• Tools Description
• About the Layers
• About the Legend
• Examples
  1. How do I zoom in to an area of interest?
  2. How do I display the layers of interest?
  3. How do I identify an object and find its attribute information?
  4. How do I create and print a customized map?

Zoom In - Magnify the view as if seen from a closer distance.
This button lets you zoom in on the location you click and display more deatils on the map. Every click will enlarge the area by 2x. Be aware that zooming in too much will not display any more details and could result in a blank map.

Zoom Out - Reduce the view as if seen from farther away.
This button lets you zoom out on the location you click and display a larger area with less deatils on the map. Some layers such as "CAFOs Lables" and "FPs Lables" will become invisible in order to make features on the map less crowded. Every click will reduce the scale by 2x. Be aware that zooming out too much will make the map unreadable.

Zoom to Fit - Zoom so that the component fits within the current window.
This button zooms the display to the full extent of the map area. If multiple layers are selected, clicking this button will zoom the map out to the extent that will show the limit of the layer with largest extent. (In most cases, clicking this button will show the extent of the New York State boundary if the "County" layer is selected.)
Tip: This button is especially useful when you are unsure of you location. You can always use this button to zoom back out to the full map extent and start over.

Zoom to Center - Pan the view so that the spot clicked is centered.
This button lets you move the map area by clicking on an area, the map will be redrawn with the center of the map located where you clicked the mouse.
Tip: After zooming in to a desired area, clicking this button first and then double clicking on any food processor (red triangle) on the map, a new window will open to display the web site of that specific food processor.

Zoom Box - Zoom to the size of the cursor box drawn with the mouse.
By clicking and holding the mouse button down in the upper left corner and dragging a box over to the bottom right and releasing the mouse button the map will be redrawn in the area you outlined with the box.
Tip: This button is especially useful when you try to zoom in or out a specific location. Compared to "Zoom In" and "Zoom Out", it it much easier to define the extent of target area. You can use this button combined with "Zoom to Fit" to repeatedly define the area of interest until you are satisfied.

Info Tool - - Show data fields for object. Shows all fields in all drawings in a map that is published, excluding the ID field and intrinsic fields.
This button will retrieve the attribute information of the chosen feature on a selected active layer. The results are shown in the area right below the map.

Track Line - - Measure distance between two or more points.
This button will draw a line between any two points that are defined by clicking on the map using the mouse. The points and line will be dynamically displayed on the map. The screen coordinates are automatically converted into the coordinate system of the component served by IMS. You can continue to the link more points until you press the "Reset" button (shown under the map). The Euclidean distance value is shown in the area (status bar in yellow color) right below the map. A list of unit options are available to choose from, including: foot, meter, kilometer, mile, and nautical mile.

Track Area - - Measure the area of a polygon.
The button will draw a polygon of any size and shape to be defined by clicking on the map using the mouse. Both of the points and polygon will be dynamically displayed on the map. The Euclidean area of the polygon will be reported in the area (status bar in yellow color) right below the map. A list of unit options are available to choose from, including: foot, meter, kilometer, mile, and nautical mile.

Print - - Print the map layout.
This button will capture the map with layers selected and extent defined by you and then open a new window. There you can create a customized map by entering title and author information as well as selecting components of the map (legend, north arrow, and date). After the map is created, you can print it directly from that window.

Help Info & Examples - - Show descriptions and examples to help carry out different tasks.
This button is shown in many places on the screen where help might be needed. Clicking on it will open a new window which provides description about that specific feature (mapping or query) and also list examples to help users to correctly use that function.

Update - - Dynamically update the food processor database.
This button will lead you to a web form that can be used to enter food processor information to dynamically update the food processor database. The inputs will be directly sent to a Microsoft Access data file. At the same time, the inputs will be sent by email to the person who is responsible for maintaining the database. In the email, there are two links. If the inputs seem to be reasonable or accurate, the person will click on the first link to approve the new record and only then the Access database will be updated. If the inputs look unreasonable (such as testing inputs), the person will clikc on the second link to delete/disapprove the new record and then the record will be removed from the database automatically. So, during the updating process, the procedures are automatic and do not actually require opening the database. This will minimize the time and effort for maintaining the database.

Expand Heading - Open a tool such as Layers.
This button lets you to expand the panes such as the Layers, Legend, or Queries and make them visible.

