Intro TransCAD

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Murtaza Haider Murtaza Haider [email protected] [email protected] Tel: 416.979.5000, ext. 2480 Tel: 416.979.5000, ext. 2480

TRANSCAD

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TRANSCAD

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TransCAD Screen

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TransCAD Menus, Toolbar and Toolboxes

• Menus: list all the TransCAD commands

• Toolbar: buttons for frequently used commands • Toolboxes: contain tools for general and specific

needs

• Commands or tools are gray when they cannot be used 

TransCAD Dialog Boxes

• Menu commands ending with three dots (...) have dialog boxes

• Some dialog box buttons take you to additional dialog boxes

• You can use defaults settings or change any of the options

Help Is Available Several Ways

• Balloon help appears if you leave the cursor over a  button

• Status bar shows brief help and other information • Context-sensitive, on-line help by pressing the F1

Types of Windows

• Map: an electronic version of a paper map • View: two kinds:

 – Dataview: to view and edit tables of data from geographic files, databases or spreadsheets

 – Matrix view: to view and edit values in a matrix • Figure: a window containing a chart or other

graphic

• Layout: presentations with maps, views and figures,  plus freehand text and other items

Workspaces Save All Open Windows

• You can save more than one window

• You can save windows of different types

Designing Maps and Creating Themes

• Goal: Understand the parts of a map and how to use them to:

 – Organize your data  – Study relationships  – Present information

Basics: Map

• Definition: classically, a drawn or printed

representation of the earth and its features. In this case, an electronic version of that representation.

Basics: Layers

• Definition: a group of map features of the same type, such as states, highways, or retail stores; conceptual equivalent of an acetate overlay on a  physical map

Basics: Map Features

• Definition: entities such as customers, rivers, cities, states, and roads, that are displayed as points, lines or areas on a map

Basics: Saving and Retrieving Maps

• All the information needed to recreate a map is saved in a .MAP file

Example: Saving and Retrieving Maps

File-Save File-Save As

Basics: Printing a Map

• You can print a map directly, or place it in a layout and print the layout

Quick Start: Overview

• Step-by-step tutorial, showing basics in action

• In this Quick Start we will create a map and move around it

• We are just touching the surface of what TransCAD can do

Creating a New Map

• Choose File-Open or click on the toolbar.

• Choose Geographic File from the List Files of Type drop-down list.

• From the TCW\TUTORIAL subdirectory, choose the file NES_HWY.CDF and click OK. TransCAD displays a map of highways in southern New

Moving around the Map: Zoom In

• Click in the main toolbox to activate the Zoom In tool.

• Click in the middle of the map. TransCAD redraws the map at twice the scale.

• Drag a rectangle around Boston. TransCAD enlarges the Boston area to fill the map.

Moving around the Map: Zoom Out

• Click to activate the Zoom Out tool.

• Click in the middle of the map. TransCAD redraws the map at half the scale, with Boston still in the

Moving around the Map: Pan

• Click to activate the Pan tool.

• Drag Boston to one corner of the window and

release the mouse button. TransCAD redraws the map in the new location.

Moving around the Map

• Choose Map-Previous Scale. TransCAD redraws the map as it was before you used the Pan tool. • Choose Map-Previous Scale again. TransCAD

redraws the map as it was before you used the Zoom Out tool.

• Choose Map-Initial Scale. TransCAD redraws the map as it was when you started.

 Adding a New Layer 

• Choose Map-Initial Scale, then choose Map-Layers or click on the toolbar.

• Click Add Layer to display the File Open dialog  box.

• From TCW\TUTORIAL, choose the file  NESOUTH.CDF and click OK.

Saving a Map

• Choose File-Save or click on the toolbar. • Choose a writeable drive and then create

TCW\TUTORIAL subdirectory.

• Enter MYFIRST as the map name and click OK. TransCAD saves the map.

Retrieving a Map

• Choose File-Open or click on the toolbar, and choose MYFIRST.MAP from the

TCW\TUTORIAL subdirectory.

• Click OK. TransCAD opens and displays the map, as it was when you saved it.

Printing a Map

• Choose File-Print or click on the toolbar.

• Choose Landscape from the Orientation drop-down list and check the other printer settings.

Returning to a Previous Scale and Center 

• Map-Previous Scale command: use scale and center from before the last change

• Map-Initial Scale command: use scale and center from when map was created or last saved. Style and other changes shown

• Map-Snapshot command: shows how the map

looked when last saved. Subsequent style and other changes not shown

How Map Features Are Organized

• Grouped into layers, stored in files • Layer can be points, lines or areas • Layers can be visible or not

• Visible layers are drawn in order 

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: Style

: Style

•• DefDefiniinitiotion: n: The The colcolorsors, pa, pattetterns, rns, symsymbolbols ans and lid linesnes that are used to draw map features

Basics: Label

• Definition: a way of identifying features on a map using text

Basics: Freehand Item

• Definition: a point, line, shape, symbol, bitmap, or text item that is drawn using the freehand tools.

Freehand items may be moved or edited with the  pointer tool

Quick Start: Retrieving Your Map

• Choose File-Close All to close any windows that you have open.

• Choose File-Open or click on the toolbar, and choose MYFIRST.MAP from the

TCW\TUTORIAL subdirectory.

• Click OK. TransCAD opens and displays your Quick Start map.

Using Styles

• Choose County from the drop-down list in the toolbar.

• Click on the toolbar to display the Style dialog  box.

