Thematic Map

OCAD ThematicMapper has been developped in a joint project of the OCAD Inc. and the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation at ETH Zurich. As a core of the new application a step-by-step wizard guides - considering established cartographic rules - through the process of creating thematic maps. The wizard supports the user from the data analysis to the thematic symbolization and visualization. The OCAD ThematicMapper opens the OCAD software for the broad scope of thematic statistical maps.

Create a Thematic Map

You can get access to the Thematic Map Wizard by opening a New File with choosing Thematic Map as a map type (this is done silently in the OCAD ThematicMapper edition) or by clicking Create with Wizard... in the Thematic Map menu. It opens the Welcome page of the wizard with an overview of the six steps to create a thematic map.

Requirements

OCAD ThematicMapper module requires the Borland Database Engine and the Microsoft Access Database Engine. See also system requirements.

Welcome Page

Add a new theme

Choose the Add new theme to the map option and enter a name for the theme (ex. population change). It is possible to load the wizard settings with the load settings from xml file option if you have already created thematic maps with the Thematic Map Wizard. The xml file can be choosen with the ... button.
A map can have more than one theme (ex. choropleths + proportional symbols).
The next button is only active if a theme name is set.

Modify an existing theme

Use the option Modify an existing theme to change the settings of an already existing theme in your map file.

Step 1 - Statistical Data

1. Load statistical data from a file (*.xls, *.csv, *.dbf or *.txt).

   The statistical data should be complete and accurate.

   Select a table (sheet) if an Excel file is loaded.

   It's possible to view the table with the lense icon.

   The statistical data should have a common field with the attribute table of the geometry data, in order to be joined later.

2. Select attributes to visualize either by double click, drag and drop or selecting them and pressing the [>]-button.

   Remove attributes from the selection by double click (in the box Selected attributes to visualize:), drag and drop or selecting them and pressing the [<]-button.

3. Define if the attribute values are absolute or relative and if they shall be classified and choose the representation feature to visualize the theme.

   The Classify and the representation feature option are disabled if more than one attribute is chosen.

4. Click the Next button to go on with Step 2.

Step 2 - Geometry

1. Load the geometry data from shape (*.shp) file.

   It's possible get a data preview. The Geometry Data Viewer is opened by clicking on the lense icon. Switch between the Geometry and the 'attribute(s) tab to view the map or the attribute table.

2. Set map scale and map size.

   The map scale and the map size are linked by default. Click the Keep ratio between map scale and map size button to disable the ratio fixation.

3. Select a coordinate system.

   By default the coordinate system of the template file (loaded during the New File process ) is set.

The template file is loaded from: OCAD program path -> symbols\Thematic Map.ocd. Select another one by clicking on the Choose button.

1. Click the Next button to go on with Step 3.

Step 3 - Join Data

1. Choose a common field in both tables.

   Click on the lense icons to view the tables, if you are not sure which fields have common values.

2. Decide betweeon the options Keep all records (Left outer join) or Keep matching records (inner join).
3. Click the Next button to go on with step 4.

Step 4 - Visualization of map's theme

Step 4.1: Choose a Visualization Method

1. Choose a visualization method that is suitable for the chosen data. The wizard suggests the most appropriate method(s) according to the choices done in Step 1.
2. Click the Next button to go on with step 4.

Step 4.1.1: Select the Chart Properties (Only for charts)

1. Grouping: Choose if the attributes shall be divided into groups.

   The grouping option is only enabled if the number of selected attributes allows to create groups with a constant number of attributes.

   Select the Divide attributes to several groups option if they attributes should be divided to several groups.

   Click on the ... button to open the Define groups with drag and drop window.

   Select a number of groups and divide the attributes to the corresponding number of columns. Each column represents one group. Keep attention that have the same order of attributes.

   Enter the group names in the first row.

   Click Close to hide the Define groups with drag and drop window.

2. Proportionality

   Choose if the chart size should be Linear (length) or Quadratic (area) proportional to the data values.

3. Amount emphasis

   Choose between emphasizing the Total amount (total size) or the Sub values (sub value sizes).

4. Choose one of the available charts.
5. Click the Next button to go on.

Step 4.2: Visualization Properties

The available visualization properties depend from the visualization method chosen in step 4.1. Click the lense icon to show/hide the preview on the right side of the wizard.

Proportional Symbols

1. Choose a Visualization type like Proportional bar, Proportional circle or Proportional square.
2. Define the symbol color by double-clicking on the attribute(s). The color picker opens and allows to define the color either with CMYK or RGB.
3. Scale the symbol size by a Representation ratio or a Maximum size (height, radius, side length etc.). Define also a minimum size (height, radius etc.)
   1. Define a Bar width for the visualization type 'Proportional bar.
4. Define the Stroke color and Stroke width and if the stroke width shall decrease for smaller symbols.
5. Define the Opacity in a value range between 0 and 100%.
6. Decide if 0 values and no data shall be shown.
7. Click the Next button to go on.

Step 5 - Visualization of Basemap

This step shows the different layers and can be edited and arranged. Additional layers can be added and removed .
Make sure that the basemap features are suitable for this scale.

Step 6 - Additional Map Elements

Additional map elements help the user to read the map.

1. Set a map title.
2. Decide if any legends shall be added.
3. Decide if a scale bar or a scale text shall be added.
4. Decide if you want to add any additional text information.

Any text element can get it's own style setting.

Create Thematic Maps with XML Script

OCAD XML scripts functionality does also support to create thematic maps with xml script

Thematic Map Samples

There are several sample maps available in the OCAD program subfolder Samples\ThematicMapper (usually C:\Program Files\OCAD\OCAD 12\Samples\ThematicMapper) as well as statistic data samples, geometry data samples and XML script samples.
Open the sample maps by using Open Sample Map... in the File menu.
Execute the XML scripts by using Execute XML Script in the File menu.

Thematic Map Videos

[Create an Energy Production Wing Charts Map]
[Create a Population Change Choropleth Map]

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