MapInfo Pro

The new layout window is great but it does not have the formatting functionality for shapes that the map window has. Nor does it have the same colour palette. This actually defeats the purpose of having such a functional layout window. Can you please fix?

I would like to support the comment of Alexandra.

It is a great step backward. Only solid linestyle is available and fullfilled shapes when drawing elements in the layout designer.

Elements drawn in MI 15 with "real" shading and with dashed linestyles are lost in MI 16 and MI 17.

We really would like to know a bit more about the use case for this.

Are you creating your own legend in the layout instead of using the legends generated by MapInfo Pro? If so, what is it that you are missing in the legend tools?

If you are using it for other things, please share with us.

Hi Peter, many of our customers are creating their own legends. They do that because the legend should always look the same regardless of the objects in the map window. What we are missing? We are missing the possibility to insert lines, polylines, ellipse, rectangle, rounded rectangle and polygons with different shade patterns and different borderline styles in the layout designer of MapInfo 16 or 17. „Old“ legends created in MI 12.5 or 15.0 with the former layout window are displayed now (in MI 16 or 17) with solid linestyle for the borderline and/or with full shading. So the legend lost its explanatory power. I write „we“ because I think/hope that Alexandra Bonner is meaning the same thing. Kind regards Mit freundlichem Gruß Helmut Hoppe Geodatenmanager

Hi Helmut

So it's mostly a question of creating custom legends as I see it.

A legend in MapInfo Pro is currently "static" so it shows legends for all the features in the layer, not just those visible in the current map extent.

So you should be able to do this using the legend tools in MapInfo Pro as I would expect the objects in your map window will have the style you also want to see in the legend.

I do recognise that this probably isn't the optimal solution. Especially not if you have many workspaces with layouts where this has to be changed.

We do have a request for this improvement on a newly released Ideas Portal: https://ideas.pitneybowes.com/ideas/MIPRO-I-107

Adding a full set of line styles would be nice, I like using dotted lines to show the outlines of inset map areas in a larger map.

Also, can we address how the objects in the Legend window don't always look exactly like the objects on the map? Line thicknesses don't always render the same and points don't show the point border thickness the same way as map windows. I sometimes have to create custom legends so my clients don't complain about this issue.

We have improved the legend in v17.0 to make it look more like what you see in your map window.

If you have specific examples where they don't look similar we would really like to see these.

Hi Peter,

every improvement is a good thing. But in this case it doesn't solve our issue.

To make it more clear it may be helpfull to look at this issue separate from the task of creating a legend.

In the layout designer window it is possible to insert lines, polylines, polygons and so on.

We want to draw this elements with any linestyle we want and with any shade pattern we want (not only with solid linestyle and full shading).

I hope the others agree to that answer.

Kind regards

Helmut

 

Hi Helmut,

I understand that and we also have this improvement on our back log.

I were mostly trying to find some workarounds for those who where drawing their legends directly in the layout.

I do recognise the need for improved styling in the layout but as that isn't an option at the moment I were trying to find alternatives and at the same time also better understand the requirements.

Peter,

I ran into the issue I have with Layout legends again this morning. The issue is with image rendering in JPG/GIF/PNG. It works fine in PDF rendering. I'm attaching a sample of what I see on screen, PDF output, and JPG output. As you can see, the JPG output is different than the rest with the legend items being shrunk relative to the map object. Style 5 is supposed to match the map object in the lower left. It does for PDF and on the screen, but not in the JPG.

This is what I see on screen.

 

Here is the PDF output, it looks good.

 

And here is the JPG output, where the styles in the legend are shrunk. I've played with all the rendering options and I can't find anything that fixes this effect. This effect also happens with line and polygon objects, but its less relevant for polygons. Lines and point styles are the issue. It looks like the legend text might be shrunk too relative to PDF rendering.

 

Thanks Ali.

Any change you have a small sample workspace you can share so that I can try to reproduce this?

Sure, here is a quick workspace for you to test.

Thanks,

I just tried it with the latest build of Pro 17 that I have. I created it with a resolution of 200px

The result does look fine to me. What do you think?

That looks right, I guess I'll be waiting for 17 to be released.

I just installed MI17. The legend rendering has not changed for me, the legend is still smaller than it should be.

 

Also, did you guys get rid of the layer window? What was the thinking there?

Hi Ali,

Weird as it worked for me earlier. Did you create the image in a 200DPI resolution?

The Layer List window has been removed as we implemented a new Layer Control. You can use the Explorer window instead. If you don't want it to have the other elements, you can turn these off via PRO, Options, Explorer.

I'm not sure if we are bringing back the stand-alone Layer List/Maps window with a later patch.

Thanks for the tip on explorer, that will work for me. I usually dont use explorer at all, i use layer on the right side and tables/windows on the left. But this will be fine.

As for the legend, yes I used 200dpi, but changing the DPI does not have an effect for me. The legend objects are always smaller in image saves regardless of DPI. I have toggled every option in the image save and still no change.

Ali,

can you try and raise this with Tech Support (software.support@pb.com)?