Contract Heading - Close a tool such as Layers.
This button lets you to contract the panes such as the Layers, Legend, or Queries and make them invisible. This is useful when you don't need any of those panes and want to make the screen less crowded.

Each layer represents one type of geographic feature (data) which might be either points, lines, or areas. The layers at the top of the list are drawn on top of those below it. Some layers (e.g. "Aquifers" and "Ag Census") are semi-transparent in order to make the layers below visible. Users can select any combination of information layers simply by checking on or off the boxes in the front. For best function and visual effect, here are some tips:

• Always press "Apply" button after select or deselect layers.
• Always have the "County" layer selected. This layer shows the political boundary of counties in New York State.
• Have less layers selected when displaying a map in small scale (large area).

"CAFO" stands for concentrated animal feeding operations, which are large-scale farms. (A more detailed definition is available in the "Frequently Asked Questions".) "FP" stands for food processor.

The image below provides further description about some layers in particular.

A legend is a display that uses symbols and colors to distinguish different layers seen in a map or print layout. To increase the speed of interactive mapping service and also to better organize the layers, a customized legend (an image) is created and used to replace the original "live" legend. Most layers are listed on the legend except those layers of areas such as "County" or "Ag Census" because there are too many symbols. However, they still can be identified by using "Info Tool".

Example 1: How do I zoom in to an area of interest?

This example shows how to use the tool bar to locate an specific area in New York State. The general procedures are as following:

Step 1: Click the "Zoom Box" button - .

Step 2: Draw a box around the area you are interested (western New York in this example) by clicking and holding the mouse button down in the upper left corner and dragging a box over to the bottom right. Then release the button.

Note: It is also OK to use "Zoom In" and "Zoom Out" to accomplish the same task. However, the "Zoom Box" is a more convenient tool.

Step 3: The map will immediately update and display the area selected.

Step 4: You can coninuously zoom in to smaller area by drawing another box.

Step 5: To change the area of interest, you can click - "Zoom to Fit" to go back to the original extent and start over again from step 1.

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This example shows how to select or deselect layers to meet customized needs. The general procedures are as following:

Step 1: Only check the small boxes in front of the layers that you are interested. You can select any combination of layers and there is no limit on number.

Step 2: Then press the "Apply" button on the bottom of the Layers Pane. The map will immediately update and display only the layers that you just selected.

Note: It is recommended to leave the "County" layer checked in most cases because it defines the boundary of New York State as well as that of all 62 counties.

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This example shows how to locate a specific object (which can be a point, line, or area) on the map and display the information about this object.

Note: If you just want to find the names of certain CAFO or food processor, you can zoom in (see Example 1) to an area until county level. The names (lables) of all CAFOs and food processors will be automatically displayed on the map. This doesn't apply to any other layers.

To identify objects on other layers, the general procedures are as following:

Step 1: Select the layers that you are interested (see Example 2). In this example, only "Food Processors" and "County" are selected.

Step 2: If the objects (e.g. points) are too crowded on the map, you need to zoom in to enlarge the area first.

Step 3: Click the button - (Info).

Step 4: Click right on a specific object of interest. (In this example, the object is a food processor seen in the blue circle.)

Step 5: The information about the object clicked will be displayed in the blank area below the map.

Note: If the objects are lines or areas, the general procedures are similar. You can click anywhere on the line or in the area to select the object. Once a line is clicked, it will be highlighted in red color and the information is shown in the section below map (see image below). This example shows that the identified stream (a line feature) is "Fall Creek".

To select objects from an area-layer (e.g. "Elec Utility"), you need to make sure this specific layer on tops of other area-layers. Or, to to make it simpler, you can just select this area-layer and deselect any other other area-layers. Once an area is clicked, its boundary will be highlighted in red color. Also the area will be filled with small grids to distinguish from other areas (see image below). This example shows that the identified region (an area feature) is serviced by the utility company - "NYSEG" for electricity .

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This example shows how to create and then print out a map that displays the area and layers that you are most interested. The general procedures are as following:

Step 1: Create a map that has correct extent and layers.

Step 2: Click on the button - .

Step 3: A new window will pop up (see image below) and asks you to enter some inputs.

Step 4: Enter the map title and author information and select the components (legend, north arrow, and date/time) that you want to show on the final map.

Step 5: A customized map will be created. You can always go back to make chanegs by clicking on the button - "Go Back".

Step 6: Now you can print it out by clicking on the "Print" button on the upper right of the window. Note that this button will not be shown on the map printed out.

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