Overview

Geographical Map of an Listeria monocytogenes outbreak in Austria. The samples are colored according to their cgMLST Complex Type.

The Geographical Map can be created from the Comparison Table for Samples that have location information available (e.g., after using the geocoding function). The displayed Samples can be visualized in different forms, e.g. they can be colored according to their group.


Configure Appearance

Press the Button16-Config.png to configure the Sample display options.

Press the Button16 City.png to show or hide cities according to the population size.

Press the Button16 FitShape.png to show the map settings panel on the left. It allows to choose the background for the map and the displayed shapes (countries or regions). By default the shapes are selected automatically according to the Sample that are displayed. The shapes can be manually be switched on and off by using the check box next to their name. For each displayed shape, a background color and a line color can be specified by clicking the color-cell. To quickly hide all countries/regions, use the Button16-PickNone.png Hide All button.

The background image that is included in the software is a low-resolution relief-image of Earth supplied by Natural Earth. To use other images, the Edit button next to the background image checkbox can be used. This button opens the Background Image Settings dialog.

The visible rectangle can be moved using the Move North, Move South, Move West, or Move East commands, or by dragging to mouse. The Zoom In and Zoom Out commands zoom the visible rectangle. Alternatively, the mouse wheel can be used for zooming.

Menu

Example of Open Street Map export and MapQuest tiles.

File

  • Export Map Image: Allows to export the map in different file formats:
    • PNG raster image: exports the map as image. The exported image will have the same size as the displayed map, i.e. increasing the canvas size will increase the image size.
    • SVG vector image: exports the map (without background image) as vector graphics. The exported image can be zoomed without loosing details.
  • Export Map for Browser: Allows to export the map in different file formats:
    • OpenStreetMap and Google Maps HTML: Export the Sample icons only into a HTML-file that can be opened with a web browser. The HTML file uses data from OpenStreetMap, MapQuest and Google Maps to display the Samples. Clicking a location on the map will open a table with Samples for the location.
    • Google Earth KMZ: Export the Sample icons only for use in Google Earth. Clicking a location in Google Earth will open a table with the Samples for the location.

View

  • Fit to Samples: Change the visible rectangle so that all Samples are visible and resets the selected shapes.
  • Zoom In, Zoom Out: Zooms the visible rectangle.
  • Move North, Move South, Move West, or Move East: Moves the visible rectangle.
  • Sample Display Options: Opens the Sample Display Options window that allows to choose how Samples are displayed on the map.
  • Show Cities: Allows to add cities to the map.
  • Show Map Selection Panel: Shows or hides the map selection table at the left side of the window.
  • Show Zoom Panel: Shows or hides the zoom controls at the bottom of the window.

Tools

  • Cumulate Points by Shape: Cumulates Samples that are contained in the same polygon of the map. This can be used e.g. to create a single icon for all Samples in a state or country. The lat/long information in the table is not changed. The points are cumulated and centered by the countries/regions selected in the left panel. The calculation is done by simple geometry. Note that points close to borders or coastlines may be cumulated wrongly or at not at all because of imprecision in the map files.
    CumulateExample.png
  • Cumulate Nearby Points: Cumulates Samples whose distance is below a given threshold. The points are centered in the average middle position of all cumulated points.
  • Reset Points: Resets the effect of the Cumulate Points function.
  • Sort by Selected Nodes: If checked, the nodes that are selected in the map window are sorted to the top of the table.

Context Menu

Right-clicking the map area opens a context menu that shows the lat/long coordinates of the clicked location and allows to select Samples up to a given distance around the location.

Maps

The software is delivered with a world map and maps of several European countries. These maps are supplied by Natural Earth. The map data is supplied as public domain and can be used without any limitation. Note that Ridom does not take any responsibility for correctness or completeness of the map data.