Using the MAST Mapping Online Tool
Logging on
In order to log on to our thematic maps, click on the MAST Mapping logo on the mapping page of our website.
Use the email and password we sent you by email (access to the maps is limited to MAST users only)
Read the Blog
To understand what the maps show and which ones to use, read the blog. It will give you information on how the maps were calculated and how they can be used.
Selecting a Thematic Map
The default view is a blank map of the United Kingdom – this is so you decide which maps to view. Click on the ‘Thematics’ tab on the right hand side of the screen.
Choose the Layer you wish to look at from the drop down list. The blog gives you more information on which layer you should be using. Please also refer to the indexes table to look up the definitions of all of the indicators and decide which Layer to pick.
Select the Thematic you wish to view from the drop down list for that Layer. As before, the indexes table will help you decide which Thematic to pick. Press ‘Activate’. The view you get will depend on whether you have chosen Highways Authority Level or Local Authority Level maps.
Highways Authority Level maps are visible at the level you enter eSpatial at; however, because Local Authority Level maps contain more information, they are not visible when at this scale.
For Local Authority Level maps, you will see a message box saying: “Warning! The layer this thematic is created for is not visible at this scale. Zoom in to see the layer and, thereby, the thematic.” Press Close and zoom in until thematics become visible. (In order to zoom, either use your mouse wheel to scroll into the map or use the + on the blue bar on the left hand side of the map).
Before selecting a new thematic map, click on the X below ‘Activate’ to de-activate the current map. If you don’t do this, previous maps will sit on top of each other and distort the view.
Understanding the Map
On the right hand panel, there is a range of information about the map and the data it is based on.
Working from the top:
- Layer – Shows the layer you have chosen from the drop down list
- Thematic – Shows the thematic map you have chosen to display
- Refresh – Allows you to refresh the map
- Activate – Allows you to activate and view a map
- Edit – Only Administrators can edit maps
The panel beneath gives information about the active thematic map – it gives information about the layer and the thematic as well as providing a key. For all of the maps, the darker the colour, the higher the casualty or collision risk.
‘Records’ shows the number of authorities in the current view which are in each class – as you move around the map, you will notice that the numbers in each class will change. The pie chart below shows the distribution of local authorities in the current view across the classes as a percentage.
Before selecting a new thematic map, click on the X below ‘Activate’ to de-activate the current map. If you don’t do this, previous maps will sit on top of each other and distort the view.
Controls
Navigation around the map is very simple.
The right-hand panel provides information on the Thematics (as above).
The toolbar on the map allows you to navigate round the map. The tools available are:
- Hand grabber – Select this and left-click to grab the map and move across the country.
- Pan Arrows – Use these instead of the hand grabber to move about the map
- Initial View Arrow (to the right of the grabber) – Takes you back to the view at log on.
- Previous View Arrow – This will take you back to your last view
- Next View Arrow – After skipping to a previous view, you can move forwards to a map view
- Refresh Map – Select this to refresh the map.
- Collapse Zoom Control (next to Refresh Map) – Allows you to reduce the size of the toolbar
- Zoom to an Area – Select this, pick an area and drag the mouse to zoom into that area
- Zoom In and Out – These buttons allow you to scroll in and out on the toolbar
The left-hand panel allows you to select areas to get more information.
Select Feature – This is the main feature for working with thematic maps. Select this and click on an authority area to gain information about the data behind the maps.
Where the Highways Authority and Local Authority differ, a box will appear that allows you to select the level you are interested in.
Click on the ‘Info’ tab in the right –hand panel and it will show the data used to create the thematics for that authority for the layer you are on.
To deselect an area, click on the arrow with a minus next to it, either in the right hand or left hand panels.
Exporting
There is a print feature within eSpatial, however, it prints the base map not the thematics. To save and print the thematic maps, navigate to your chosen view and select the ‘Export’ link above the map. Choose from the drop-down box the image type you are interested in (JPEG or PNG) and you can then save or print it.
Help
There are Help links in various areas of the map that will provide you with more assistance.
Video Walkthrough
Click on the link below to visit our YouTube channel where you can see a walkthough of the system in action: http://youtu.be/UHGpsMLhhg0
