spatialSQL now includes an update to declutter point label maps. This has been included as a productivity tool to remove some of the tedium of manual label editing. It is one step better than the so-called "naive" method provided by autolabel, and uses a technique which involves shifting an overlapping label to the first available free position of the 8 candidates. It doesnt provide an "optimum" solution, but pretty much guarantees a better-looking map. It is not quick but faster than I can shift labels around maps.
Examples of the positioning problems that are resolved can be seen here: http://www.acenet.com.au/~pwaight/spatialsql.htm and include: 1. Repositioning labels that intersect linear or point features in the same or other layers in the current map. 2. Repositioning labels not shown due to points at the same location. 3. Label shift for all point layers in the current map. 4. Use of leader lines if these are defined in the layer -> label control. Quite important when L-R justification cannot be relied on to pick the associated point. Whilst looking for what was about in labelling these days, I noticed that Evername seems to have gone/transformed. The reference desktop labelling product seems to be Label-EZ, but there are quite a few of the GIS developer kits that now seem to have more advanced labelling facilities. Couldnt see anything in mapinfo-l archives on this topic? The web mapping trend seems to be fixed zoom, pre-published map images where the cpu time can be spent in composing good looking maps. oh - and one more vote for anti-aliased labels in MapInfo. Phil.
