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About WorldMap

WorldMap is an experimental platform designed for viewing and interpreting maps collaboratively.  Today maps come from many sources and exist in many forms, from paper atlases to digital satellite images to census data files.  WorldMap aims to pull these and other hard-to-find maps together and put them in the hands of researchers.

WorldMap combines the spatial modeling capabilities of a Geographic Information System (GIS) with current web technologies, and is made available as Open Source software.  Use the hosted version of WorldMap at http://worldmap.harvard.edu or download and install the application on your own server.  WorldMap stands on the shoulders of other Open Source projects including AfricaMap, GeoNode, OpenLayers, PostGIS, and GEOS.  WorldMap is licensed under Version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

What is a Map?

In the context of WorldMap, a "Map" is an interactive mapping application which contains data layers.  You can create your own Map from scratch or remix your own materials with someone else"s Map to derive a new Map.  Maps you create can be kept private, made accessible to a few, or made public. 

What are Layers?

In WorldMap you can add geographic data Layers to your Map, control how your Layers are organized and represented in your Map, and control who can see your Map and the Layers inside it.  The Layers you add to your Map can be uploaded from your hard drive or they can be layers already loaded to WorldMap. 

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WorldMap Help

Register and Sign in

If you don"t have an account and want save changes you make, create an account by clicking "Sign in" at top right of the main page, then click "Register".

You will be prompted for a Username, Email Address, and Password, and asked if you are affiliated with Harvard.  If you are Harvard affiliated, you will be asked to login using your Harvard ID.  Whether or not you are Harvard affiliated you will have full access to the system.  A confirmation email will be sent to your email account once you have registered.  To activate your account, open the email and click on the activation link.  Now you can sign in to WorldMap.

Browsing a Map

WorldMap allows people to create Maps and share them with one another.  To see the Maps others have created, select from "Browse Maps" pulldown menu at the top of the main WorldMap page at http://worldmap.harvard.edu/alpha,.

Choose a Map from the pulldown menu, or to see all available Maps, choose "More Maps".  You will see a list of Maps with the most recent at the top.  Type a keyword to search Maps.  To select a Map, click on the map Title.  To view the profile of the author and contact information, click Contact name.

more_maps.png

Clicking the Title will open the Map and you will be free to browse it, but to make any changes to a Map you will need to sign in.

Accessing Metadata for Layer

Layers may have metadata (information about them) available which describe them in detail.  Before accessing the metadata page you must save your Map.

Access the metadata page by right clicking (CTRL-click on a Mac) on the Layer and selecting "Layer Properties"

In the Properties box, select the "About" tab.

Click on the "Metadata" link at the bottom.  On the next page you will have access to detailed information about the Layer including, (part way down the right side), a section titled "Manage Layer".

Click "Update the description of this data" to open the metadata form for the Layer.

Downloading a Layer

Layers you see in a Map may be downloaded in several data formats.  Before accessing the download page you must save your Map.

Access the download page by right clicking (CTRL-click on a Mac) on the Layer and selecting "Layer Properties"

In the Properties box, select the "About" tab.

Click on the "Metadata" link at the bottom.  Here you have access to much information about the Layer including options for downloading at the top right as well as many other Layer related controls.  Click on the format that you would like to download.

Create a New Map

To create a new map, click "Create New Map" at the top of the page.  If you are not signed in, you will be prompted to sign in. 

If you are signed in a new map will be created for you and you will be presented with a blank Map form in which you can provide title, URL, abstract, keywords, and description.

save_map3.png

  Title The title becomes the name of the Map and displays at the top of your Map and as the title in Map search.

  URL The URL defines what comes after http://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/. The URL must have no spaces and use only letters, numbers underscores, and dashes.

  Abstract The abstract is a place to briefly describe your Map.  Words uses here will be searchable in Map search.

  Keywords Keywords are used in Map search. Separate keywords by a space.  In addition Keywords are used to define the query for Picasa and YouTube.

  Introduction Allows you to provide a detailed description of your map.  You have can control formatting and provide hyperlinks.  Words used in the description are searchable in Map search.

Make any changes to the form and click "Save".

Saving Changes to a Map as a Copy

If you have permission to edit the Map you are viewing and you are signed in, you can make changes and save them.  Click the "Save" link located at the top left.

If you don"t have edit access to the map and want to be able to save changes, you can save a copy of the map and edit the copy.  Before you can save a copy, you need to sign in.  If you don"t have an account, click Sign in at the top of the page, then click Register and create an account.  

After making any changes to the form, click "Save as Copy" at the bottom.

save_copy.png

Setting Permissions for Your Map

In WorldMap you can control who can access either your Map or the individual Layers within your Map.  Click the "Advanced" button on the main Map page, top right. You will need to save your Map before you can enter the Advanced page.

The Advanced page contains forms for changing the title of the Map, adding an Abstract, controlling permissions to the Map, duplicating a Map, and deleting a Map.

Use this page to set general and specific permissions:

Read Only                 permissions allow users to view your Map but not make changes.

Read/Write                permissions allow users to add and remove layers from your Map but not add users or change permissions.

Administrative          permissions allow users to control all aspect of a Map including permissions.

NOTE: Map permissions will override Layer permissions.  For example if Map X does not give Read/Write permissions to John Doe, it will not be possible to give John Doe Read/Write permission to a Layer in Map X.

Adding an Existing Layer to a Map

To add a Layer which is already in WorldMap to your Map, click "Add Layers" at top left.  A box will appear with a list of available data layers.  Click on a layer to select it, then click "Add Layers" at the bottom. 

The selected layer will appear in the Map Layers tree on the left.  The new layer is loaded to the Map and placed in a category folder named "General" if the layer has not been given a category in the metadata.  If the Layer has been given a category, it will be placed within a folder with that category name in the tree.  When finished adding layers, click "Done" and the "Available Layers" dialog box will close.  You can change the name of any category by right clicking on it and selecting "Rename Category".   You can also use this tool to "Remove Category".

In this example "WorldMap" is selected as the source of the data layers you are selecting from.  Other servers can also be selected from this pulldown.

add_layer.png

Uploading a Data Layer to a Map

You can upload a data layer directly from your hard drive to WorldMap by clicking "Upload your own data". 

Two kinds of data are currently supported for upload: Shapefiles and GeoTIFFs.  Shapefiles are a common vector-based GIS format and GeoTIFF is a common raster based GIS format.

Shape Files are composed of multiple files which have the same prefix but a different suffix. If you are uploading a Shape File you must individually select the .shp, .dbf, .shx, and (optionally) .prj portions of the file.

Once your file is uploaded you will be presented with a form which lets you describe the data and set permissions controlling who can access the Layer.

Editing Metadata for Your Layer

  (to be completed)

Setting Permissions for Your Layer

Layer level permissions work in much the same way as Map level permissions.  (Before changing Layer permissions you must save your Map.)

Access Layer level permissions by right clicking (CTRL-click on a Mac) the Layer and selecting "Layer Properties"

In the Properties box, select the "About" tab.

Click on the "Metadata" link at the bottom.  Here you have access to much information about the Layer including options for downloading, a list of other Maps in WorldMap which use this Layer, Styles available for the Layer, Link to "Update the description of this data" and to "Upload a new version of this data", and permission controls.

At the bottom right is permission controls.

User these controls to set general and specific permissions:

Read Only                 permissions allow users to view your Map but not make changes.

Read/Write                permissions allow users to add and remove layers from your Map but not add users or change permissions.

Administrative          permissions allow users to control all aspect of a Map including permissions.

Map permissions override Layer permissions.  For example if Map X does not give Read/Write permissions to John Doe, it will not be possible to give John Doe Read/Write permission to a Layer in Map X.

Reordering and Removing Layers

In the Layer tree at the left of the Map a Layer that is higher than another will display on top of it in the map view.  You can change the order of layers within a category or move a layer between categories by dragging them.

To remove a layer, right click on it and select "Remove Layer".

Layer Opacity (Transparency) Control

To control the opacity or a layer, right click (CTRL-click on a Mac) on the layer and select "Layer Properties".

A Properties box will appear with an opacity slider bar.  Slide the bar to set the desired transparency level.

Layer Styles Control

To change the way a layer is displayed, modify the style by right clicking (CTRL-click on a Mac) on the layer and selecting "Edit Styles". 

(Styles can only be set for vector layers which are stored on WorldMap servers.  Styles for WorldMap raster layers as well as vector or raster layers residing on other servers cannot currently be modified.)

A Properties box with the Styles tab selected appears displaying the current style and tools for changing the style.  Select a rule and modify, add, remove, or duplicate a rule. 

A rule is composed of a combination of settings defined under the Basic, Label, and Advanced tabs.  Basic settings allow you to change the color of the point, line, or area features in your layer.  (A given layers must be of either point, line, or area type.)  You can change the fill color and opacity as well as the stroke color, width, and opacity.  "Stroke" refers to the linear aspect of the feature.  For example, for an area type layer, the line aspect forms the outline of the area.  Point type features do not include the stroke option.

The Label tab brings up settings which allow you to choose the database field you will use to label your Layer, as well as the type, size, and style of the font of the label.  You can also change the halo around the label (label highlight) in terms of its size, color, and opacity.  

The Advanced tab of the style rule tool allows you to define the scale range at which your layer will display.  Select the "Limit by Scale" option and set your criteria.

It is also possible to set a rule which uses a field in the database to control when to display the style.  Select "Limit by condition" then choose a field, and set a condition.  You can combine conditions to control when your style is displayed.  Add a new condition by clicking "add condition" and remove a condition by clicking the red circle .   Add a new group of conditions by clicking "add group".

Linking, Embedding

Click the "link" button to open the link tool.  Copy the URL to use in an email.  Copy the embed link to add the map to a web page.

Embedding a Map

Any map from WorldMap can be embedded for use in another site or blog. To embed a map:

1. Select the from the list of maps on the community or map page and then hit the 'export map' button.

2. Choose your desired height and width for the widget in the wizard.

3. Copy the HTML snippet provided in the wizard to any HTML page or iFrame-supporting blog post.

This will put an interactive widget showing you map in your web page or blog post.

Printing

Click the "Print" button to open the printing tool.

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