Presentation Maps

Making a Presentation Map

You can use the sophisticated styling features of AutoCAD Map 3D to create an attractive and
informative map in layout space with a legend, compass rose, and a title block. In this skill builder,
you will create a presentation map that shows land values for parcels in the city of Redding,
California.
In the following procedures, you will:

1 Create a map using a Map Book template.

2 Bring data in to your map.

3 Style your map.

4 Create a legend.

5 Edit the legend.

6 Publish the completed map.

Create a Map Using a Map Book Template

First you will create a new map using a Map Book template. The Map Book template includes a
compass rose and title block.

To create a map using a Map Book template

1 Click ➤ New ➤ Drawing.

2 In the Select Template dialog box, select Map Book Template - 8.5x11 Elegant.dwt.

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 3 Click Open.

Bring Data Into Your Map

Next, you will bring data into your map. You will use sample data from the city of Redding, California.
Specifically, you will use the Parcels.sdf, River.sdf, Roads.sdf, Parks.sdf, and park_points.sdf files, which
are included with this skill builder. They are also available in the sample data included with AutoCAD
Map 3D 2010.
Before you add data to your map, switch from the layout view to the model view. To make switching
between the model and layout views easier, you can display the layout and model tabs in your drawing
window.

To display the layout and model tabs

➤ Right-click and select Display Layout and Model Tabs.

To add data to your map

Follow this procedure to connect to Parcels.sdf, Roads.sdf, River.sdf, parks.sdf, and park_points.sdf.

1 On the Home ribbon tab ➤ Data panel, click Connect.

2 In the Data Connect dialog box, click Add SDF Connection.

3 Click the file button next to the Source File field to browse to the location of your data files.

4 In the Open dialog box, select the data file to add, then click Open.

5 Click Connect.

6 Check the box next to the schema name, then click Add to Map.

7 Repeat this procedure until all of the data files are connected and added to your map.

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Style Features In Your Map
You can style the features in your map using the Display Manager. Styling allows you to control the display
of features in your map, making it more attractive and informative.
In the following procedures, you will style the parcels layer according to land values, give the roads layer
different display styles based on a scale range, and give the parks and river layers a more intuitive appearance.
Before you style the features of your map, change the background color in model space from the default
blue to white.

Change the model space background color

1 Click ➤ Options.

2 In the Options dialog box, click the Drafting tab.

3 On the Drafting tab, click the Colors button.

4 Select the 2D Model Space context, and the Uniform Background Interface Element.

5 Select White from the Color drop-down list.

6 Click Apply & Close.

7 Click OK.

Style the Parcels layer

1 Select the Parcels layer in the Display Manager, then click the Style button on the Display Manager tool
bar. The Style Editor appears.

2 In the Style Editor, under Polygon Style For 0-Infinity Range, click New Theme.

3 In the Theme Polygons dialog box, under Create Thematic Rules Based On A Property, set the following
values:
■ Property: LAND_VALUE

■ Distribution: Quantile

■ Number of Rules: 6

A theme is a style that visually represents values across a range of data. A quantile distribution divides
the data across the range into sets of equal size. Applying these rules to the land value property gives
you six equal sets of parcels organized by their land value.

4 In the Theme Polygons dialog box, next to Style Range, click .

5 In the Theme Polygons dialog box, under Apply Fill To The Polygons, select a color range from yellow
to red.

Style Features In Your Map | 3

 6 Click OK.

7 Double-check the values in the Theme Polygons dialog box. They should match the values in the
following screenshot. Click OK.

The new parcel style gives a better view of land values for the city of Redding, but with a few small
changes it can be greatly improved. In the following procedure, you will adjust the land values for each
thematic rule, and change the colors for parcels valued over 1,000,000 and parcels with a land value of
zero. You will also values to display in the legend label.

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Modify the parcel style and add legend label values

1 In the Style Editor, click the first row under Thematic Rules (“LAND_VALUE” >= 0 AND “LAND_VALUE”
< 16507). The Create/Modify Expressions dialog box appears.

2 In the Create/Modify Expressions dialog box, modify the first thematic rule to include values greater
than 0 and less than 10000.

3 Click OK.

4 In the Style Editor, click the Legend Label field for the first thematic rule and enter “1 to 10000.”

5 In the Style Editor, click the second row under Thematic Rules. The Create/Modify Expressions dialog
box appears.

6 In the Create/Modify Expressions dialog box, modify the second thematic rule to include values greater
than or equal to 10,000 and less than 20,000.

Style Features In Your Map | 5

 7 Click OK.

8 In the Style Editor, click the Legend Label field for the second thematic rule and enter “10000 to
20000.”

9 Repeat steps 5-8 for each of the remaining four thematic rules:
■ 20,000 to 50,000

■ 50,000 to 200,000

■ 200,000 to 1,000,000

■ Greater than 1,000,000

10 Change the color for the default thematic rule: click in the Style field for the (default) row. In
the Style Polygon dialog box, select the pale yellow color (255,255,200). Click OK.

11 Change the color for the >1000000 thematic rule: click in the Style field for the >1000000 scale
range. In the Style Polygon dialog box, select the dark red color (125,0,0). Click OK.

When you have finished modifying the polygon style, your map will show a clear and balanced view
of land values for the city of Redding.

Presentation Map with updated parcel style.

Style the Roads layer

Next, you will change the color of the road features to black. You will also set street names to display
when you zoom in on the map.

1 Select the Roads layer in the Display Manager, then click the Style button on the Display Manager
tool bar. The Style Editor appears.

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2 In the Style Editor, click in the default Style field.

3 In the Style Line dialog box, select the color Black (0,0,0).

4 Click OK.

5 In the Style Editor, click Add a Scale Range.

6 Modify the scale ranges so that the first is From 0 To 10000, and the second is From 10000 To Infinity.

7 Select the 0 to 10000 scale range, then click in the Feature Label field. The Style Label dialog box
appears.

8 In the Property to Display field, select ST_NAME.

Style Features In Your Map | 7

 9 Click OK.

Now when you zoom in to a scale of less than 1:10000 you will see the street names as labels on the
road features.

Presentation map zoomed in to show street name labels.

Style the River layer

Now you will style the River layer, making the river a shade of blue.

1 Select the River layer in the Display Manager, then click the Style button on the Display Manager
tool bar. The Style Editor appears.

2 In the Style Editor, click in the default Style field.

3 In the Style Polygon dialog box, select the dark blue color (0,110,180).

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 4 Click OK.

Style the Parks layer

Now you will style the park features, making them a shade of green.

1 Select the Parks layer in the Display Manager, then click the Style button on the Display Manager tool
bar. The Style Editor appears.

2 In the Style Editor, click in the default Style field.

3 In the Style Polygon dialog box, select the medium green color (100,160,120).

4 Click OK.

Style Features In Your Map | 9

 Style the park points
Each park feature has an associated park point feature. The default point style for the park point features
is a square. In the following procedure, you will change the point style from a simple square to a park
symbol.

1 Select the park_points layer in the Display Manager, then click the Style button on the Display
Manager tool bar. The Style Editor appears.

2 In the Style Editor, click in the default Style field.

3 In the Style Point dialog box, click in the Symbol row.

4 In the Select a Symbol dialog box, click .

5 In the Open Block Symbol File dialog box, navigate to the Symbols folder and open the Map -
Points of Interest.dwg file. By default the Symbols folder is located in Program Files ➤ AutoCAD
Map 3D 2010 ➤ Sample ➤ Symbols.

6 In the Select A Symbol dialog box, select the Park symbol.

7 Click OK.

8 In the Style Point dialog box, increase the width and height to 0.5.

9 Change the fill and edge colors to dark green (0,90,40).

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 10 Click OK.

Add a Legend
Now you can add a legend to your map. The legend interprets the styles you have applied to the layers in
your map, including the land values theme that you applied to the Parcels layer.

Add a legend to your map

1 In the Display Manager, hide the Map Base layer by clearing the check box for that layer.

2 Select the Parcels layer, then click the Tools button on the Display Manager tool bar.

3 Select Create Legend.

4 Select the insertion point for the legend. In this example, the legend has been inserted in the upper
left corner of the map.

Add a Legend | 11
 Now that you have placed the legend, you will edit it to make it more clear and useful.

Edit the Legend

The legend you created in the previous procedure has most of the information required to make sense
of the map. However, it also includes some duplicate information, and it is missing some details. In the
following procedure, you will edit the legend to make it clearer and more useful.

