How to readably display attributes from different files on close-by locations

marc_eddn

Hi,

I have to display attributes coming from different text files (layers) very close to each other on a map, for example, an airport will have a name and may also have one or more Navaids (a VOR and/or a NDB) for which type(s) and frequency have to be displayed. GM does so far either omit some of the information, or print it all overlayed so that the information becomes unreadable.
Is there a way to untangle this mess? The different point features have to be accurately positioned, so it is not an option to just offset the data "a bit" to make things more readable.
I'll attach a demo of what I mean:

Not the real thing though, since I don't have the actual data on the laptop.

I hope there's a solution!

Best regards

Marc

global_mapper

Marc,

There is not really an easy solution to this. By default, Global Mapper will not display overlapping labels, so you would just see one of the labels in that case. You can select an option on the Vector Display tab of the Configuration dialog to 'Always Display All Labels', which will always display labels even if they overlap, but as you say this can result in a jumbled mess.

The only real option for positioning labels is to draw a line feature using the Digitizer Tool exactly where you want the label positioned and make the line have a style of 'Null' and the label that you want displayed. Then the label will be drawn along that line but you won't see the line.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thanks,

Mike
Global Mapper Support
support@globalmapper.com

marc_eddn

Thanks for the reply, but I cannot manually do this for each of the few hundred Australian airports. I hoped there was a smarter way.

My current idea for a workaround is to have multiple layers for each feature, so one with the exact position for the icon, one for the text with a pre-calculated offset and no icon, maybe one other for more info. A lot of scripting that I'd rather avoid. Maybe some other user has a better solution for this?

It would be really nice if labels could be displayed in Global Mapper with different offsets relative to the points, e.g. selectabe "upper left", "lower right", ... And better still "automatic", which would take surrounding labels into account (that one would be tricky though for sure).

Best regards

Marc

global_mapper

Marc,

We are hoping to add more label positioning capabilities for point features soon, perhaps in the upcoming v10 release. When this is added some better automatic positioning may also be possible.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thanks,

Mike
Global Mapper Support
support@globalmapper.com