MapInfo and Adobe Illustrator

[Steviep43]

Hi all

Does anyone have any experience of exporting MapInfo layers into Adobe
Illustrator? We need a graphics program that will make reports and
charts look much more professional, and so IT have offered us Adobe
Illustrator with a GIS plugin.

Does anyone have experience of using the two? We aim to produce the
maps in MapInfo, then export to Illustrator to spruce them up. Is this
easy/recommended? Can you then treat maps in Illustrator as you would
in MapInfo i.e. add more GIS layers etc?

Many thanks

Steve

[Mats Elfström]

Hi!

 

What GIS plugin would that be?

Perhaps Mapublisher?

 

2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve13...@googlemail.com>

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[Steviep43]

I'm not sure. Apparently IT have done this before for others in the
council so this is what they have available for us too

On Nov 18, 10:03 am, Mats Elfström <mats.elfst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> What GIS plugin would that be?
> Perhaps Mapublisher?
>

> 2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve1308808...@googlemail.com>

>
>
>
> > Hi all
>
> > Does anyone have any experience of exporting MapInfo layers into Adobe
> > Illustrator? We need a graphics program that will make reports and
> > charts look much more professional, and so IT have offered us Adobe
> > Illustrator with a GIS plugin.
>
> > Does anyone have experience of using the two? We aim to produce the
> > maps in MapInfo, then export to Illustrator to spruce them up. Is this
> > easy/recommended? Can you then treat maps in Illustrator as you would
> > in MapInfo i.e. add more GIS layers etc?
>
> > Many thanks
>
> > Steve
>
> > --
>
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "MapInfo-L" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to mapi...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

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> > .

> > For more options, visit this group at

> >http://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Mats Elfström]

Ok I see.

Well the answer to your question depends on the capabilities of the plugin which I understand as an interface between GIS tables and Illustrator.

And you need to check the chain MI Pro > plugin > Adobe Illustrator for version consistency first of all.

 

Regards, Mats.E 

 

2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve13...@googlemail.com>

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[Steviep43]

Ok thanks Mats

I'm assuming the plugins work ok and without much problem as we send
our graphics department the MapInfo files and they make them look
nice. I'm just wondering if it's just a case of importing the files
from MapInfo into Illustrator which keeps all the GIS data and
locations but just makes them look better. Is the Mapublisher plugin
the one we'd need to do this?

Thanks

Steve

On Nov 18, 10:39 am, Mats Elfström <mats.elfst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok I see.
> Well the answer to your question depends on the capabilities of the plugin
> which I understand as an interface between GIS tables and Illustrator.
> And you need to check the chain MI Pro > plugin > Adobe Illustrator for
> version consistency first of all.
>
> Regards, Mats.E
>

> 2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve1308808...@googlemail.com>

> > > >http://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.-Hide quoted text -

[Driver, Greg 9434]

Steve,

I've no direct experience of using Illustrator, but I know from an active Cartography forum (Cartotalk - http://www.cartotalk.com/) that this workflow is how most cartographers work. Most will work with 'a' GIS package to edit or maintain the map and attribute data and then import this into Illustrator using MapPublisher. This is an Illustrator plug-in that allows you to manipulate GIS data, whist retaining links to the base data and also adds a 'geographic/spatial' element to Illustrator (you can manipulate projections etc within Illustrator for example).

Using Illustrator will give you far more control and flexibility on how your maps look compared to just using MapInfo alone and if I was offered this opportunity, I'd bite their hands off!!!


