Define Map View

The Define Map view is one of three views available in the edit area of the project edit window, and is where the area and boundaries of the map project are defined and edited.

The Define Map View is the default project view when no map area has been defined - for example, when the project has just been created.

To show the Define Map View, select the Define Map View button (2) in the project view selection toolbar, from within a Project Edit Window.

The graphical editing area of the define map view displays all of the project's member tracks, along with any map boundaries that have been defined. Shaded areas within the view indicate areas of the map that will be excluded from the final map as a result of the defined Shorelines and Islands. The mouse-mode selector toolbar contains two modes specific to the define map view; Define Map Area and Draw Boundary (1), described in detail below, and in Shorelines and Islands.

Track points in the Define Map View

The individual track points from each of the project's member tracks are shown, in the same way as the Track Edit Window. The colours assigned to the track-points reflect their relative depth with respect to the overall minimum and maximum depths across all tracks that belong to the project, or the specified minimum and maximum Depth Range (see below).

Clicking on a track-point with the mouse in select mode shows the depth and location of the point.

Right-clicking on a track-point shows a menu with the following options:

·Delete Trackpoint deletes a single track-point

·View Sonar opens the track (to which the track-point belongs) for editing, and opens the sonar viewer to the location of the track-point. This option is very useful when trying to determine whether a suspectd bad depth is correct or not. Note that this option is disabled for tracks that were not imported from sonar logs files.

·Edit Track opens the individual track for editing, with the selected track-point selected in the track edit window.

·Adjust track water level moves all depths within the selected track up or down by the specified amount. A value can also be entered directly into the text box.

Track-points can also be deleted by selecting them using the mouse in Region Select mode. Note that the track-points will be deleted from the tracks of which the affected track-points are members.

Depth Range

The maximum and minimum values used to calculate the colours for track-points can be set in the Depth Range setting, under the Tracks header in the project properties panel, by adjusting the values with the slider (1).

Track-points can be filtered on depth by clicking the Filter button (2). This will delete all track-points outside of the specified range. Note that the track-points will be deleted from the tracks of which the affected track-points are members.

Shallow track-point with colours calculated from full depth range

The same area as above, with the maximum depth value reduced

Defining the Mapped Area

To generate the map, the mapped area must be defined. This is done by drawing a region with the Define Map Area tool (1).

·With the mouse mode set to Define Map Area, draw a region around the required map area by holding the left mouse-button down and moving the mouse. A rectangular region is highlighted within a dashed red border, indicating the area that will be generated.

·Release the left mouse-button to begin the map generation.

Once the map area has been selected, the map is generated. As it can take some time to generate maps, progress indicators are shown within the edit area and application status bar, where further information about the current state of the generate process is also displayed.

Once the model has been generated, the generated map will be available for display in the Contour and 3D views. The defined map area is shown as a light-box over the track-point and map boundaries that form the map. This area can be moved by dragging it by the square at its centre, with the mouse in select mode. The map area can be resized by dragging with any of the triangles at its edges, again with the mouse in select mode.

Note that it is possible to continue using ReefMaster whilst the map is being generated, as map generation is executed as a background task.

The map is automatically re-regenerated any time that the data used by the map is changed. For example, if a track is added or removed to the map, or if any values within a component track are changed.