NRDB View 0.2

Introduction

NRDB View is an open source application for viewing and editing shapefiles. It is a component part of the Natural Resources Database project.

Natural Resources Database

NRDB was originally developed for the Bohol Environment Management Office, Philippines, through the support of Voluntary Service Overseas. This was supported through the Skills for Community-based Resource Utilization and Management (SCRUM) program. SCRUM was a four-year project partly funded by the European Union (EU) and the British Embassy.

NRDB was developed to provide developing countries with a simple to use tool for developing and distributing environmental databases. It now consists of three products, the original NRDB which is available as freeware, NRDB Pro, which is available for to environmental / sustainable development projects in developing countries, and NRDB View, which is released under the GNU General Public License.

For more information about the NRDB project visit the NRDB Homepage.

Open Source

NRDB View was developed for two purposes. Firstly, to provide a simpler tool for viewing and editing spatial data. NRDB and NRDB Pro are database products which take time and experience to set-up. Their strength is in the fact that once a database has been developed it can be redistributed with the software and it is relatively easy for end users to output information from the database in the form of maps, graphs and reports.

NRDB View was also developed to allow other programmers to contribute to the project. NRDB View was partly produced as an experiment to see if the open source model could be successfully applied to components of the NRDB project.

NRDB View is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) . This means that the software is redistributed with the source code so that end users may make changes and improvements to the software. The GPL requires that any modified versions of the software remain free and are also distributed under the conditions of the GPL license.

Future Development

NRDB View is based on NRDB Pro and contains the code for import and exporting shapefiles, displaying this data as maps, including modifying the appearance, creating thematic maps etc, automatic layout and loading and saving of layouts.

The NRDB user group has been set-up for the NRDB project to build a community for new and experienced users to request assistance and share their knowledge. I would welcome developers to use the forum to discuss development issues. If you have feedback on NRDB View please send your comments, suggestions etc. to the Users' Group Forum under technical so that others may benefit from your ideas and responses.

NRDB View is written using Visual C++ 6.0 and this is necessary to rebuild the software. It is hoped that the software can be ported to wxWindows so that a Linux version can be produced and also to assist in moving away from using proprietary libraries. 

Version History

NRDB View 0.2

NRDB View 0.1

User Manual

Importing Shapefiles

NRDB View can display shapefiles of type point, polyline and polygon.  Select Import from the Layout menu and select the shapefile to be imported.  The points, polylines or polygons will be displayed in the left panel and the name of the layer is added to the legend displayed in the right panel.

NRDB View 0.2 also supports the import of polyline and polygon files in ArcInfo export format.

Exporting Shapefiles

To export the contents of a layer to a shapefile, e.g. after editing the data, lines or points, select Export from the Layer menu and select the file to save to.

When saving the map layout, you will have the option to save any layers that have changed to their corresponding shapefiles.

Navigating the Map View

The Map View is the left panel displayed when one or more map layers have been added to the map.  It contains points, polylines or polygons and any corresponding labels.

You can navigate around the map using the zoom in, zoom out, zoom normal (full extent) and the pan tool from the toolbar.  You can also zoom by dragging a rectangle over the map.

To select an object from the map, right click on it.  For polylines you must click exactly on the line.  A popup menu will appear with the options to edit data, add or edit lines or points, or to delete the object (see below).

Navigating the Legend View

The legend is displayed in the right-hand panel and by default contains the names of the layers displayed on the map.

Double-clicking on a layer name will open the map properties for that layer.  You can change the order of layers by dragging them with the left mouse button held down.  Right clicking on a layer will display the Layer Control dialog.  This is used for deleting layers.  It can also be used for changing the order of layers - this is useful when the legend extends beyond the bottom of the screen).

The active layer is selected by clicking on its name on the legend.  A dashed line is drawn around the active layer name on the legend.

Map Properties

The Map Properties dialog enables you to change the appearance of how layers are displayed on the map and legend.