Regards

Greg Driver

System Administrator
Applications Support
ICT
Surrey Police
NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

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[Steviep43]

That's great Greg, sounds like we should jump at the chance then!
Thanks for your help

On Nov 18, 10:52 am, "Driver, Greg 9434" <9...@surrey.pnn.police.uk>
wrote:
> Steve,
>
> I've no direct experience of using Illustrator, but I know from an active Cartography forum (Cartotalk -http://www.cartotalk.com/) that this workflow is how most cartographers work.  Most will work with 'a' GIS package to edit or maintain the map and attribute data and then import this into Illustrator using MapPublisher.  This is an Illustrator plug-in that allows you to manipulate GIS data, whist retaining links to the base data and also adds a 'geographic/spatial' element to Illustrator (you can manipulate projections etc within Illustrator for example).

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.

>
> Information about this E-mail
> This email and any files or attachments with it are intended solely for the use of the individual(s) or organisation(s) to whom it is addressed.
> It may contain information that is confidential or subject to legal and/or professional privilege.
> If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete it including any files or attachments from your e-mail account or computer.
> Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the individual and not necessarily those of Surrey Police.

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[Tim Rideout]

Hi,

XYZ are the UK & Ireland distributors for MAPublisher so I can tell you exactly how this will work.

Firstly there is no need to export anything from MapInfo as MAPublisher can import the .tab files from MapInfo (and lots of other things like .shp, .kml, AutoCAD, Intergraph, etc). It will also keep much of the MapInfo style as part of the import, though you will probably want to replace that.

After import everything ends up in a MapView which is equivalent to a Map Window in MapInfo. It effectively has a layer control so you can move the layers up and down, switch them on or off, etc. MAPublisher allows you to have as many MapViews as you need so the entire document is like a MapInfo Layout, thus you could have a dozen separate maps on the page, each with its own MapView. Just dragging a layer from one MapView to another will rescale, reproject and move the data as necessary to move it from one map to the other.

Illustrator uses Graphic Styles and Markers (former for lines and polygons, the latter for points). MAPublisher makes use of these by you creating StyleSheets. A StyleSheet is like a legend for a layer - a list of the styles to be used and the codes from the attributes of the data that they go with. Thus you might have Style 27 = Code between 1.01 and 1.10, or Style 1 = Party = "Labour". In practice this is done by using the dropdowns, etc to make your choices. Once a style sheet is created, e.g. for contours, you simply drag the layer(s) into the stylesheet and they get styled up. Update any style or marker and the map will automatically update too. Stylesheets mean the file can be a template, since you can import a new set of data and just drop it into the relevant stylesheets, so long as the new data has the same columns and attribute values. Makes life very easy if you have to do 30 tiles of London street map as we are doing just now.

MAPublisher has tools to automatically apply grids and graticules, such as lat/long lines, index grids, measured grids, proper scale bars and north arrows (rather fancy actually - move the North Arrow around the map and it will rotate so it always points to North). It can also generate an Index text file for you.

Should you need to you can use the same sorts of queries as you would in MapInfo (select Roads > 200m long, etc), and these are also remembered so you can come back to any query and use it again. You can also export the data back to MapInfo if required.

There are other functions, such as the ability to plug in a GPS feed, the Join Points facility which lets you turn a set of points into lines by using up to 2 of the attributes (e.g. join by day and within each day by time, which would result in separate lines for each day), generalisation and Map Clip (marquee your map and all unlocked layers will be clipped in one go - that would be nice in MapInfo wouldn't it? And it is quick too).

Of course the advantage of Illustrator is that it is a proper design and print application, so full CMYK, separations, overprinting, etc. And of course practically unlimited styling since you can easily mix colour gradients, create complex patterns, do fancy borders to go on a line, etc.

Lastly, there is also now MAPublisher LabelPro (which costs extra) which is a full automated labelling application. You set up your rules and it will do the rest. In a very dense area like Inner London we find it can do 80%, in a more suburban area of for a country map it would be over 90% (i.e. done to an acceptable cartographic standard - not what the GIS thinks it can get away with!).

