Thanks Bobb, I will look into that. After posting, I got to thinking, and I am experimenting with using a pie chart (of fixed percentage), trying to work out a dynamic color for the pie slice. Your approach seems a bit more robust to be sure, although I am not sure I totally understand how to go about it.
With your approach, would this be a set of CLASS'es that turn themselves on/off based on a condition? FWIW it would be interesting to look at expanding the Chart type to contain more types, that could be used to achieve this type of effect as well. Thanks again! r.b. Robert W. Burgholzer Surface Water Modeler Office of Water Supply and Planning Virginia Department of Environmental Quality [EMAIL PROTECTED] 804-698-4405 Open Source Modeling Tools: http://sourceforge.net/projects/npsource/ -----Original Message----- From: Bob Basques [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:48 PM To: Burgholzer,Robert Subject: Re: Help: generating "meta - symbols" dynamically Robert, What about using a stacked symbol type, something where you could see any of the particular symbols, but they are all stacked on top of each other depending upon whether they apply or not. Then you only need a fairly small set of pre-defined symbols, but the combinations take care of themselves based on the symbol stack that is displayed. bobb Bob Basques GIS Systems Developer City of Saint Paul, MN GISmo Powered by GeoMOOSE >>> "Burgholzer,Robert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C8731D.7BB0CA62 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I have a need to summarize my spatial data with what I will call a "meta-symbol", i.e., a symbol that represents more than one data column, with more than one state for each column. I could create a symbol file containing all of the combinations of such a symbol, however, this can become a very large group of symbols in very short order.=20 =20 For example, I have a map which shows geographical regions, and I wish to summarize the drought status of each of those entities for 4 different metric: 1) rainfall, 2) stream flow, 3) groundwater levels, and 4) reservoir storage values. I have 4 categories of drought indicator: 1) no drought, 2) drought watch, 3) drought warning, and 4) drought emergency. I believe that this makes my number of possible combinations, 4^4, or 256 different categories. If I were to add a 5th indicator, then I would end up with 5^4 possible combinations, or 625 different combinations. =20 One possible approach that I have thought of is to create a rectangular grid (with cells for each indicator) for each geographic area, located at its centroid, then place a symbol in each grid cell. This would reduce the overhead to 4 symbols, that would then be dynamically assigned by mapserver to the drought value. I am concerned about registering these properly within the cell.=20 =20 Any feedback on my proposed approach, or examples of something similar would be appreciated, =20 Thanks in advance, r.b. =20 Robert W. Burgholzer Surface Water Modeler Office of Water Supply and Planning Virginia Department of Environmental Quality [EMAIL PROTECTED] 804-698-4405 Open Source Modeling Tools: http://sourceforge.net/projects/npsource/ =20 ------_=_NextPart_001_01C8731D.7BB0CA62 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head> <meta http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Dus-ascii"> <meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} span.EmailStyle17 {font-family:Arial;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </head> <body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vlink=3Dpurple> <div class=3DSection1> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>I have a need to summarize my spatial data with what = I will call a “meta-symbol”, i.e., a symbol that represents more = than one data column, with more than one state for each column. I could = create a symbol file containing all of the combinations of such a symbol, = however, this can become a very large group of symbols in very short order. = </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>For example, I have a map which shows geographical = regions, and I wish to summarize the drought status of each of those entities for = 4 different metric: 1) rainfall, 2) stream flow, 3) groundwater levels, = and 4) reservoir storage values. I have 4 categories of drought = indicator: 1) no drought, 2) drought watch, 3) drought warning, and 4) drought = emergency. I believe that this makes my number of possible combinations, 4^4, or 256 different categories. If I were to add a 5<sup>th</sup> indicator, = then I would end up with 5^4 possible combinations, or 625 different = combinations.</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>One possible approach that I have thought of is to = create a rectangular grid (with cells for each indicator) for each geographic area, located = at its centroid, then place a symbol in each grid cell. This would reduce = the overhead to 4 symbols, that would then be dynamically assigned by = mapserver to the drought value. I am concerned about registering these = properly within the cell. </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Any feedback on my proposed approach, or examples of something similar would be appreciated,</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Thanks in advance,</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>r.b.</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Robert W. Burgholzer</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Surface Water Modeler</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Office of Water Supply and Planning</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Virginia</span></font><font size=3D2 = face=3DArial><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font><font = size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Department</span></font><fo n= t size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> of Environmental Quality</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'><a = href=3D"mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED] g= ov</a></span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>804-698-4405</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'>Open Source Modeling Tools:</span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span = style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial'><a = href=3D"http://sourceforge.net/projects/npsource/";>http://sourceforge.ne t= /projects/npsource/</a></span></font></p> <p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span = style=3D'font-size: 12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> </body> </html> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C8731D.7BB0CA62--
