Geographic Information System

Labeling consists of two steps: setting up the label format and placing the labels on the map.

SETTING UP TO LABEL

Open the layer control and select the layer to be labeled, then pick the "Label" button. This opens the "Text Label Options" dialog box, which allows you to set four label format characteristics: The data, visibility, style (font) and position.

Data from the "Label with:" pull-down list select the data element to be labeled. For example PIDN or Name1 if you were labeling the Join layer. Note the "Expression" option at the bottom of the pull-down list. Use the "Expression" dialog box to create complex labels using BASIC language functions. Four examples of complex labels follow:

1. To label with PIDN and Name1 you would enter PIDN+Name1 as the expression, or to put PIDN and Name1 on separate lines, enter PIDN+Chr$(10)+NAME1 as the expression. Chr$(10) is the BASIC language function that creates a new line (or carriage return)
2. To label the area of each parcel, enter Area(obj, "acre") as the expression.
3. To label with only the right-hand 8 characters of the PIDN (the quarter section, arbitrary block, and lot number) enter Right$(Pidn,8) as the expression.
4. To label only the last name of the Join table, enter the expression: Left$(Name1, InStr(1, Name1, ",")-1)

Visibility - The default options are usually fine except that you will probably want to check "Allow Overlapping Text"

Style allows you to set the font and the label line options.i) Position defaults are usually fine.

PLACING LABELS.

Labels can be placed automatically or manually. To automatically place labels on everything, check the label check box in the layer control next to the layer that you want to label. To manually label individual objects, make the layer to be labeled current, then pick the Label button on the main toolbar.

MAKING MAILING LABELS

Preparation of Mailing Labels from GIS
Prepared: July 7, 1998 by Mary Shouf, Modified: Teresa deGroh, 7/21/98; Rich Greenwood, November 2002

In MapInfo

1. Select parcels to be notified using the Select Tool. Press Shift Key to choose more than one parcel.
   Optional: Create a new Browser Window to view the data on the parcels you just selected by going to Window and selecting "New Browser Window." You will get a dialog box that allows you to indicate "Selection."
2. In the Table menu select Copy Selection -> Access Mail Merge. If your table menu does not have this option mail merge is not set up on your computer. See "Setting up Mail Merge on a computer" below.

1. Open the Word document "gisnotify.doc" (the mail-merge document set-up by Mary for Avery Laser Labels 5260.) This document will likely be in your "c:\data\gisnotify" folder or "c:\data\planning" folder. If you can not find, use the Windows Search command to search your computer for it.
2. You will see a document set-up for labels, but no data. You will also see a new tool bar. On the new tool bar is a button called "View Merged Data." It looks like << ABC >> and is located next to the "Insert Word Field" button.
3. Click on the "View Merged Data" button and you should see the names and addresses of the property-owners you selected in the GIS.
4. If you want to do a merge from a different database and/or table name (other than the gisnotify.mdb you just saved in the GIS,) edit the data source by using the mail-merge helper button on the new tool bar BEFORE you click on the "View Merged Data" button.
5. If you want to save any merge, you will need to save it under a different file name. Never overwrite the gisnotify.doc!

1. Mail-Merge documents in Word are pretty straight forward, but you may need to learn more about them by reading the Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office manual or on-line help.
2. To setup a partially used sheet of labels, delete the used labels blocks from the mail-merge document page and the "<>" of first label that you want to print.

1. MailMerge2.MBX - MapBasic program written by Greenwood Mapping, Inc.
2. Gisnotify.mdb - Microsoft Access database.
3. Gisnotify.doc - Microsfot Word mail merge document.

All three file are usually put in a folder named: "c:\data\gisnotify" or "c:\data\planning". MailMerge2.MBX and Gisnotify.mdb must be in the same folder. Add the MailMerge2.MBX tool to MapInfo:

Tools > Tool Manager > Add Tool
Title: "Mail Merge"
Location: path_to_mail_merge\MailMerge2.MBX
OK
Check the "Autoload" box