There is a free 2 week demo at www.avenza.com.

regards

Dr Tim Rideout
Director

See Earth - the Limited Edition World Atlas at http://shop.xyzmaps.com. Only 200 will be sold in the UK. The largest Atlas ever published with 570 pages of maps and stunning images. We are proud to say XYZ supplied the Europe map spreads. Orders are now being taken for the next consignment here
Visit XYZ at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14-18th 2009
The XYZ Digital Map Company
Unit 9-11 Hardengreen Bus.Pk.
Dalhousie Road,
Dalkeith,
EH22 3NX
Tele: +44 (0) 131 454 0426
Mobile: +44 (0) 7766 825937
Fax: +44 131 454 0443
Email: tim.r...@xyzmaps.com
Web: www.xyzmaps.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Steviep43 [mailto:steve13...@googlemail.com]

Sent: 18 November 2009 10:31
To: MapInfo-L
Subject: [MI-L] Re: MapInfo and Adobe Illustrator

I'm not sure. Apparently IT have done this before for others in the
council so this is what they have available for us too

On Nov 18, 10:03 am, Mats Elfström <mats.elfst...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi!
>
> What GIS plugin would that be?
> Perhaps Mapublisher?
>

> 2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve1308808...@googlemail.com>

>
>
>
> > Hi all
>
> > Does anyone have any experience of exporting MapInfo layers into Adobe
> > Illustrator? We need a graphics program that will make reports and
> > charts look much more professional, and so IT have offered us Adobe
> > Illustrator with a GIS plugin.
>
> > Does anyone have experience of using the two? We aim to produce the
> > maps in MapInfo, then export to Illustrator to spruce them up. Is this
> > easy/recommended? Can you then treat maps in Illustrator as you would
> > in MapInfo i.e. add more GIS layers etc?
>
> > Many thanks
>
> > Steve
>
> > --
>
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "MapInfo-L" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to mapi...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> > mapinfo-l+...@googlegroups.com<mapinfo-l%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups­.com>
> > .

> > For more options, visit this group at

> >http://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -

[Steviep43]

Sold! Great answer Tim, thanks a lot.

On Nov 18, 11:41 am, "Tim Rideout" <tim.ride...@xyzmaps.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> XYZ are the UK & Ireland distributors for MAPublisher so I can tell you exactly how this will work.
>
> Firstly there is no need to export anything from MapInfo as MAPublisher can import the .tab files from MapInfo (and lots of other things like .shp, .kml, AutoCAD, Intergraph, etc). It will also keep much of the MapInfo style as part of the import, though you will probably want to replace that.
>
> After import everything ends up in a MapView which is equivalent to a Map Window in MapInfo. It effectively has a layer control so you can move the layers up and down, switch them on or off, etc. MAPublisher allows you to have as many MapViews as you need so the entire document is like a MapInfo Layout, thus you could have a dozen separate maps on the page, each with its own MapView. Just dragging a layer from one MapView to another will rescale, reproject and move the data as necessary to move it from one map to the other.
>
> Illustrator uses Graphic Styles and Markers (former for lines and polygons, the latter for points). MAPublisher makes use of these by you creating StyleSheets. A StyleSheet is like a legend for a layer - a list of the styles to be used and the codes from the attributes of the data that they go with. Thus you might have Style 27 = Code between 1.01 and 1.10, or Style 1 = Party = "Labour". In practice this is done by using the dropdowns, etc to make your choices. Once a style sheet is created, e.g. for contours, you simply drag the layer(s) into the stylesheet and they get styled up. Update any style or marker and the map will automatically update too. Stylesheets mean the file can be a template, since you can import a new set of data and just drop it into the relevant stylesheets, so long as the new data has the same columns and attribute values. Makes life very easy if you have to do 30 tiles of London street map as we are doing just now.
>
> MAPublisher has tools to automatically apply grids and graticules, such as lat/long lines, index grids, measured grids, proper scale bars and north arrows (rather fancy actually - move the North Arrow around the map and it will rotate so it always points to North). It can also generate an Index text file for you.
>
> Should you need to you can use the same sorts of queries as you would in MapInfo (select Roads > 200m long, etc), and these are also remembered so you can come back to any query and use it again. You can also export the data back to MapInfo if required.
>
> There are other functions, such as the ability to plug in a GPS feed, the Join Points facility which lets you turn a set of points into lines by using up to 2 of the attributes (e.g. join by day and within each day by time, which would result in separate lines for each day), generalisation and Map Clip (marquee your map and all unlocked layers will be clipped in one go - that would be nice in MapInfo wouldn't it? And it is quick too).
>
> Of course the advantage of Illustrator is that it is a proper design and print application, so full CMYK, separations, overprinting, etc. And of course practically unlimited styling since you can easily mix colour gradients, create complex patterns, do fancy borders to go on a line, etc.
>
> Lastly, there is also now MAPublisher LabelPro (which costs extra) which is a full automated labelling application. You set up your rules and it will do the rest. In a very dense area like Inner London we find it can do 80%, in a more suburban area of for a country map it would be over 90% (i.e. done to an acceptable cartographic standard - not what the GIS thinks it can get away with!).
>
> There is a free 2 week demo atwww.avenza.com.
>
> regards
>
> Dr Tim Rideout
> Director
>

