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Maplex Version 3.2 Now Shipping

New Release Offers ArcInfo Annotation Support; U.S. Route Number Shields

Redlands, California--Esri, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, mapping components, and spatial database management tools, is now shipping Maplex Version 3.2, an automated cartographic name placement software that is a sophisticated tool for the creation of high-quality cartographic annotation and labeling.

Maplex, a product of Esri (UK) Limited, takes digital cartographic data, symbolizes it according to user specifications, and places point, line, and area labels as clearly and unambiguously as possible. Maplex stores all symbolization and label placement parameters in a convenient rule base. Using the rule base to set parameters, you can specify conventions for positioning labels and control placement details such as how far a label should be from its feature and how far it should be from other labels. In addition to producing files of positioned labels, Maplex can also be used to produce symbolized maps in Encapsulated PostScript, Adobe Illustrator, and FreeHand formats.

A particularly noteworthy feature of the 3.2 version of Maplex is its ability to work with ArcInfo labels. Maplex Version 3.2 now writes placed labels as an ArcInfo annotation layer, supports five new styles of label boxes corresponding to the most popular U.S. route number marker symbols, and supports imperial units such as feet and yards.

For European-style street mapping, Maplex Version 3.2 offers several enhancements. Text is now allowed to overrun the ends of a street into areas of free space or into street junctions. Street names can be truncated by automatically removing characters from the end of the street name (e.g., Radnor Rd. can be truncated to Radn. Rd.). Stacking has been enhanced so that, when appropriate, labels may be triple stacked. And Maplex Version 3.2 provides more sophisticated curvature of labels inside street casings.

Maplex Version 3.2 also serves as the introduction to American-style street mapping. While most placement techniques used in the European style of street mapping do apply to the American style, the American style does differ in some significant ways. In the American style streets are represented by solid lines and text is placed offset from the street. Maplex can now place text above horizontally oriented streets and to the left of vertically oriented streets. Streets are usually labeled only once, with words being well spaced.

Maplex provides the opportunity "to bring cartography to not only professional cartographers, but also to forest analysts, business demographers, geologists, or anyone trying to produce a map," says Scott L. Sandall, Business Development Manager, GeoSystems. "There's a real need people have for high-quality cartography, and Maplex takes a great step toward fulfilling that need." A prime example of the types of high-quality products that will benefit from the enhancements of Maplex Version 3.2 is the recently published National Geographic Road Atlas, produced with extensive use of ArcInfo software.

Maplex is now shipping for Windows NT Version 4.0. For more information or to order Maplex in the United States, visit www.Esri.com/maplex, contact your regional Esri office, or call Esri at 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, please contact Esri (UK) Limited (tel.: 44-1-923-210450; fax: 44-1-923-210739) or visit the Esri (UK) Web site at www.Esriuk.com.