EDX software allows you to control almost all the content and style of your Map views. You are able to choose the layers you want to see and decide how each layer looks. For those who have used GIS software, it is familiar; for those who haven’t, it is a simple and intuitive approach to creating maps. To access this feature, select Map>Setup Map Layers or click the Map Layers buttonin the button bar. This opens the Map Layers dialog box shown below.

The Map Layers dialog box lists every type of object, item or “layer” that appears on your map. For each of the layers listed, you have a variety of ways of controlling how it is displayed, including its position in the layer list. Depending on the position of a layer, it may obscure layers underneath it. For example, when you first run an area study, that study’s map layer is placed at the top of the layer list. Because the colors are solid, you won’t see any of the other underlying layers. To resolve this issue, you would reposition the area study lower in the layer list by highlighting it and using the Move up and Move down buttons to change its position in the list. You can also click on the layer and drag it to a new position in the list. Finally, you would change its transparency to make lower layers visible. You can also edit the attributes of a particular layer by highlighting it in the list, then clicking the Style button in the lower right. This will be discussed in more detail later in the chapter.

Move top/Move up/Move down/Move bottom/Toggle Map/Toggle Legend

The Move buttons help you move layers for organization. Think of the maps layers like papers on your desk. Papers at the bottom of the pile get obscured by papers placed on top of them. Some layers, like area studies, are solid over a large range Other layers, like roads and streets vector data, only show data where there is a line. So in those cases, you can place vector layers over area study layers without obscuring the study. These buttons help you put them in the order you want. You can also left click-hold on a layer and drag it to a new position in the layer list window. 

The Map and Legend check boxes are toggle switches and toggle their visibility in the main map window and on the legend.

Add Layer button

To add a layer, click on the Add Layer button, which accesses the Add Map Layer dialog box shown below. On the left hand side are layers Internal to EDX software. Some are added automatically when you do something like run a study, others can be manually added, like the Bing Map Layer. To add a layer from the left, highlight the desired layer then click OK. That layer will then be placed at the bottom of the map layer list in the Map Layers dialog window.

Available Database layers

• These databases must first be set in the 

Databases>EDX Geographic Data menu selection. After they are set, they will be available to add to your map list.

Available Screen object layers

• Every object you show or draw on the screen—transmitters, links, reference grid, polygons showing service boundary, etc. are available to be placed on the map list, although most of these layers are added by default when you create a new project.

The exception is the Bing Map Layer. That is manually added after you create a project. Click on the Bing Map Layer then click OK to add it to your map list. Remember, it’s added at the bottom, so you’ll need to reposition it in your layer list, and most likely add some transparency to see layers underneath, like terrain.

Use of the Bing Map Layer is paid for by EDX, and is controlled through a Bing license. Only products with current maintenance agreements can access this license. If the Bing maps won’t load, check with EDX Support to see if it’s an expired license, or if you are out of maintenance. Setting attributes for this layer are covered below.

Available Study layers – These layers are dynamic layers. They exist only in the context of running a particular study. Normally the user doesn’t add these layers, they are added by the EDX software as you run the study.

Add Image File

While terrain and clutter can be used to build an image of the area you’re working in, adding topographic or satellite images can be very useful. Most of these maps have been replaced by the use of the Bing Map Layer, or by exporting studies and equipment to Google earth formats. The add image function still exists in the tool and is explained here.

Clicking the Add image file button brings up the above dialog box. The Layer name is the name that will appear in the map list. If you choose not to name the layer, it will show up in the list with the added file location. Click Browse for file to look for the image file you’d like to add.

Add Geographic File

One of the most useful ways to enhance your study map is to add geographic (or spatial) data information. “Geographic data” as used here means any kind of data in which a geographical feature, label, or symbol is described in terms of its location (spatial position) on the surface of the earth. This includes all types of boundary lines (states, counties, cities, coastlines, etc.), labels, and symbols.

The types of spatial data that can be drawn on your map are:

• EDX boundary line or .BNA format files

• EDX or ASCII label files

• ASCII symbol files

• EDX ASCII field strength contour files

• MapInfo® MIF format files

• ArcView® shape files

• Simple ascii text file of coordinate pairs

Clicking the Add geographic file button brings up the above dialog box. The Layer name is the name that will appear in the map list. If you choose not to name the layer, it will show up in the list with the added file location. Click Browse for file to look for the image file you’d like to add. When you’re in the file browser, you can click the File Type (All Files “ *.* ”) drop-down list to restrict the search to files of a particular type, like all “.shp” files. If you have a folder of all “.shp” files, you can click Browse for directory and point to that folder. EDX will then load all the files found in that folder that match an EDX readable format. However, it is recommended that only files of a specific type be put in this folder, like all files with “.shp” and “.mif” file extensions, etc.