> See Earth - the Limited Edition World Atlas athttp://shop.xyzmaps.com. Only 200 will be sold in the UK.  The largest Atlas ever published with 570 pages of maps and stunning images.  We are proud to say XYZ supplied the Europe map spreads.  Orders are now being taken for the next consignment here

> Visit XYZ at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14-18th 2009
>  The XYZ Digital Map Company
> Unit 9-11 Hardengreen Bus.Pk.
> Dalhousie Road,
> Dalkeith,
> EH22 3NX
> Tele: +44 (0) 131 454 0426
> Mobile: +44 (0) 7766 825937
> Fax: +44 131 454 0443

> Email: tim.ride...@xyzmaps.com

> > >http://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.-Hide quoted text -

>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> --
>
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MapInfo-L" group.
> To post to this group, send email to mapi...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mapinfo-l+...@googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.- Hide quoted text -

[Matt Longman]

Hi Steve,

We have been using Map Publisher for a couple of years, the software
is a piece of cake to use. Illustrator still makes my head hurt but I
blame Adobe for that one. Hopefully the following link should give you
an idea of how you can cheer up a simple Mapinfo map.

http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/WP_Development_Framework/?page_id=2080

Cheers

Matt

> > > >http://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.-Hidequoted text -

>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> > --
>
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MapInfo-L" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to mapi...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mapinfo-l+...@googlegroups.com.

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mapinfo-l?hl=.-Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[David R Sherrod]

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1089/

Here's another URL if you'd like examples.  The map plates for the geologic map of Hawaii were created in Illustrator, using MapPublisher as the plug-in. (MI Pro, v7 through 8.5; Illustrator CS2; don't remember the MapPub version, which is sold to match the Illustrator version).  There are a few caveats, as is the case for any software, but overall I found the MapPublisher plug-in easy to use.  I'm not a graphics person, per se; just a field geologist.  But a lot of what is published by the USGS is so-called "author prepared copy," so authors do what they can.  Forgive the shortcomings.

My only serious setback, as I recall, was in the use of large file-size raster images (DRGs) to create the topographic background for the geologic maps.  MapPublisher had a severe limit in that regard.  I worked around the problem by importing the rasters as tif images independent of the plug-in and then performing slight resizing or rotations in Illustrator to fit the base maps to the GIS linework. I would have preferred to have MapPublisher control the import so that georegistration was maintained instead of imposed.

My Illustrator skills are deeper than my GIS.  I'll bet I still have an Illustrator 88 manual sitting around somewhere.

