A result of years of extensive research, award-winning Maplex software
provides organizations with the most advanced, flexible text placement and cartographic
design software possible. Maplex substantially reduces cartographic production time. From
its intuitive graphical user interface to its powerful conflict resolution capabilities,
Maplex makes it easier than ever to create labels and symbols for map features.
Maplex is fully automated cartographic name placement software for
high-end cartography. Maplex offers the solution for the time-consuming task of ensuring
that names on a map do not overlap and are clearly associated with the features they
annotate.
With Maplex, users can automatically place point, line, and area labels on
a fully symbolized map in accordance with operator-dictated rules. Users can quickly place
several labels per second, saving valuable time and up to 40 percent in cartographic
production costs. Maplex can help users achieve consistent performance and make more
efficient use of their resources.
User-friendly, Maplex has an intuitive graphical user interface. The wide
range of options for controlling both text placement and map symbolization is easily
accessible via the mouse. The effects of particular options can be monitored by generating
maps interactively.
Maplex allows the user complete control over the specification of
preferred text style and configuration for each class of named features. Each class of
named features on the map is given a relative priority that determines the extent to which
it must be avoided by text. Once rules have been specified for a particular type of map,
they can be saved in a rule base.
The positions generated for point-referenced names normally occupy
horizontal locations surrounding the point symbol. Users can split names into up to eight
elements and stack labels up to 50 lines high. Depending on the user's needs,
justification can be left, right, or centered, and several radial distances from the
symbol can be selected. Maplex also provides on-screen label editing capabilities, such as
moving/reshaping labels and adding leader lines.
With Maplex, users can control whether positions for each class of named
features should be horizontal (crossing the line or adjacent to it), straight and parallel
to the line, or curved and parallel to the line. In a network of linear features, users
can also control how often an extensive individual feature is named. Users can ensure full
and unambiguous labeling of a network with Maplex by triggering repetition of names where
junctions between lines of the same class might otherwise introduce ambiguity. Maplex also
has the ability to align text with a graticule.
Maplex normally plots area names horizontally at locations that depend on
the shape of the feature to be named. Maplex also gives the user the option of naming
polygons with curved labels.
With Maplex users can treat each character individually by defining
height, width, and intercharacter spacing for each letter of each class of named features;
enclosing straight text with boxes whose style and line thickness are user-specified; and
specifying for each class of named features whether to mask out underlying map features.
The font used to display text depends on the facilities of the graphics system in use as
well as the printing systems that are available to Maplex.
Maplex gives users several label placement strategies. Users choose which
to utilize depending on the relative importance of cartographic quality and speed of
execution. If no solution that avoids name overlaps is available, Maplex will always
provide the user with a partial solution. Users can also request selective automatic name
deletion or partial overlap with masking. Maplex even lets users specify the relative
priority of names so they can delete those that are less significant.
Input and Output Formats
Cartographic data is input to Maplex in a variety of formats. In addition
to complete graphic output, users can output text positions separately for subsequent
input to other cartographic/ graphics systems.
Maplex reads data from a wide variety of file formats, including ESRI
shapefile format (.shp), ArcInfo coverages and annotation layers, ArcSDE layers,
Laser-Scan Internal Feature format (IFF), MAPDATA (MAP) format, Maplex Features and Labels
(MFL) format, Maplex Placed Labels (MPL), and vector product format (VPF).
Users can create fully symbolized cartographic products on their computer
screens and then output hard copies to standard printing devices using Maplex. Maplex
produces a variety of output files, including Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand,
Adobe PostScript, MicroStation design data format (.dgn), Computer Graphics Metafile
(CGM), Laser-Scan Internal Feature format, Autodesk DXF, MAPDATA format, and Maplex Placed
Labels format. Labels output in MPL format can be fed back into Maplex as prepositioned
labels that are immovable during the software's next processing run.
Maplex is supported in the Windows NT environment.
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