Well, I think MapInfo have been selling old wine on new bottles ;-)
Autotrace is not a new feature. I think it was added to MapInfo 4.0/4.1 because some
Danes - no names mentioned here - supplied some people in the development team with
some feamous Danish bitter, or at least this is have I have heard ;-) ... or was this
how the special Danish projection were implemented into MapInfo...
Well, anyway it's a pretty good feature and I have used it a lot during the years I
have been working with MapInfo.
Here is some key information on the AUTOTRACE:
- You can activate AUTOTRACE by hitting the 'T' og the keyboard, and do remember that
you also need to active Snap using the 'S' on the keyboard. This is new in MapInfo 7.8.
- You could also activate AUTOTRACE by holding down either SHIFT or CTRL - this has
been so since MapInfo 4.0/4.1
- AUTOTRACE lets you "trace" an existing polygon or polyline. Remember that you can
only trace one object at a time. So if you are trying to trace a road network and the
network is split at every intersection, you can only trance from intersection to
intersection.
- You have to start the trace of a object by snapping to the object at an existing
node.
- The layer you want to trace has to be selectable in the Layer Control
- The difference between SHIFT and CTRL is that when tracing a polygon:
- SHIFT will trace the shortest way from the last point you clicked on the
polygon to the point where you are holding the cursor now
- CTRL will trace the longest way.
- Longest is - as far as I remember - equal to largest number of nodes.
Here is how it works - hopefully better explained than in the user guide ;-):
1. Select the Polyline or Polygon tool
2. Activate Snap using the 'S'
3. Activate AutoTrace using the 'T'
4. Point the cursor to the first node on the object you want to trace
5. Click with the Right mousebutton
6. Point the cursor to the last node on the object you want to trace - must be on the
same object
7. Now MapInfo should draw the line as it will follow the existing object.
8. If you are trace a polygon, you can use CTRL to trace the other way around the
polygon
9. Click with the Right mousebutton when the 'trace' look okay
10. Continue drawing if you need to
Peter Horsb�ll M�ller
GIS Developer
Geographical Information & IT
COWI A/S
Odensevej 95
DK-5260 Odense S.
Denmark
Tel +45 6311 4900
Direct +45 6311 4908
Mob +45 5156 1045
Fax +45 6311 4949
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cowi.dk/gis
-----Original Message-----
From: Hughes, Colleen / Don Mitchell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:00 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: MI-L AutoTrace doesn't work??
Hi List,
I have just gotten MI Pro 7.8 as a trial and was trying out the AutoTrace to create a
polygon on the cosmetic layer. I am finding that the AutoTrace does not do what it is
supposed to do, or at least what I understand it is supposed to do (I am coming from
MI Pro 7.0 which doesn't have AutoTrace). When I use it, I can draw a polygon by
snapping to the nodes of an underlying polygon object in a different layer. However,
according to the Help file on AutoTrace, if I hold down shift while doing this, it
will not allow me to trace outside the plolygon I am tracing. This is not the case
when I am doing it. I have also noticed that I can get exactly the same effect as
just drawing a polygon with just the snap on and snapping to the nodes to the
underlying polygon as I go. This is how I "traced" a polygon previously in MI 7.0.
The help file isn't very helpful on using AutoTrace. I seem to be doing everything it
says, yet the only difference I can tell is the word AUTOTRACE on the status bar of
MapInfo. Am I missing something here? Is this how AutoTrace works? If it is, it
seems rather useless. Can someone explain how to use it and what I should be seeing
when I use it?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Don Mitchell
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