The Use area boundary file drop-down list allows you to load an EDX Service Area Boundary that’s already been pointed to in the Network Design modules. However, this is no different than just clicking browse for file and loading the file itself using the method above.

Add measurement file

 EDX software is primarily designed to provide predictions of signal level and other types of system design information. However, it is always valuable to compare such predictions with measurements. One way to do this is to plot measurement data directly on the map with your predictions and visually compare the two.

Click on the Add measurement file button and a Measurement Data File Selection dialog box will appear in which you can select the type of file (manufacturer of the measurement equipment), point to the measurement file, and give the layer a unique name. 

The following measurement file types are supported:

• EDX format (see Appendix I)

• Accuver format

• BVS format

• AirMagnet format

• STI (Survey Technologies) format

• Grayson Electronics format

• ZK CellTest format

• Anritsu LMR Master .KML/.KMZ format – When selecting this option, you have another option to read in either RSSI or BER data.

Once you have added a measurement file to your list, you can use the Style button to select the symbol and color that will be used to depict the various measurement values on the map. For more information on this dialog box, see the Studies Menu chapter and the Area Studies/set color and range section.

Drop Layer/Current View Buttons

Returning to the Map Layers dialog box, highlighting a layer and clicking Drop layer will remove that layer from the list. Clicking the Current View takes you to the Current View Setup dialog box discussed above.

Edit Name

Below the three main buttons described above, is the Edit Name button. If a map layer name can be changed, the Edit Name button will be enabled. Selecting a layer and clicking this button allows you to change the name of the map layer in the layer list.

Style

When a layer is highlighted, clicking the Style button will bring up an attributes dialog box appropriate for that layer. Line styles, widths and colors, as well as symbol sizes, fonts, and any other applicable parameters can be set here. For terrain, clutter, building/floorplan, demographic, traffic and customer premise equipment data, there are two ways to access their dialog boxes: either clicking the Style button or going to Map>Terrain data or Map>Land Use (Clutter) data, etc. Layer attributes will be covered in the section of the manual appropriate to that layer’s information.

Labels

Font, font size and color can be set here for map layers that have label information. If you draw a geographic file in MapInfo “.mif” or ArcView “.shp” file format, there may be companion “.mid” or “.dbf” format files with names and other types of information associated with each of the geographic entities in the “.mid” or “.shp” file. Sometimes there can be multiple labels or other attributes associated with each geographical entity. The Label dialog box lets you select which of the labels will be used alongside the geographic entity.

Autoscale

Maps can become cluttered and unreadable when too many features are drawn in too small of a space. The Autoscale feature allows you choose when you want a particular map layer to be displayed on the map. Set the largest scale (most zoomed in) and the smallest scale (most zoomed out) within which a layer will be drawn. The program checks the scale each time a map is drawn; if the scale falls within the largest and smallest scales, the layer will be drawn. Each layer can have its own autoscale settings.

Transparency

The transparency feature allows you to place layers on top of each other without blocking the view of the lower layer. For example, if you want to place a signal study on top of a topographic map image, you would arrange the layers in the Map Layer dialog box so that the map is below the study layer. If you have layers that you would like to display, but you want to reduce the cluttered look of your map, you can set some of these layers to be partially transparent. You would then set the  transparency percentage of the study layer. A value of 0% denotes no transparency; a value of 100% denotes complete transparency and the layer becomes invisible.

Exporting Map Layers

Many of the map layers can be exported to Google Earth and other various formats. If a map layer can be exported, the Export Layer button will be enabled. Clicking on the button will display the exportable file types for this layer. Below is an example for an Area Study. 

Select the file type you want to export and click on Export Layer. Another dialog will come up asking for a filename and perhaps some other options.

Exporting Area Studies Using the Vertical Mapper Option

This is a separate option for the EDX software (SignalPro) and is a separate installation package after SignalPro is already installed. If the Vertical Mapper option is not installed, you will get a message as shown below when attempting to export.

For more information and help, please contact EDX Technical Support.

Area Studies can be exported to a Vertical Mapper file and then displayed in MapInfo. To export a study, choose the Area Study you wish to export and then press the Export Layer button. From the Grid File Types: choose GRC (VerticalMapper), and then enter the file name to save to.