• Choose Solid from the Fill Style drop-down list and a color from the Color drop-down list.

• Click OK. TransCAD redraws the map with the new style.

Changing the Map Background Style

• Choose Map-Settings, then choose Solid from the Background Styles drop-down list and a color from the Background Color drop-down list.

• Click OK. TransCAD redraws the map with the  background color behind the filled counties.

Labeling Features in a Map

• Click on the toolbar; click Add Layer. • From TCW\TUTORIAL choose the file

 NES_PLC.CDF, then click OK.

• Click on the toolbar to display the Labels dialog  box.

• Choose City from the Field drop-down list.

• Click OK. TransCAD labels the places with their names.

In Depth: Using Styles

• Styles for points, lines, areas and the map  background each have their own dialog box

• Two ways to changes styles (and labels) for a layer:  – Choose the layer from the drop-down list on the toolbar

and click 

Labeling Features in a Map

• Labels identify map features

• You can use any data field as a label • Labels can be:

 – Automatic: TransCAD decides how to place the labels, and which features are labeled 

 – Manual: you decide how to place the labels, and which features to label. The labels become and act like freehand text

 Automatic Labels

Manual Labels

Notes on Using Manual Labels

• If you zoom in to a larger scale, manual labels get  bigger; if you zoom out, they get smaller 

• More automatic labels may appear as you zoom in • Add manual labels to unlabeled features as a last

Quick Start: Using Freehand Items #1

• Click in the main toolbox to activate the Text tool.

• Drag a rectangle on the map where you want the text, type your name and press Enter.

• Click in the main toolbox to activate the Pointer tool.

Using Freehand Items #2

• Click on the text to select it.

• Click on one of the editing handles in a corner and drag it to change the size of the text. The text is

redrawn at the new size.

• Click anywhere inside the text, but not on one of the handles, and drag the text to a new location.

Using Freehand Items #3

• Drag the rotation handle to rotate the text.

• Double-click on the text to display the Freehand Text dialog box.

• Change the color to blue, the font to Times New Roman and the size to 24, then click OK.

TransCAD redraws the text.

• Press the Delete key to delete the selected freehand items.

In Depth: Drawing Tools

More Drawing Tools

• Text tool

• Bitmap tool

Working with Freehand Items

• Pointer tool is used to:

 – Select one or more freehand items  – Change the size of a freehand item  – Rotate text or symbol items

 – Move freehand items  – Edit freehand items

More Working with Freehand Items

• Pointer tool is also used to:  – Align

freehand  items:

 – Change the order of freehand items  – Make copies of freehand items

Basics: Theme

• Definition: a method of illustrating the data that go with a map layer. Map themes use color, patterns, charts, or other symbols to illustrate the

Basics: Legend

• Definition: an explanation of the symbols, colors and styles used in a map, usually in a box next to the map.

Quick Start: Retrieving Your Map

• Choose File-Close All to close any windows that you have open.

• Choose File-Open or click on the toolbar, and choose MYFIRST.MAP from the

TCW\TUTORIAL subdirectory.

• Click OK. TransCAD opens and displays your Quick Start map.

Showing and Hiding a Legend

• Click in the toolbar, or else choose Map-Settings to display the Map Settings dialog box, check the legend checkbox and click OK. TransCAD will show the legend.

• Click in the toolbar again. TransCAD will hide the legend.

Getting Ready to Create a Theme

• Choose Map-Scale or click in the toolbar to display the Map Scale dialog box.

• Click the Show an Entire Layer radio button, choose the County layer and click OK. TransCAD redraws the map to show the whole County layer.

• Make sure County shows in the drop-down list in the toolbar.

Creating a Theme

• Click on the toolbar or choose Map-Color Theme to display the Color Theme dialog box. • Choose Population from the Field drop-down list

and click OK. TransCAD redraws the map with the color theme, and shows the legend.

 Adding Another Theme

• Click on the toolbar or choose Map-Dot Density to display the Dot Density Theme dialog box.

• Click on White and Shift-click on [Other Race] in the Field drop-down list and click OK. TransCAD redraws the map with the multi-variable dot-density theme and updates the legend.

 Adding a Third Theme

• Click on the toolbar or choose Map-Chart Theme to display the Chart Theme dialog box.

• In the Field drop-down list, click on [Mode: Drove Alone] and Shift-click on [Mode: Bus], Ctrl-click on [Mode: Subway], then click OK. TransCAD redraws the map with the pie chart theme and updates the legend.

In Depth: Legends

• Click to show or hide legend 

Using Themes to Present Information

• About map themes

• MapWizard instant mapping • Color themes

• Pattern themes (no button) • Dot-density themes

• Scaled-symbol themes • Pie and bar chart themes

 About Map Themes

• Color often used first when exploring data • Pattern good for black and white printing

• Color and pattern best with negative numbers and non-numeric data

• Use chart or dot density to show values for two or more fields

• Don’t use chart or dot density for percentages, ratios or averages

MapWizard(tm) Instant Mapping

• Looks over the data • Creates the theme

• Chooses a design that makes map clear and attractive

Color Themes

Color Theme Style

Methods for Color and Pattern Themes

• Equal number of features • Equal range of values

• Equal area/length • List of values

• Nested means

• Standard deviation • Manual

Manual Theme

Dot-Density Themes

Dot-Density Theme Styles

• Click Style for Dot-Density Theme Style dialog  box:

Scaled-Symbol Themes

Pie and Bar Chart Themes

• Click for  Chart Theme dialog box: