Map Viewer Instructions

This Web application allows you to view and query map data provided by the department. To provide feedback or comments, please visit our comments page.

Below is a representation of the map viewer page. At the top is the page banner. Next is the menu bar and toolbar. (NOTE: The toolbar may not be visible by default. To turn it on use the "Show/Hide Toolbar" menu item to toggle the toolbar visibility on or off.) The menu and toolbar both contain the same tools and buttons (or actions). The menu bar is arranged by standard tools/actions and advanced tools/actions. The standards tools and actions are the first two menus to appear. Next are the advanced actions and tools. Finally, the last item in the menu bar is the 'Help' item. This will open this instruction page. A menu will show it's options when you move the mouse pointer over the menu item. The items will appear in a list below the menu item. To select a tool, or to activate an action, simply move the mouse pointer over the item and press the left mouse button once.

Buttons (or actions in the menu bar) carry out an action when they are pressed. Tools do not carry out an action until the user clicks in the map window. Standard tools are shown by default in the toolbar. Advanced tools can be made visible in the toolbar by pressing the 'Advanced Tools' link at the end of the toolbar. The buttons and tools in the toolbar are (from left to right):

Standard Tools

 Show Legend
 Pan Map Tool
 Zoom In Tool
 Zoom Out Tool
 Zoom to Previous Extent Button
 Quick Zoom Button
 Zoom to Full Extent Button
 Zoom to Active Layer Button
 Identify Features Tool
 Show Hyperlinks Tool
 Refresh Map Button
 Add/Remove Layers
 Create PDF
 Create Bookmark
 Show Instructions Button

Advanced Tools

 Measure Distance
 Search/Find Button
 Select by Rectangle Tool
 Clear Selection Button
 Show Selected Feature Table Button
 Buffer Selected Features Button
 Select And Buffer
 Clear Graphic Layer Button
 Clear All
 Graphic Properties
 Add Point
 Add Polyline
 Add Polygon
 Map Properties

Standard Tools

•   Show Legend - Show the graphic legend. The legend will update to show visible layers any time the map is refreshed.
  
  
•   Pan Map - This tool allows the user to pan the map. To pan the map, place the mouse pointer in the map window and click-and-drag the map to a new location within the map window. The map will be re-drawn as if it had been moved in that direction.
  
  
•   Zoom In - This tool allows the user to zoom into the map. There are two ways to zoom. First, the user can simply click in the map to zoom a fixed amount and center the map on the point where the user clicked. The second way is to click-and-drag a rectangle around the area where the user wants to zoom. When the button is released the map will zoom to the area.
  
  
•   Zoom Out - The zoom out tool works in much the same way as the zoom in tool. When zooming out using a rectangle, the map will zoom out proportional to the size of the rectangle.
  
  
•   Zoom to Previous Extent - This button directs the map window to zoom to the previous extent. Once all previous extents have been exhausted, the map window will simply refresh itself.
  
  
•   Quick Zoom - This tool will open a new window in which the user can quickly zoom to a feature. The types of features that the user can zoom to are:
  
  
  • County
  • City (Population > 1000)
  • State Park or Historic Site
  • Missouri Dept. of Conservation Lands
  • 1:24k Quadrangle
  • Public Land Survey System - Section, Township and Range
  • Public Land Survey System - Landgrant
  • Zoom to Coordinates (UTM Zone 15N Easting/Northing, Decimal Degrees Lat/Lon and Degrees, Minutes, Seconds Lat/Lon) - These can be used to zoom to a location using map coordinates. The coordinates can be entered in either UTM Zone 15 (NAD 1983), Degrees Minutes Seconds (NAD 1983) or Decimal Degrees (NAD 1983). The user can choose which coordinates they wish to zoom to by selecting the appropriate choice in the 'Choose extent source:' dropdown box. Once the coordinates are entered the user must choose how close they want to zoom. This can be specified by either a scale or radius. To zoom to a scale, the user must enter a scale amount (default 1:24000) in the 'Scale' box. Then choose 'Scale' from the 'Zoom Using' dropdown box, and finally pressing the 'Zoom' button. To zoom to a radius, the user must enter a radius in meters in the 'Radius' box. Then choose 'Radius' from the 'Zoom Using' box, and finally pressing the 'Zoom' button.
  • Missouri River Mile, Mississippi River Mile and Interstate Highway Mile - The user can zoom to a mile marker for the Missouri River, Mississippi River and US Interstates that go through Missouri. For each one the user must enter a measure in miles representing the location that they wish to zoom to. For the Interstate marker screen, the user must also pick the interstate for which they are specifying a mile marker. This is a dropdown box containing all of the interstate highways that run through Missouri. When the user presses the zoom button, they will be taken to the location. The map will zoom to a distance specified by the user in either meters (radius) or a relative scale specification.
  • Address Matching - The user can enter a street address (e.g. 100 Main Street), a city, and a five digit zip code. After pressing the match button, the map server will attempt to locate the address and return a match. The match will be accompanied by the address that was matched, which may not necessarily be exactly the same as the one entered, a score ranging from 0 to 100 (with 0 being the worst match and 100 being the best match) and the coordinates of the match. By clicking on a link next to the set of coordinates, the map will zoom to that point.
  • Layer - Zoom to the full extent, minimum scale or maximum scale of any layer.
  • Missouri Dept of Natural Resources Regions
  • Missouri Dept of Natural Resources Ombudsman Regions
  • Solid Waste Districts
  • Missouri House Districts
  • Missouri Senate Districts
  • State (Missouri Only)
  
  The user can make a selection from any of these categories. Some categories may allow the user to enter more information, such as zoom scale in the case of 'Geographic Coordinates'. Upon selection the map will zoom to the extent of the feature selected.
  
  
•   Zoom to Full Extent - This button directs the map window to zoom to it's fullest extent possible, which may be greater than your starting extent.
  
  
•   Zoom to Active Layer - This button directs the map window to zoom to the full extent of the active layer. The active layer is chosen using the active layer dropdown box found at the top of the layer window.
  
  
•   Identify Features - To identify features the user can click on a feature or click-and-drag a rectangle around a feature(s). After the button is released the application will search for all features that lie within the point or rectangle and display them in a new window. The user can identify features from all layers at once or from just one layer by selecting the active layer from the active layer dropdown box. Once the features have been displayed in a new window, the user has the choice to zoom to or select, one or all of the identified features. Each feature in the new window has a zoom button and a select button to carry out these tasks.
  
  
•   Show Hyperlinks - This tool will show a list of hyperlinks related to features that the user clicks on. To use the tool, make it the active tool by clicking on the icon in the toolbar. Then, click on a feature in the map. If hyperlinks exist for any of the features under the cursor, they will be presented as a list from which the user can click.
  
  
•   Refresh Map - This button simply redraws the map with the current settings. Buffers, selected features and graphics will be preserved.
  
  
•   Add/Remove Layers - This button will allow the user to add or remove layers from the map. It will take the user to a new page with three panes (see image at right). The left pane is the available layers that the user can choose from. They are arranged by category. When the user chooses a category, the available layers for that category will be shown in the center pane. Beside each layer is a metadata link, indicated by an icon, an icon to let the user know what type of data it is ( point , line , polygon or raster ), and a checkbox to add or remove the layer from the third pane. The third pane tells the user what layers are currently in the map. If the user checks a checkbox, the layer will be added, and if the user unchecks the box, the layer will be removed.
  
  
•   Create PDF - This button creates a PDF file of the map layout. The user can enter a title (< 50 characters) and/or map notes (< 255 characters) to be included in the map.
  
  
•   Create Bookmark - This button will open a new window with a link that the user can save in the favorites list, or, copy to another document. With Microsoft Internet Explorer, to save the link to the favorites list, right-click on the link named "This is your link." and choose "Add to favorites...". To copy the link to another document, right-click on the link and choose "Copy Shortcut". The link will now be ready to paste into a text document, word processing document, email, etc. This link, when activated, will take the user back to the map viewer at the same extent when the link was generated. The map will also retain the same layers and visibility status (e.g. whether the layer is turned on or off).
  
  
•   Show Instructions - This button opens this instruction page.
  
  

Advanced Tools

•   Measure Distance - Measure distance using a polyline. Click in the map to add vertices to the polyline. For each vertex added the total distance of the polyline will be summed and displayed in the measure distance window.
  
  
•   Search/Find - This feature will allow the user to search for a word or phrase contained in text fields in the feature layer. The results will be displayed in the identify results window.
  
  
•   Query - The Query tool will open a new window in which the user can create a query string to select features in the map.
  
  
•   Select by Rectangle - A user can select features or custom graphics by clicking on the map or using the click-and-drag technique to draw a rectangle around features to be selected. For feature layers, the user can then use the 'Show Selected Features Table' Button (see Show Selected Features Table Button below) to show a table of the selected features.
  
  
•   Clear Selection - This button clears the currently selected features.
  
  
•   Show Selected Features Table - This button shows a table of attributes of selected features of the active layer. These features can be a result of a selection or buffer. A new window will open similar to the 'Identify' window.
  
  
•   Buffer Selected Features - To use this button, the user must first select one or more features with the Select by Rectangle tool. After features are selected, the user may press this button, which will open a new dialog box in the upper-right corner of the screen. This dialog box contains the following controls:
  
  
  • Select From Layer: If you choose a layer from this dropdown box, features will be selected from that layer that fall within the buffer zone.
  • Buffer Distance: The distance to buffer around the selected feature(s).
  • Buffer Units Radio Buttons: Choose your buffer units here.
  • Buffer Button: Press this button to conduct the 'buffer', and possibly 'select', operations.
  • Show Selected Features Table: Press this button to view attributes of features that you selected from the 'Select From' layer above.
  
  
•   Buffer Features by Rectangle - This tool works in much the same way as the buffer selected features button above, however, the use does not select the features to buffer ahead of time. Instead, the user uses the tool to select the features from the 'Active Layer', and conduct a buffer on those features, in one operation.
  
  
•   Clear Graphics - Some tools may add graphics to the map window which are not part of a layer. These are all put into the 'Graphics Layer'. This button clears all graphics from the graphic layer.
  
  
•   Clear All - This button clears all highlights from the select features and buffer features tools and graphics added by tools such as 'Zoom to Coordinates' or 'Find Address'.
  
  
•   Graphic Properties - This button will create a list of custom graphics that the user has drawn in the map. Custom graphics may be text labels, points, polylines or polygons. The list will be opened in a new window. The user can use this list to delete custom graphics from the map, buffer custom graphics or use a graphic to perform identification operations or selection operations on any feature layer in the map. The user can also alter the symbology for any custom graphic.
  
  
•   Add Point - This tool will do several things. Primarily, it will allow the user to click in the map to get the coordinates of a location. Upon clicking the map, a new window will open containing the coordinates of the point in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Zone 15 (North American Datum (NAD) 1983), Degrees Minutes Seconds (NAD 1983) or Decimal Degrees (NAD 1983). This page will also allow the user to place a marker on the screen at that point and optionally label the marker. The user could also choose to not display a marker, but, only place a text label at the point.
  
  
•   Add Polyline and   Add Polygon - These tools will the allow the user to draw a polyline or polygon on the map. Upon drawing the shape, the user will be shown the properties of the shape in a new window. Polyline properties include length and polygon properties include area and perimeter. Measures are shown in multiple units of measure. To draw a shape, select the appropriate tool (for polyline or polygon) and click in the map once to establish a starting vertex. Then, for each additional vertex, click in the map once. When you reach the last vertex, hold down the 'SHIFT' key on the keyboard while clicking on the last vertex. This will complete the shape and open the shape properties window. NOTE: For polygons, the user does NOT need to click on the starting vertex again to close the polygon. The polygon will be closed automatically when the shape is completed.
  
  
•   Map Properties - This button opens a new window which contains properties for the map that the user can alter as they wish. Properties that the user can change include:
  • Browser Preference
    • Internet Explorer 5 or 6
    • Firefox 2
    • or Safari 3
  • Map Size
    • Very Small - best for dial-up connections
    • Small
    • Normal - best for high speed connections (DSL)
    • Full screen - best for intra-department connections
  • Color Depth
    • Full Color - maps are rendered in full color
    • Grayscale - maps are rendered in black, white and shades of gray
  • Scale Bar Visibility - ON or OFF
  • Toolbar Visibility - ON or OFF
  • Background Color - the color of the background of the map
  Upon making changes to the above settings, the user must press the 'Set Properties' button. This will make the changes to the application. To return to the map, press the 'Return to Map' link at the bottom of the page.

Status Bar

Below the menu bar and toolbar is a status bar. The status bar shows the current mouse position, the coordinate accuracy and the current scale (at 96 dots per inch). The map projection is Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 15 North, reference to the North American Datum (NAD) of 1983. The map units are meters. The coordinate accuracy is an indicator of the size of a pixel in map units, and also, a measure of the accuracy of the mouse coordinates. The scale is calculated using a monitor resolution of 96 dots per inch (dpi). Since it is not possible to know the resolution of your monitor, an assumption of 96 dpi is made.

Table of Contents

Below the status bar is the table of contents window and the map window. The table of contents window is on the right and the map window is on the left. The table of contents window contains (from top to bottom) the active layer selector, layer position buttons, and a list of layers available to the user.

The layer position buttons allow the user to move a layer up or down in the table of contents. This will also effect the map, in that layers listed at the top of the table of contents will draw last, and therefore be 'on top' of the map. Layers at the bottom of the list will draw first or will be 'on bottom' and may be obscured by other layers. To move a layer up or down in the Table of Contents, first choose the layer in the 'Active Layer' selector. Then, press one of the layer position buttons which are (left-to-right): move layer to top , move layer up one , move layer down one , move layer to bottom .

The layer list is a tree view. Each layer has an arrow symbol to expand the tree for that layer and a checkbox to turn on or off the layer visibility. When a layer's checkbox is not checked, the layer will not be visible in the map window. Conversely, when a layer's checkbox is checked, the layer will be visible. Even though a layer's checkbox is checked on, there are still cases when the layer will not be visible in the map window (see 'Min and Max scales' below). NOTE: The user must manually refresh the map after making changes to the visibility of a layer or multiple layers (see Refresh Map Button). When you click on the arrow symbol, the layer entry in the tree will be expanded. When the layer is expanded, the user will see a link to Metadata, a link to a properties page for that layer, a link to set a filter, and the 'Max' and 'Min' visible scales for that layer. The user may also see an icon. This means a filter has been applied to the layer.

The link to metadata will open a new window containing metadata for that layer. The properties page contains information about the layer in addition to the ability to set the layer transparency and create a 'label layer' for that layer. Transparency is a number that ranges from 0.0 to 1.0 (0.0 = fully transparent, 1.0 = fully visible). This will not affect labels. It will only affect geographic features in the map (points, lines, polygons and raster images). The 'label layer' will contain labels for features in that layer using a label field chosen by the user. Only one label layer can be created at a time for each layer in the map.

The 'Set Filter' link will take the user to a new page. This page will allow the user to 'filter' the data to show only a subset of features. The user can filter the data using a field in the attribute table. Only one field can be used in a filter. The user must choose the field on which to set the filter, and then enter a filter value. The user can only supply one value for a filter. Once the value is entered the user must press 'Apply Filter'. (NOTE: If a layer already has a filter applied, the 'SET FILTER' link will change to 'REMOVE FILTER'. Pressing this link will remove the current filter for the layer.)

The 'Min' and 'Max' scales indicate when a layer will be visible in the map. The 'Min' scale is the scale at which the layer will first appear in the map view as you zoom in. The 'Max' scale is the greatest scale at which the data will be visible and is related to the intended scale of use for the data layer. The intended scale of use is the scale at which the data were compiled and were intended to be used. At scales greater than this, the data is not accurate and should not be used as the sole means to make decisions about the relative positions of features or the distances between features. The user will be notified when they have zoomed beyond the intended scale of use by the layer name turning red. As you zoom closer to the 'Max' viewing scale, the layer name will turn red and bold. When you zoom beyond the 'Max' viewing scale, the layer will no longer be visible, the layer name will turn gray, and it's checkbox will be disabled.

In the map window the user can interact with the map to zoom, pan or identify features. The user can also buffer features and select features that intersect that buffer.

Special Notes

• When entering text into text boxes for things such as labels and titles, avoid using the following characters as they have special meaning in web pages: & (ampersand), < (less than), > (greater than), " (double quotation marks) and #.

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