Tag Archives: Professional Map Making

How to add logos in OCAD

Leave a reply

In OCAD you can add raster logos in the Layout menu or you can import a vector PDF file.

Add raster logos

Raster logos can now be embedded directly in the OCAD file instead of just linking to the original file.

  • Embed: By embedding the raster images directly in the OCAD file, the file size increases accordingly. However, when passing on OCAD files, it is no longer necessary to ensure that the layout images are also supplied and saved in the correct folder.
  • Link: If your map contains layout images and you pass your file forward to another person, you need to ensure that the layout images are also supplied and saved in the correct folder, as they are not part of the OCAD file.

You can also select a linked image in the Layout object list and the Convert button becomes active. Press the Convert button and the selected image will be embedded.

In the best case the images are available as .png or.jpg files. Supported image files are also .bmp and .gif. Tiff files can be linked, but not embedded.

If there are only few and distinct colors with no color gradient, e.g. OCAD logo, the .png file is the best choice. Please note that PNG transparency is not supported. Save the logo as .jpg file if there are color gradients, e.g. IOF World Cup logo.

OCAD logo and IOF World Cup logo

The color model for layout images in OCAD is RGB. If you add raster logos, that are saved as CMKY logos, OCAD will convert the colors.

Make sure the raster images are not unnecessarily too large (e.g. some MB size). In this case, resampling before adding is recommended (e.g. in Paint or IrfanView).

More about the Layout menu.

Add vector logos

It is also possible to import logos in vector PDF format. In this case OCAD creates Image objects, which have the correct CMYK color values and can be scaled arbitrarily.

OCAD for Single User vs. OCAD for Teams

Leave a reply

OCAD licenses can be purchased as Single User or Team licenses.

What is the difference? How can the licenses be used?

  • Single User license

Single User licenses are suitable for individual users who want to work on multiple devices.

The user of a Single User license can install the software on 1 device by default. In order to allow the use on several own devices at the same time (e.g. desktop pc, laptop, tablet for field work), further activations for own devices will be granted by OCAD on request. Please contact info@ocad.com in this case.

  • Team license

Team licenses are suitable for clubs and organizations where many users work with OCAD.

Unlike Single User licenses, a Team license can only be activated on one device at a time, but the users can transfer their license immediately and at any time to another person.

The licenses can also be installed in a Dropbox or OneDrive folder, which is shared with the users. When a user starts OCAD now, he can activate one of the available licenses. Thanks to the Deactivate this license automatically when closing OCAD option, Team licenses are automatically released again after a user closes OCAD.

More information about the OCAD subscription open can be found here.

The Strengths of WMS and WMTS

Leave a reply

The terms WMS and WMTS may sound scary to people who are not very familiar with computers. But no worries: It’s pretty easy to use them and knowing their strengths is of great advantage for mapping and even for course setting.

So, what exactly is WMS and WMTS?

WMS (Web Map Service) and WMTS (Web Map Tile Service) are interfaces for retrieving geodata as raster data over the internet. More and more of these services are available today.

  • A WMS is calculated on the server side and delivers one image per request.
  • A WMTS delivers tiles that have been pre-renderd on the server side, and cached on the client side. This will reduce waiting time for the data and bandwith.

In OCAD, you can load WMS/WMTS as a background map. To do so, choose the WMS / WMTS command from the Background Map menu.

Typical layers are e.g. official cadastral surveys, topographic maps, aerial images, but also protected areas or forest reserves. All these data can contain useful information for your map project.

Therefore, you can easily update maps or add additional information to it with WMS/WMTS. In the example below, we connected a WMS from swisstopo and displayed a layer to show Forest Reserve Areas on a map.

Also, you can set courses on a WMS / WMTS layer. A step-by-step guide can be found in our OCAD Wiki.

How to reduce the file size?

1 Reply

Have you ever wondered why the file size of one of your map is so large? Then it’s probably time to clean up your map.

Here are some suggestions how you can reduce the file size:

#01: Optimize/Repair

Choose the Optimize/Repair command in the Map menu to optimize (reduce) the size of the map file and repair damaged objects. With edit operations such as deleting objects, empty space is created in the map file. This function removes this empty space and therefore reduces the size of the map file. It’s therefore highly recommended to run the Optimize/Repair from time to time.

Optimization result of a map.

#02: Select and delete unnecessary objects

In the picture example above, you can see that there are many objects without symbols, unknown symbol or invalid symbol type.

Choose Select Objects by Symbol in the Select menu to select all objects with certain symbols or in a certain layer.

You can now assign the selected objects to new symbols or (what is probably more often the case) delete the objects.

Select By Symbol.

#03: Smooth not smoothed contours

When creating contours with the DEM Import Wizard, you can choose to create not smoothed contours. These contours consists of many vertices and let your file size increase.

Select the contours and run the Smooth command in the Topology menu to reduce the amount of vertices. Make sure to choose the tolerance so that no information is lost. Run the Optimize / Repair command afterwards.

PS: To select all contours at once, either right-click on the contour symbol in the symbol box and choose Select Objects by Symbol or use the Select Objects by Symbol function.

Select contours and run the smooth command.

#04: Remove unnecessary areas

If you import existing geodata, e.g. by using the New Map Wizard, you probably import an area too large. You can Crop the map to the size of your actual project scope and remove unnecessary areas. Run the Optimize / Repair command afterwards.

Crop part of your map that you do not use.