MapWindow GIS - Using the MapWindow Application

Using the MapWindow Application

The MapWindow application is a ready-to-use spatial data viewer, and a tool that can be modified into a new custom application. Customization is done by editing the MapWindow Configuration File, and/or a MapWindow Project File. These are the two files that control the look and feel of MapWindow. Both are XML-format files that can be edited directly through notepad or an XML editor.

Basic Interface

The basic MapWindow graphical user interface looks like this:

By default, the layout includes a map area (white box at the right), a legend pane, and a preview-map pane. Additionally, built-in toolbar buttons allow you to create, save and open project files (collections of data layers), print, and navigate around the map. Navigation tools includ pan, zoom-in, zoom-out, zoom-to-selected-layer, zoom-to-selected-shapes, zoom-to-full-extents. A tool bar button for adding and removing data layers from the map, as well as a "selection" tool are also included in the default layout.

In the following screenshot, notice that a new menu item, "Reports", has been added, and that three new buttons appear on the toolbar. These items were added by two separate plug-ins. The specific functions of these plug-ins is not necessary to understand at this point. Just note that a plug-in can interact with the map data and can be as large and complicated as needed.

Also notice in this image that several data layers have been added. These data happen to be from the Teton watershed in eastern Idaho. This should give you a feel for the legend and the map area.

The MapWindow Configuration File

The purpose of the configuration file is to allow a user to build and deploy a custom GIS data visualization tool without doing any programming. The configuration file contains all of the basic information that defines the look and feel of the MapWindow including:

Title bar caption
Title bar icon
Splash screen image
About-Box information
Which plug-ins should be loaded on start-up
Whether plug-ins are locked, or can be removed
Initial layout of the window panes

See also:

The MapWindow Project File

The purpose of the project file is to allow a user to specify which data layers to load for a particular project. Take for example the Source Water Protection tool. When a user launches SWP, it sets up MapWindow with the right title bar, icon and splash screen and help file. Then it allows a user to create a new SWP "Project". The user adds the needed data for a particular drainage, does some analyses and then can save it for later use. In this way, a developer using MapWindow can use the project file for all of the project-specific settings.

Information saved in the project file includes:

Names and file paths of all data layers
Coloring schemes
Plug-ins and plug-in settings