This page explains what is NEW or DIFFERENT about the latest version of the MassGIS Data Viewer (current as of May 15, 2000). There is a fair amount of detail in this document, but the complete details of some of the new features are explained in the Developer's Guide. Topics on this page include:

• Watershed Tools
• Extensions
• Joining/Linking Access Tables to themes
• Get a point
• Displaying media
• Updates
• Bug Fixes

• The Watershed tools are the big reason for this new edition of the MassGIS Data Viewer.  Most tools can be used in regular ArcView.  Some need ArcView's Spatial Analyst extension.  You'll notice a new menu called MassGIS-Hydro.  A menu choice under this menu will display the tools and menus that can be used with ArcView.  These tools and menus can be toggled visible/invisible.  The delineation tools which require Spatial Analyst are stored in the extension watdelin.avx, which is distributed with the project, and needs to be loaded like any other extension (put watdelin.avx in your Ext32 directory if on a PC, or ext dir if on UNIX).  Under File/Extensions it will be called "MassGIS Watershed Delineator".  For complete details see the web page on the Watershed Analyst.

Explore all the free extensions that are distributed with ArcView - Highlight the Project document, look under the File menu, choose Extensions and you'll see some. Choose Samples Browser, go back to the File menu and choose Browse Sample Extensions and you'll see even more.   If you only use base ArcView and ignore the free supplied extensions you're missing out on a lot of what ArcView can do.

• In the joinlink.dbf table Access tables can now be used to join or link to the .dbf (or other tables).  Follow the examples shown.  The Access database must first be defined in the 32bit ODBC section in the Control Panel.

• The opposite of the "Z" button's "Enter Point", which lets the user enter coordinates in a variety of systems to place a point on the map in NAD 83m, the Get Point (star tool) let's the user point to the map with the mouse and get the point back in one of a number of  different coordinate systems.

• The new camera tool can pop up either text or image documents that are related to records for either point/linear events or regular points/lines/polys.  The hotlink.dbf table is used for this.  Click inside the Ipswich town polygon for the default theme for an example, and look at this theme (number 165) in the hotlink.dbf table to see how it works. Then you can populate the tables with your own images and text.

• There's a button to allow a text document to be placed in the layout

• Individual MrSID images can now be added to the themeinv.dbf table - use "mrsid" as ftrtyp
• Themes for watershed data added
• More themes under the "A" button - including a new "Theme Map" - "Areas Affected By Title 5"
• New themes for MHD Roads
• The theme that puts road shields on now uses MHD roads
• Added themes for zoning, lat/long grids, individual hydro themes
• New Insect Infestation themes
• Themes 17-69 (Fort Devens project), 110-130 (Neponset project) and 89-95 (MDC project) were deleted from the themeinv.dbf table to save space. However, records will never be renumbered in the themeinv.dbf.  At MassGIS we're going to keep moving forward with theme numbering and once a number is assigned we're going to keep it assigned from now on.  This way scripts can refer to themes by themeid.
• The registration scripts have been modified slightly to make them easier to use
• A fix has been added so that images and vector data should line up in the layout view frame
• Image and vector data extents will now coincide in the Layout View Frame
• A menu choice under the Theme menu called Calc Geometry. Once a clip is performed in ArcView, this script needs to be run in order to recalculate the area/perimter of the arcs or polygons.
• A button with an "I" icon which will calculate % impervious for a polygon.  The typical use of this will be to first create a custom watershed using the Spatial Analyst and the MassGIS Watershed Delineator extensions, then use the resulting shapefile to clip landuse.  Recalculate the landuse area by using the menu choice mentioned above, then open the feature attribute table, and click on the "I" button.
• The 1/2 meter MrSID images are now available through the "Images" menu choice under the "A" button

• Graphics no longer disappear when you add an image

Check the errata.txt file distributed with the Viewer.   If you don't find your issue there, please let me know, since what you're experiencing could be a bug.  Also, I'm happy to answer any questions or take any comments or suggestions! 

You can reach me at: 

E-mail: Aleda.Freeman@state.ma.us
Phone: (617) 626-1193
Fax: (617) 626-1249

Want more information?

The ReleaseInfo script is a complete list of the scripts that were modified, deleted or added to make each improvement in the new Viewer.

Also read the previous "What's New" pages from the updates of

12/18/97

8/1/98

Last Updated 1/18/2006
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