8 replies to this topic

[margaret]

Greetings friends,

I'm working sans Arc for the first time, experimenting instead with MAPublisher and Illy only, and now trying to understand a good workflow for adding multiple insets to my layout. Yesterday I tried plan a, plan b, plan c...and at the end of the day had nothing but a tangly pile of artboards and map views and no inset.

Today, with tech support, I have a workflow:
---
Create a new map view from the first map view.
Make copies of all the layers in Illy.
Drag all of these new data layer copies, one by one, into the new map view.
Crop the new map view back with the Vector Crop Tool.
---

Now, this map has 115 layers organized into subfolders, and the inset needed 75 of these layers. It is a *small* section of the map. Dragging all of the data for these layers into a new view, for the full extent of the map, took forever. Two hours, one crash, and one freeze later, I had an inset. I have to make two more of these puppies. Is there a better way?

It seems like it would be easier to save my entire file under a new name, go into the new file with Vector Crop and snip away, then somehow import this view + layers back into my main map (haven't ever looked that up but I'm assuming it's possible).

What I really want to do is create an entirely new map view within my main file, set an extent based on lat/long or UTM, and then drag layers into that extent so only the data relevant to that extent is traveling in. Less taxing on the hardware. But it seems impossible to specify extent coordinates in the map view.

Anybody have a great workflow?

Everything today is back to one artboard. Should I be using artboards to do this, and be able to keep my georeferencing?

Nothing unusual about building multiple georeferenced insets so I'm hoping that there's some conceptual something I'm missing about my tools.

Thanks!
Margaret

[David Medeiros]

The typical work flow for me would be about what you described:

Create a new MAP view (I think you can duplicate the original MAP view and simply re size and delete layers, but not sure)
Copy layers over
Clip to extent and re size the map.

I don't think you want to use multiple art boards for this. One question I have is, how detailed is your line-work? Have you done any simplification to reduce the number of points? A 99% simplify will retain almost identical appearance and reduce a significant number of points in the lines. Another factor may be your system, these are memory intensive operations and if you have an older system or one with too little memory you will run into issues.

Curious to hear if there are more sophisticated ways to so this in MAPub.

Edited to add: you can indeed add the MAP view from one map directly into another. The option is in the MAP view palette.

[rudy]

Not sure if you access to InDesign but I have created maps with insets easily in the past using a combination of illustrator and InDesign. The maps are created in Illustrator as 2 separate documents, then brought into InDesign where they can be re sized, placed, etc, independently of each other. Also, any changes you make to the original map files will be automatically updated in your InDesign file.

This may or may not be an option you might want to consider, depending on your frustration level.

[margaret]

One question I have is, how detailed is your line-work? Have you done any simplification to reduce the number of points? A 99% simplify will retain almost identical appearance and reduce a significant number of points in the lines.

Thanks...I hadn't simplified my linework but that's a great idea. I will try that, if only for general file health.

Not sure if you access to InDesign but I have created maps with insets easily in the past using a combination of illustrator and InDesign. The maps are created in Illustrator as 2 separate documents, then brought into InDesign where they can be re sized, placed, etc, independently of each other. Also, any changes you make to the original map files will be automatically updated in your InDesign file.

Thanks, Rudy. Yes, InDesign and Illy is a good combination but the problem is the lack of georeferencing, which I need, hence the quest for a MAPublisher solution and only using Illustrator. Unless I'm not following your suggestion completely?

Margaret

[David Medeiros]

One question I have is, how detailed is your line-work? Have you done any simplification to reduce the number of points? A 99% simplify will retain almost identical appearance and reduce a significant number of points in the lines.

Thanks...I hadn't simplified my linework but that's a great idea. I will try that, if only for general file health.

Not sure if you access to InDesign but I have created maps with insets easily in the past using a combination of illustrator and InDesign. The maps are created in Illustrator as 2 separate documents, then brought into InDesign where they can be re sized, placed, etc, independently of each other. Also, any changes you make to the original map files will be automatically updated in your InDesign file.

Thanks, Rudy. Yes, InDesign and Illy is a good combination but the problem is the lack of georeferencing, which I need, hence the quest for a MAPublisher solution and only using Illustrator. Unless I'm not following your suggestion completely?

Margaret

InDesign in Rudy's suggestion is just the layout platform, it reads the finished EPS files you would output from AI/MAPub and places them in a layout for publication. The master files are maintained in geo-referenced space and as new updates are exported the InDesign file automatically reads and places the new file.

So all that InDesign is doing for you here is allowing you to have a separate inset file for ease of working in AI while keeping it's location in the layout fixed and automatically updated so you don't have to repeatedly make new layouts for every map update.

[margaret]

Oh GOT IT. I was just thinking InDesign layout of Illy, not InDesign layout of Illy running MAPub, but...of course. A much simpler workflow than trying to keep it all in one Illy file. Thank you David and Rudy--you have significantly improved my labors for Labor Day!

Margaret

[rudy]

InDesign in Rudy's suggestion is just the layout platform, it reads the finished EPS files you would output from AI/MAPub and places them in a layout for publication. The master files are maintained in geo-referenced space and as new updates are exported the InDesign file automatically reads and places the new file.

So all that InDesign is doing for you here is allowing you to have a separate inset file for ease of working in AI while keeping it's location in the layout fixed and automatically updated so you don't have to repeatedly make new layouts for every map update.

Couldn't have explained it better myself. Thanks David.

[natcase]

InDesign in Rudy's suggestion is just the layout platform, it reads the finished EPS files you would output from AI/MAPub and places them in a layout for publication. The master files are maintained in geo-referenced space and as new updates are exported the InDesign file automatically reads and places the new file.

So all that InDesign is doing for you here is allowing you to have a separate inset file for ease of working in AI while keeping it's location in the layout fixed and automatically updated so you don't have to repeatedly make new layouts for every map update.

Couldn't have explained it better myself. Thanks David.

Only one thing to add, and that is: use artboards to create your insets in the same AI document, and then place these in the ID layout. Of course this doesn't help the lots-of-layers problem, but it allows you to have artwork with extra bits outside the frame, and to maintain one set of styles in one document.

[cartdeco]

I tackle this issue differently to others.

Begin by creating a new inset map in a new file in Illustrator. Create everything how you would like it and minimise the number of layers if possible. If you're using the same data as your main map, give each layer name a unique prefix (add a # or $ or something similar). Try and make your artwork fit neatly to any map frame rather than using clipping masks.

With both your main map file and your inset map file open in Illustrator, use MAPublisher's Import MAP Objects functionality, accessible through the drop down menu in the MAPviews palette.

This will import the inset map into your main map document.

Go to your MAPviews palette and with Previews set to Thumbnails (you may have to toggle which layers are visible) you can position the map precisely on your page.

I've used this method to create maps with up to 6 inset maps and find it handy to keep your master artwork in separate files for management reasons.

Regards,