--------------------------------------------
David R. Sherrod, Cascades Volcano Observatory
U.S. Geological Survey,
1300 SE Cardinal Court, Bldg. 10
Vancouver, WA  98683
voice 360-993-8915
fax     360-993-8980
dshe...@usgs.gov
-----------------------------------------

-----Matt Longman <matt.l...@o2.co.uk> wrote: -----

To: MapInfo-L <mapi...@googlegroups.com>
From: Matt Longman <matt.l...@o2.co.uk>
Date: 11/18/2009 05:54AM

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

If you have MapInfo Pro v10, you could print to the layered PDF, open/import this in Illustrator and here split the PDF into the layers. 
This will however not bring over the attribute data.

 

Peter Horsbøll Møller
Pitney Bowes Business Insight - MapInfo

 

2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve13...@googlemail.com>

[Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration]

Unfortunately this is not true. The layered pdf that MI10 produces seems to be a special implementation. I have found no software other than .pdf readers that will recognize the layers, and none that will resave it into a format that illustrator will import correctly.

--

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

Rob,

A costumer of ours has done this with Adobe Illustrator CS4.
The layered PDF should be opened in Adobe Illustrator (CS4).
At this point it only shows one layer
Now in Adobe Illustrator activate the menu in the layer window (top right corner) and click on "Release To Layers (Sequence)"
This will "create" layers from the layered PDF

Peter Horsbøll Møller
Pitney Bowes Business Insight - MapInfo

2009/11/19 Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration <r...@aurchem.ca>

[Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration]

Fantastic. Thanks for this info - it does seem to take forever though to release (currently over 10 mins on CS4 and progress is barely 25%).

Has anyone else noticed a small bug in the print to pdf driver in 10. On Vista, if you select the top location 'Desktop' in the output file name dialogue and hit OK, instead of saving to desktop it changes the file location to the last folder your where in, much like a back button.

--

[Christian Helring Andersen]

Hi

Its true, its VERY slow to release the layers. So I guess something is
not quite right..

And, just to supple Peter. You can also release layers that way in
CS3.

/Christian

On 20 Nov., 09:28, Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration

<r...@aurchem.ca> wrote:
> Fantastic. Thanks for this info - it does seem to take forever though to
> release (currently over 10 mins on CS4 and progress is barely 25%).
>
> Has anyone else noticed a small bug in the print to pdf driver in 10. On
> Vista, if you select the top location 'Desktop' in the output file name
> dialogue and hit OK, instead of saving to desktop it changes the file
> location to the last folder your where in, much like a back button.
>

> On 11/19/2009 11:51 PM, Peter Horsb�ll M�ller wrote:
>
> > Rob,
>
> > A costumer of ours has done this with Adobe Illustrator CS4.
> > The layered PDF should be opened in Adobe Illustrator (CS4).
> > At this point it only shows one layer
> > Now in Adobe Illustrator activate the menu in the layer window (top
> > right corner) and click on "Release To Layers (Sequence)"
> > This will "create" layers from the layered PDF
>

> > Peter Horsb�ll M�ller

> > Pitney Bowes Business Insight - MapInfo
>
> > 2009/11/19 Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration <r...@aurchem.ca

> > <mailto:r...@aurchem.ca>>

>
> >     Unfortunately this is not true. The layered pdf that MI10 produces
> >     seems to be a special implementation. I have found no software
> >     other than .pdf readers that will recognize the layers, and none
> >     that will resave it into a format that illustrator will import
> >     correctly.
>

> >     On 11/19/2009 11:37 AM, Peter Horsb�ll M�ller wrote:
> >>     If you have MapInfo Pro v10, you could print to the layered PDF,
> >>     open/import this in Illustrator and here split the PDF into the
> >>     layers.
> >>     This will however not bring over the attribute data.

> >>     Peter Horsb�ll M�ller

> >>     Pitney Bowes Business Insight - MapInfo

> >>     2009/11/18 Steviep43 <steve1308808...@googlemail.com
> >>     <mailto:steve1308808...@googlemail.com>>

[Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration]

I had to stop mine. It looks like it is putting every object on it's own
layer, not just splitting the drawing into it's component pdf layers.

On 11/20/2009 7:58 AM, Christian Helring Andersen wrote:
> Hi
>
> Its true, its VERY slow to release the layers. So I guess something is
> not quite right..
>
> And, just to supple Peter. You can also release layers that way in
> CS3.
>
> /Christian
>
> On 20 Nov., 09:28, Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration
> <r...@aurchem.ca> wrote:
>
>> Fantastic. Thanks for this info - it does seem to take forever though to
>> release (currently over 10 mins on CS4 and progress is barely 25%).
>>
>> Has anyone else noticed a small bug in the print to pdf driver in 10. On
>> Vista, if you select the top location 'Desktop' in the output file name
>> dialogue and hit OK, instead of saving to desktop it changes the file
>> location to the last folder your where in, much like a back button.
>>

>> On 11/19/2009 11:51 PM, Peter Horsb�ll M�ller wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Rob,
>>>
>>
>>> A costumer of ours has done this with Adobe Illustrator CS4.
>>> The layered PDF should be opened in Adobe Illustrator (CS4).
>>> At this point it only shows one layer
>>> Now in Adobe Illustrator activate the menu in the layer window (top
>>> right corner) and click on "Release To Layers (Sequence)"
>>> This will "create" layers from the layered PDF
>>>
>>

>>> Peter Horsb�ll M�ller

>>> Pitney Bowes Business Insight - MapInfo
>>>
>>
>>> 2009/11/19 Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration<r...@aurchem.ca
>>> <mailto:r...@aurchem.ca>>
>>>
>>
>>> Unfortunately this is not true. The layered pdf that MI10 produces
>>> seems to be a special implementation. I have found no software
>>> other than .pdf readers that will recognize the layers, and none
>>> that will resave it into a format that illustrator will import
>>> correctly.
>>>
>>
>>> On 11/19/2009 11:37 AM, Peter Horsb�ll M�ller wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you have MapInfo Pro v10, you could print to the layered PDF,
>>>> open/import this in Illustrator and here split the PDF into the
>>>> layers.
>>>> This will however not bring over the attribute data.

>>>> Peter Horsb�ll M�ller

> .
>
>

[Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration]

The final answer is that this is not a design feature of the .pdf format
and/or illustrator and will not work.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/509192?tstart=0

[Tim Rideout]

I see the next poster in that thread is complaining about why you can't do that in Illustrator. Being slightly cynical about it then I would think it is probably deliberate. Presumably if you want to edit a pdf in detail you should use Acrobat (i.e. buy it as well as Illustrator), since otherwise if you could do it all in Illustrator why would all the Adobe users also buy Acrobat?

In which case, rather than buy Acrobat get MAPublisher and have a proper GIS system running within Illustrator. That way we get your cash rather than Adobe! And we are much more deserving than a huge multi-national!

Have a good weekend,

Tim

Dr Tim Rideout
Director

See Earth - the Limited Edition World Atlas at http://shop.xyzmaps.com. Only 200 will be sold in the UK. The largest Atlas ever published with 570 pages of maps and stunning images. We are proud to say XYZ supplied the Europe map spreads. Orders are now being taken for the next consignment here

Visit XYZ at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14-18th 2009
The XYZ Digital Map Company
Unit 9-11 Hardengreen Bus.Pk.
Dalhousie Road,
Dalkeith,
EH22 3NX
Tele: +44 (0) 131 454 0426
Mobile: +44 (0) 7766 825937
Fax: +44 131 454 0443

Email: tim.r...@xyzmaps.com
Web: www.xyzmaps.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration [mailto:r...@aurchem.ca]
Sent: 20 November 2009 17:01
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MI-L] Re: MapInfo print to pdf layers and Adobe Illustrator

The final answer is that this is not a design feature of the .pdf format
and/or illustrator and will not work.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/509192?tstart=0

[Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration]

Tom,

The next poster was me, I do own the complete CS3 and CS4 suites and it
does perturb me.
Not sure if this is the right forum but I tried MAPublisher yesterday
and I find having to redo all of my thematic mapping of points (I'm in
exploration) to (re)produce a map using mapublisher more work than just
cutting and pasting my map window into illustrator and cropping etc. Am
I missing something re:thematic mapping points in mapublisher?

Cheers,
Rob

[Tim Rideout]

Hi Rob,

It probably is a bit more effort, yes, as MapInfo has a rather nice
wizard for doing thematic maps. For non-thematic maps, though, it will
be easier than setting all the object styles in MapInfo.

Anyway, the procedure in MAPublisher would be:

Import the MapInfo tab file into a MapView.

Create a StyleSheet.

Drop your tab file layer into the StyleSheet.

Set up the symbolisation you want to use. For example if you want
polygons to be filled with a colour gradient then there is a nice way to
do that in illustrator - draw two rectangles either vertically or
horizonatally in line with a couple of inches in between them and fill
one with the starting colour and one with the ending colour, on the
object menu go to Blend>Blend Options and set this to e.g. 5 steps
(which will be start and end + 5 in between). Marquee both rectangles to
select them and go to Object>Blend>Make. This will give you a nice
colour ramp between the two end colours. Select it (it is a single Blend
object), use Object>Expand and Object>Ungroup. It will now be individual
rectangles of colour. Select them all and drag into the Graphic Styles
palette. These are now available to use in your StyleSheet. Edit the
StyleSheet and add rules to define what makes up each class in your
thematic map e.g. Style 1 should be Income between $1000 and $2000, and
so forth, and press apply or close the stylesheet. If you are doing
points then it is similar in that you need to populate the Symbols
palette with suitable symbols (see the libraries, including those that
come with MAPublisher). If you want one symbol in different sizes then
you can do that in the StyleSheet by using the SymbolSize slider bar. If
you change your mind about a Style then forget about the map and the
StyleSheet, just replace the style in either the Graphic Styles or the
Symbols palette (drag in a new style and with the Alt depressed drop it
on the style to replace). Your map will automatically update. Once a
Style Sheet is set up on a layer then if you edit a feature code or draw
a new object it will automatically pick up the appropriate style (which
also means the normal Illustrator way of changing the stroke and fill
won't work - the style takes precedence).

The style sheet can be used as a template for further maps (just import
the new data and drop it in). Or you can have multiple style sheets
(e.g. colour, gray, etc) and just drag the data from one to the other
and back again as you wish.

We find the combination of MapInfo and MAPublisher works very well.
However whether you need to take any particular map into Illustrator or
not depends on the map and the client. Quick and OK you can do in
MapInfo, publishable quality, CMYK, etc will need Illustrator.

Regards

Tim


Dr Tim Rideout
Director

See Earth - the World Atlas at http://shop.xyzmaps.com. The largest &
most expensive Atlas in the World, but 570 stunning pages of maps and
photos. XYZ did Europe.
Visit XYZ at IMTA Europe in Bayonne - Feb 2010 & the Cape Town Book Fair
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-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Schneider - Aurchem Exploration [mailto:r...@aurchem.ca]
Sent: 20 November 2009 18:01
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MI-L] Re: MapInfo print to pdf layers and Adobe
Illustrator

Tom,

The next poster was me, I do own the complete CS3 and CS4 suites and it
does perturb me.
Not sure if this is the right forum but I tried MAPublisher yesterday
and I find having to redo all of my thematic mapping of points (I'm in
exploration) to (re)produce a map using mapublisher more work than just
cutting and pasting my map window into illustrator and cropping etc. Am
I missing something re:thematic mapping points in mapublisher?

Cheers,
Rob

On 11/20/2009 9:06 AM, Tim Rideout wrote: