Did You Know?

You can show more than one data field as labels with data mapping software. Step-by-step guide on adding more than one data field as a label.

A discussion of why maps can load or draw slowly, and some best practices to avoid this and speed up your maps.

You can perform a site location analysis using Maptitude logistics mapping software. A case study for selecting a suitable site for a new Amazon headquarters using the Maptitude Software.

How to open an .an1 file in Maptitude using the File>Open and setting the file type to GPS Data.

You can create maps with the new US demographics with Maptitude demographic mapping software. Step-by-step tutorial on opening maps with new demographic data.

How to use different street layers to speed up routing calculations in Maptitude

You can create a multiple symbol theme or pattern theme using Maptitude thematic mapping software. Step-by-step tutorial on creating multiple symbol themes and pattern themes.

How to use image fill styles for areas

How to get counts of locations by regular grid cells

How to create custom fields such as “Millennials” using Sum Fields

How to use company logos for point icons

How to identify high growth areas

How to contact the Maptitude team to request or purchase GIS consulting services.

How to Add Country Labels in Different Languages

How to change the displayed style for streets to be wide white lines.

You can translate the Maptitude menus into different languages using the translate menu add-ins on the Maptitude GISDK add-ins page.

You can right-click on one or more drawing items in a map and choose Copy, then go to any other open map and right-click and choose Paste to copy the items to the same location on that map.

Maptitude makes it easy to save a map into a PDF format. Simply, choose File>Export>PDF and your default PDF printer driver is used to create a PDF that is automatically oriented portrait or landscape.

You can change the mouse cursor back to the pointer arrow when, for example, you have chosen another tool such as the Info tool. Simply choose the Pointer button on the Drawing toolbar.

You can use the Map>Imagery>USGS Topographic Maps command to add a topographic relief map to the background of your maps.

Press Ctrl+ on your keyboard to make all labels and point symbols larger and all lines and area borders wider, or press Ctrl- to make them smaller. Press Ctrl 0 to reset the sizes to the default.

You can search for a specific value in a Dataview by clicking the Find button, choosing the field that the value is contained in from the Field drop down list, typing in the value into the Value box, and clicking OK.

If you only want to locate an entire field, pick your field from the Field drop-down, leave the Value box blank, and click OK.

You can show your territory data as labels with Maptitude sales territory mapping software. Step-by-step guide on showing territory data as labels.

The Maptitude Country Packages are all nationwide in scope, but sometimes you may want to restrict your map to show just a particular region. You can create masks that hide features outside of your area of interest. Simply use the selection tools to select the area you want to display (e.g., a state, county, or cluster of postal codes) and choose Tools>Reports>Mask to display the Create a Mask dialog box, choose the type of mask, and click OK.

You can export your maps as Animated GIFs to show change over time. Go to File>Share>Animated GIF and add each frame individually to the GIF before you save.

If you have used the Show/Hide Fields tool in a dataview and want to revert back to the defaults, you can show all columns in a dataview in their original order by right-clicking on a cell or column heading and choosing Show All.

With an item in a column selected in a dataview, you can highlight the entire column by pressing Ctrl+Space on your keyboard.

You can select freehand items by clicking with the right mouse button.  When you do, Maptitude displays a context-sensitive menu for working with the selected item(s).

Press Ctrl+ on your keyboard to make all point symbols and labels larger and all lines and area borders wider, or press Ctrl- to make them smaller. Press Ctrl 0 to reset the sizes to the default.

You can import Esri Shapefiles into a Caliper geographic format file.

Most of the geographic files included with Maptitude use feature display settings to display classes of features. Use the Feature Display Settings dialog box (Tools>Editing>Feature Display) or the Display Manager to see or modify the predefined feature settings.

To change the style of the active selection set, click the Change the style for this selection set button  on the Selection toolbar.

When creating a thematic map, if your points are clustered close together, you may want to set the style of the layer to be less than 100% Opacity so that overlapping symbols are clearer.

You can delete a selection set by right-clicking on a selection set in the Display Manager and choosing Remove.

You can display the Rename Selection Set dialog box by right-clicking on a selection set in the Display Manager and choosing Rename.

You can filter a list of Fields by clicking on the drop-down list and typing several letters. Only fields containing the text you enter will display in the drop-down list.

You can convert MapPoint Territories to an Excel Table with Maptitude, an alternative to MapPoint. Tip on how to import MapPoint territories as an Excel table.

You can quickly open recently used workspaces by choosing File>Recent Files and choosing the map from the submenu.

You can save Pattern and Color Themes to a settings file to use in other maps or on other layers with the same fields. In the Theme Wizard go to Save and either create a new Settings file or save to an existing one.

Animated GIFs often look best when the images are all the same size. Use the Windows>Cascade command or maximize separate windows to make different windows the same size.

You can create Bookmarks on your map to save locations that you frequently zoom to on the map. Go to Map>Zoom>Bookmarks >Create to make a bookmark and Map>Zoom>Bookmarks>Go To to select a bookmark to zoom to. 

The ratio of width to height is not fixed for rectangle and circle freehand items. Hold the Shift key while resizing these items if you want to keep the aspect ratio.

If your mouse has a scroll wheel you can zoom in by rolling the scroll wheel away from you, zoom out by rolling the scroll wheel toward you, and pan by holding the scroll wheel down and dragging the map to a new location.

Choose the Locate records in your file by Address, ZIP Code or City option to have Maptitude try several options if your data contains a mixture of records with addresses and no addresses.

You can export demographic overlay data and other information to Excel by choosing the layer to export, making it the working layer, and clicking the Export to Excel button on the Standard toolbar.

You can add tools to let you navigate through selection sets or keep running totals for a certain field of a selection set by clicking Options in the Selection Toolbar and checking the appropriate boxes.

Use the Locate commands found by following Tools>Locate if you want to create a new layer from address information contained in your data.

You can clear cells by right-clicking on a highlighted range of cells and choosing Clear.

If you want to create a new blank field to fill with data, modify the underlying table using Dataview>Table>Modify.  Then, click Add Field and set up the field as you need.

You can use the copy shortcut (Ctrl+C) to copy cell values and the paste shortcut (Ctrl-V) to edit cell values with data that has been copied.  You can paste these cell values into another dataview or into Microsoft Excel.

If a field name contains spaces or other special characters or starts with a digit, you must put square brackets around it. For example a field called “Age <5"  will need to be "[Age <5]" in your formula. Fields that require brackets will automatically display with them in the Formula Builder Field List.

When creating Territories, you will need to choose the smallest geographic areas that will be represented in your territories for the Geography Layer.

You can export demographic overlay data and other information to Excel by choosing the layer to export, making it the working layer, and clicking the Export to Excel button  on the Standard toolbar.

You can connect various points on a map using the Point to Line Conversion tool under Tools>Editing>Point to Line Conversion.  Combine this with GPS to track vehicle routes.

You can hide and show layers with the Display Manager by clicking on the green check or red cross next to the layer.

When you move a label with the Customize Labels tool it will snap to align with other moved labels. Press the Space Bar while moving a label to turn off this behavior.

You can change the default style used by the drawing tools by choosing Edit>Preferences and clicking the polygon, line, or point sample buttons on the Freehand/Layout tab.