Video overview of FIND Maps Autumn 2014 updates

If you have a few moments to spare why not watch our short video presentation on FIND Maps new features, including widescreen map viewing, more precise exporting and annotating.



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More accurate exporting and annotating with FIND Maps September 2014 update

FIND Maps now has the ability to create export areas and annotations more accurately by typing in exact values, such as centre points, radiuses and buffers. We've also added dynamic 'widescreen' map viewing.

Simpler and more accurate exports

• New easy-to-use step-by-step ordering
• Rectangle export: enter exact area size and corner coordinates
• Circle export: enter exact radius and centre coordinates
• Free-draw export: add a buffer

Key benefits: Save time and order exports more accurately.

Map annotation tool enhancements

• Enter exact rectangle dimensions and corner coordinates
• Enter exact circle radius and centre coordinates

Key benefits: Create more accurate annotations by typing in exact values.

Widescreen map viewing

• The map screen dynamically resizes to your web bowser window creating largest map screen possible

Key benefits: Make the most of your screen real estate with a large window to work on your mapping.

Video guide: Export OS MasterMap with findmaps.co.uk (DWG, DXF, SHP, TAB)

We have produced a video guide to exporting OS MasterMap in FIND Maps. This commonly undertaken task can be completed in about two minutes for a typical 4ha area.



FIND Maps offers flexible and efficient OS MasterMap exporting

Export with FIND Maps to:

• carefully define your export shape with three different types of 'cookie-cutter' tools (square, circle and editable nodes)
• export in both CAD and GIS formats (DXF, DWG, SHP, TAB)
• choose from one, two and three year licenses available for OS MasterMap
• view up to 15ha of MasterMap free per session while exporting.

>More information on OS MasterMap

Video guide: Create 1:1250 A4 Location Plans with findmaps.co.uk

We have produced a video guide to creating 1:1250 A4 Location Plans in FIND Maps. This commonly used feature can be done under 3 minutes using the findmaps.co.uk online mapping application.

FIND Maps offers flexible and efficient OS MasterMap printing and annotation. A range of different map scales can be selected, including 1:1250 and 1:2500. Also, a red-line property boundary can be added to the plot using the 'merge polygon' tool that enables you to quickly trace a property boundary.

>More information on OS MasterMap

Get a better looking map

The quality and style of maps is becoming increasingly important to many firms. When presenting maps to a client it’s especially important that they look clean and professional. This is essential for creating the right impression and increasing ‘production value’.

For example, boundary maps used in catalogues and listings by estate agents must be accurate and clear. As well as being useful and attractive, they must also complement the overall design of the document or website.

The ‘FIND Map’/OS MasterMap with a carefully developed theme for ease of interpretation and enhanced presentation

Styling is especially important when using OS MasterMap because it is a vector (data) product that must be styled in order to convert it to rasters for creating prints and images. When hundreds of different map elements need to be individually styled this can be a time consuming process.

FIND has carefully styled OS MasterMap to highlight property-related elements such as building outlines and to remove superfluous line work and text. This produces maps that are easier to interpret and are therefore ideal for inclusion in reports and catalogues.

Find out more info on FIND Map/OS MasterMap

Seasons Greeting's from FIND Maps

We thought we would take the opportunity to celebrate the festive season by producing a Christmas themed map using just the tools available on our free site - sketchmap.co.uk

The above example uses a unique map background created with the 'Customise Map' feature. Usually the Google Map comes in its classic map legend, but we have changed the map colours to produce a Christmas styled map theme.

The wreath and the snow have been created using just two annotation tools: circles and lines. You can edit the above map and a have a go at producing your own version with this link.

FIND Maps now with enhanced map printing

We’ve been asking our users what improvements they’d like to see to FIND Maps. The top response was easier map printing. So we’ve responded, and introduced a couple of significant enhancements to printing.

Printing is important because it enables users to get map and accompanying annotations out of findmaps.co.uk and into a savable and sendable format (PDF or JPEG). The only other way to do this is to ‘export’ the map as data, but this requires high-end professional mapping software to open.

Our software engineers have now added additional map printing functionality to the site to make things faster and easier. The first change makes editing saved prints more straightforward. Now once you've saved a project the print area is clearly marked with a red border on the map screen.

The new saved print frame on the findmaps.co.uk map screen

This new feature makes previous print areas immediately apparent; making it easier to identify them and will help users to avoid paying again for duplicate prints. It will also make it easier for users to change text and annotation on the print if needed.

The second new feature adds four standard print defaults scales to all maps. This means you can save time by selecting from frequently used standard map scales when printing. For example, if you are printing ‘Street’ map, it can be printed at 1:10 000 scale by selecting this from the drop down menu.

While making these changes to printing we have also taken the time to reduce the cost of printing the ‘Town’ map (1:50 000). Printing is now £1 for the first Km² and just 6p for each subsequent Km².

We're continually enhancing FIND Maps and adding new data/reports. If you have any ideas about how we might improve the site please send your suggestions to: support@findmaps.co.uk