The Style page allows you to select line style, fill patterns and symbols.  You can also override the default colour from the layer page.  Where several symbols share the same point, the Arrange overlapping symbols, will arrange the symbols around this point.

The Labels page allows you to select an attribute to display as the Label.  You can also select how labels are arranged.  You can select the font for the layer and specify whether text and symbols should zoom with the map.  You can also choose whether to display overlapping text.

The Layer page contains a list of thematic styles.  These include: auto colour (colour depth proportional to value), auto size (size of symbol proportional to value), colour range (colour represents a range of values) or separate colour (each value has a separate colour).  For auto colour and auto size you can specify minimum and maximum values.  You can select an overall colour by clicking on the colour button.  For colour range you can you can add and delete ranges.  For separate colour and colour range, you can double-click on a individual colours to change them.  The value is determine by the Label selection on the Label page.

The Legend page enables you to specify a title for the map, layer name and comments for the layer to be displayed on the legend.  You can also override the default fonts for the legend.

Editing Polylines / Polygons 

To edit the vertices of polylines or polygons, for the active layer, right click on the object to be edited and select Edit Lines from the popup menu.

To add a new vertex, left click with the mouse.  You can select at which point the new vertex will be inserted by using the up/download left / right arrow keys.  The active vertices are displayed in a contrasting colour. 

To delete a vertex, select it using the left / right arrow keys and use the delete key.  

To finish, right click and you are given the option of saving the changes.  Note: This does not save the changes to the shapefile.

Whilst editing, you can use the buttons on the toolbar for zooming and panning.

Editing Points

To edit the location of points, for the active layer, right click on the map and select Edit Points from the popup menu.  You can now drag points by holding down the left mouse button.  Right click to finish editing.

Editing Data

To edit the data for a given object in the active layer, right click on it and select Edit Data from the popup menu.

The Edit Data dialog consists of a list of attributes and their values.  To edit a value, select it from the list and edit the value displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Editing Attributes

To edit the attributes associated with a layer, from the Edit Data dialog, select Configure.

A list of attributes is displayed on the right of the dialog.  Selecting an attribute from the list will cause its name and data type to be displayed in the controls on the left.  

To add a new attribute, type its name and select its data type and click on Add.

To delete an existing attribute, select it from the list and click on Delete.

Add Point / Polylines / Polygons to a Layer

To add a new object to the active layer, right click on the map and select Add.  You will then enter the appropriate edit mode as above.

Creating a New Layer

To create a new layer, from the Layers menu select Add.  You will be asked what sort of layer you wish to create - points, polylines or polygons.  You will then enter the appropriate edit mode as above.

Printing Maps

The layout of the map is performed automatically according to the orientation of the paper in Print Setup.  For landscape, the legend is displayed to the right of the map.  For portrait, it is displayed below.  

Copying to the Clipboard

To copy the map or legend to the clipboard, first make the required pane active by either clicking on the map or the legend.  Then select Copy from the Edit menu.

Loading and Saving Map Layouts

To save a layout to file, select File, Save As from the menu.  This will save the current layout including currently displayed layers and their display properties.  If you have modified any of the layers you will be asked if you wish to save the changes to the appropriate shapefile.

To reload a previous saved layout, select Open from the File menu.

Ackowledgements

The number of people involved in this project is too many to mention everyone by name. These include the staff of the Bohol Environment Management Office, Philippines and my friends and neighbours in Bohol for their hospitality and for putting up with me for three years; the staff of VSO Philippines; the Provisional Planning and Development Office, Palawan, Philippines; the Sustainable Development Foundation, Thailand for the support on the Thai version and the great food; and the individuals working for Conservation International on the Palawan Corridor Strategy Development Project, Philippines, supporting the further development of the software and contributing their own time and resources for the NRDB User Group. Also to anyone who has used, provided feedback or promoted the NRDB software. Maraming Salamat!

Appendix A: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

Version 2, June 1991

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
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Preamble
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