Carto is a cartographic tool that allows users to create their own customised maps. It provides the following advanced facilities:
To use Carto, you must be a registered user of EDINA Digimap. You may either register online or get a form from your Digimap site representative. In each case, after you have completed the form, you need to have it signed by your site representative, whose details are available from http://edina.ac.uk/digimap.
To use Carto you need a modern web browser which supports Java™ 1.4. If you are unsure whether your system can run Carto, contact a member of computing staff at your institution.
This guide gives a simple outline. A more detailed tutorial can be found in the services help pages. When you first log in to Carto you will see the following screen:
The search tab provides searches for a location based on its Easting and Northing, National Grid reference, postcode or place name.
Type a place name e.g. "Swansea" into the Place Name Search box and click Go. You will be presented with a list of possible places. Click on the relevant place to draw the map.
Refine your search using the two drop-down menus above the search term box, using either the location or feature type parameters or both.
If you enter a grid reference, the Easting and Northing will correspondingly change, if you enter an Easting and Northing, the grid reference will change.
Select the Location Map tab. You will see a smaller scale map with a small red box superimposed. The area covered by the red box indicates the area covered by the map below.
Use your mouse to click, hold and drag the red box across the small scale location map.
When you let go of the mouse button the map in the right hand panel will re-draw the map over the area you have chosen.
You may zoom in and out of the Location Map by using the magnifying icons at the top of the left hand panel.
To zoom in, click once on the zoom in button below the Map Panel. The cursor will change to a magnifying glass. Use this to hold down the left mouse button and use this cursor to draw a square over the area you wish to zoom in to, then let go.
Notice that the scale above the map changes. You can also use the bar at the top right of the map panel to alter your level of zoom both in and out.
You can also use the drop-down arrow next to the scale display above the Map Panel or type a scale in to the scale box then click on Go.
As you change the scale of your map, different OS products are used to create the map.
As you change the scale of your map, different OS products are used to create the map. The following products are active within the following scales:
This guide refers to scale-controlled map content, which is the default setting. This means that the contents of the map are controlled by the scale at which the map is displayed. You can change this on the Options tab for more control over which products you can draw.
Ensure the Map Content tab is selected, then select a scale for your map.
Note that changing the scale changes the products used, and they display in a bold text.
First, set your map to a scale of 1:5,000 by typing 5000 in the scale box. You will see in the Map Content box that the LandLine product is drawn. You can make a different map by switching on the Land-Form Profile Data. Click on the check box next to its name and then on Redraw Map to display the new product.
You can control which features of map products are displayed using the Map Content tab. Double click on one of the highlighted product names. This will expand the product to show its features.
Double-click on a feature (e.g. Roads) and you will see a list of those features which can be displayed. They check boxes will be ticked if displayed, or blank if not. You can switch them on or off using the tick box. You will have to click Redraw Map after each change to see how your new map will look.
Click on the print icon in the top bar.
Choose your paper size and add a title for your map first. The preview shows you what will be printed, the red box indicating the map you have on your screen. Blue areas are those surrounding the map on screen that will be added to the printed map, any pink areas are those on the screen map that will not fit onto the printed version.
You can change the scale to make your screen map fit onto smaller paper sizes or to fill up more space on larger paper sizes.
Click Create Print File to generate a printable file, this may take some time. When the plot file is done you will be presented with a link to download your plot file in a pop-up window. Right-click on the link to save the file locally. A .pdf file will be saved which you may then print on your local printer or view with Adobe Reader.
For further help, refer to the Carto help Pages.
October 2009