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7 Users Guide
rTools MapInfo Tools Pack
May 2010
Disclaimer
This tool is under development and giving no warranty , it may be not working or even working wrong in some circumstances. Use at your own risk. Please report any error or inconvenient result with non-confidential but maximum details. MapInfo , Pitney Bowes , Google , Google Earth belong to their respective owners.
Getting Started
What is Plot2GE designed for?
The aim of creating this tool is visualizing 2D mapped of any distributed data in the 3D world of Googles amazing world simulation program called Google Earth.
Getting Around
What will change when the tool loaded? You will see a new menu on MapInfo Professionals menu bar called rTools. In this menu you will find Plot2GE menu. And also a Button Bar will be extended with 3 icons for Plot2GE.
In cases that you will need to work different data types and ranges you will not need to change the configuration every time you use the tool for different ranges , colors or totaly different purposes. For every different reason of dividing into ranges and colors , you may create a profile so next time you will be using the same ranges , colors and configuration you can just choose previously created profile and go straight ahead with it.
Profiles
Configuration
Configuration window
First thing to decide when making a profile is what you want to see as a result. If you dont know where to reach neither this tool nor any other will help you. So now be sure you have a clear goal to achive.
Defining ranges
Define your data ranges and firstly see how many ranges you want to have. Write down it to Number of Ranges. Define the limits for each range and write it down to correspoding box for the range upper or lower limit. The lower limit of one range will be the upper limit of the next range. Choose the color you want to use for each range.
To show legend
If you want to see a legend in Google Earth that shows what are the limits for ranges and what color used for each range, you may enable Show Legend option. It will put the a legend on top left of the window in Google Earth.
After you decide what your Area Expand Value will be you may think of this area being zoomed in or zoomed out in Google Earth. Visible Min value will define what is the minimum pixel numbers that your area should fill in the screen. If it will go below this value Google Earth will automatically hide your this point from your screen. Visible Max value will define what is the maximum pixel numbers that your area should fill in the screen. If it will go above this value Google Earth will automatically hide your this point from your screen. It may be little bit challenging to find appropriate values for your taste , but once you find it will bring the user experience in Google Earth to a smoother degree. I recommend you have a look on your free time.
Plotting
The prerequisite for plotting a data is that to have a table with at least a column with values that will fit in to defined range of active profile. The coordinates will be fetched from the map itself so you do not need to have longitude, latitude values in your table. Once you configure your profile and open your table , you are ready to go with plotting. Choose Plot to GE from the menu or click to the Plot to GE icon on Button Bar. The tool will ask you to choose the table to use. After you choose the table , it will ask you the column to use. After that , it will ask you the place and the name to save file to.
Figure 11 - Column Select Dialog Figure 10- Table Select Dialog
Now you will have your file saved . And we are done.
Contact
You may take a look to my website for any further improvements or corrections of the tool or contact me from my mail address. Ramazan YAGMUR ramazan.yagmur@gmail.com http://ramazanyagmur.coolinc.info
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