Edit the map legend

In this procedure, you will rename the legend, change the legend font, delete redundant information,
clarify the parcel legend section, and remove the default parcel row.

1 Double-click the legend title row. The Text Editor ribbon tab appears.

2 Click the Title_Block style on the Style panel.

3 Confirm the change in the Multiline Text - Text Style Change message box.

4 Change the title text to “Land Values in Redding, CA.”

5 Select the Parks row, then right-click it and select Rows ➤ Delete. You will use the Park symbol
to represent Parks in the legend, not the polygon style.

6 Double-click the park_points row. The Text Editor ribbon tab appears.

7 Highlight the row text, then select Ariel from the font drop-down list on the Formatting panel.

8 Change the text to “Parks.”

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 9 Repeat steps 5 and 6 to change the font for the River and Roads rows.

10 Double-click the Parcels row. The Text Editor ribbon tab appears.

11 Click the Title_Block style on the Style panel.

12 Confirm the change in the Multiline Text - Text Style Change message box.

13 Change the Parcels row text to “Land Values by Parcel.”

14 Repeat steps 5 and 6 to change the font for the parcel rows.

15 Select the default land value row, then right-click it and select Rows ➤ Delete.

When you have finished editing the legend, it should look like this:

Edit Your Map Layout

Now you are ready to edit the map layout. In the following procedures, you will set up map views for the
main and key viewports, edit the title block, and change the north arrow style.

Set Up Viewports
The Map Book template you are using has two viewports: the main viewport is the large rectangle in the
middle of the layout, and the key viewport is the small rectangle in the lower-left corner of the layout. In
this procedure, you will set up a view of the entire map in the main viewport, and a detail view of a small
area in the key viewport.

1 In the Drawing Window, switch to the ANSI Expand A tab.

2 Double-click the main viewport.

3 On the View ribbon tab ➤ Navigate panel, click Zoom Extents to view the entire map in the main
viewport.

4 Double-click the key viewport.

5 On the View ribbon tab ➤ Navigate panel, click Zoom Extents to view the entire map in the key
viewport.

6 Zoom in on the map in the key viewport until you can see street name labels. In this example, the detail
section also shows a park with the Park symbol visible.

Edit Your Map Layout | 13

 Edit the Title Block

1 Double-click the Map Title text. The Enhanced Attribute Editor appears with the Map Title tag
highlighted.

2 In the Value field, enter “Land Values in Redding”

3 You can also update other text entries in the title block using the Enhanced Attribute Editor. For
example, you can enter contact information, page number, plot date, and so on.

4 Click OK.

Change the North Arrow

The north arrow included in the Map Book template is a block. You can easily remove it and insert
another north arrow block.

1 Select the north arrow block and press Delete.

2 If the command line is not open already, press CTRL 9 to display it.

3 At the command prompt, enter insert. The Insert dialog box appears.

4 Click Browse to select a symbol file containing north arrows. By default, this file should be in
Program Files ➤ AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 ➤ Sample ➤ Symbols ➤ Map - North Arrows.dwg.

5 Click Open.

6 Click OK and select any insertion point in your map.

This step defines the north arrows contained in the north arrow file as blocks so that you can access
them.

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 7 At the command prompt, enter insert.

8 Select a new north arrow from the Name drop-down box, then insert it where the default north arrow
appeared. This example of a finished presentation map uses Arrow7:

Export Your Map

Now that you have made an attractive and informative presentation map, you can export it to a format that
you can share with others easily. In the following procedure you will export your map to the DWF format.
Anyone can view your DWF file using the free DWF viewer available from Autodesk. By using Autodesk
Design Review, others can open your DWF file to add comments or markups as well.

Export Your Map to DWF

1 Click ➤ Export ➤ DWF. The Save as DWF dialog box appears.

2 Select a save location from the Save In drop-down list.

3 Check the Include Plot Stamp box.

4 In the Export drop-down list, select Current Layout. You only want to publish the map as it appears
on the layout tab.

5 Enter a name for your DWF file in the File Name field.

6 Click Save.

When your exporting job is complete, navigate to your save location and open the DWF file to view the
output. Note that the export date is automatically displayed in your DWF file.

Export Your Map | 15

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Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and
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© 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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