated on the right end of the status
bar at the bottom of the MapViewer
window. If you cannot see the entire status bar, click the button in the upper right corner of the main MapViewer
window. The MapViewer window fills
the screen, and the entire status bar is displayed.
The Object Manager also displays the layer information in MapViewer. You can rename layers, change the order of layers, make a layer active, and remove layers in the Object Manager. The active layer name is indicated with Bold text.
In this example, we add a second thematic map to our hatch map, creating a pin map over the top of the hatch map. Pin maps show point locations by drawing a symbol at each point to be shown on the map.
1. Choose
the Map | Layer | New Layer command
. A new layer is created in the Object
Manager.
2. Rename the new layer by clicking once, waiting a moment, and clicking again on the new layer's name in the Object Manager. Type "Pin Map" and press ENTER.
Clicking on a layer name in the Object Manager makes the layer the active layer. You do not need to move the layer to the front to make it active. You can only select objects on the active layer when clicking in the plot window. Click "Pin Map" in the Object Manager to make it the active layer, and then click on objects in the plot window. Notice that because all of the objects are on the "Hatch Map" layer, none are selected.
Back to Lesson 5.3 - Adding Graticule Lines to Show the Map Coordinate System
Next to Lesson 6.1 - Creating a Pin Map