layer type annotation ...label??

[Richard Duivenvoorde]

Hi John,
I've been fiddling with annotations myself recently and was suprised by 
the (sometimes a little hidden) possibilities of it:

- there are several types of annotation:
1) pure text
2) use an image (SYMBOL CLASS) see 
http://www.nabble.com/Example-of-placing-a-PNG-symbol-in-a-map.-tf1007115.html#a2610844
3) use your own font (eg truetype made from an image) and use that as 
copyright (much like the little google txts all over the map in GoogleMaps)

- if you have varying size of maps, and still want to show your 
copyright always in the lower right (50,50 pixels from the corner) of 
your maps you can use TRANSFORM in combination with the LABEL-POSITION 
stuff (see: http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/development/rfc/ms-rfc-14)

Some examples:

ad 1: pure text

LAYER
   NAME txtcopyright
   STATUS default
   TYPE annotation
   TRANSFORM lr  # we use lower right as 0,0 (lr, ll, ul, ur ...)
   FEATURE
     POINTS
         0 -22 #this is the position of this point with 'lr' as 0,0
     END
     TEXT "© my copyright" #this is your displaying text
   END
   CLASS
       # normal label stuff:
       LABEL #defines the font, colors etc. of the text
         FONT "arial"  # as defined in your fonts.txt
         TYPE TRUETYPE
         ANTIALIAS TRUE
         SIZE 8
         BUFFER 3
         OFFSET 2 2
         POSITION ul
         COLOR 128 128 128
         FORCE TRUE
         PARTIALS FALSE
       END
   END
END


ad 2: use of an image (via SYMBOL CLASS)

LAYER
   NAME northnarrow
   STATUS default
   TYPE annotation
   TRANSFORM ul  # upper left corner
   FEATURE
     POINTS
        90 90 #this is the position in image coordinates (pixels)
     END
   END
   CLASS
       SYMBOL  "north" # this is a SYMBOL
       COLOR 0 0 0
       LABEL
         MINFEATURESIZE 50
         MINDISTANCE 150
         SIZE TINY
         COLOR 0 0 0
         PARTIALS FALSE
         FORCE TRUE
       END
   END
END

from mysymbols.sym file:

SYMBOL
   NAME "north"
   TYPE PIXMAP
   IMAGE "mysymbols/north.png"
END


ad 3: use your own font (eg true type font made from an image)

LAYER
   NAME logos
   STATUS default
   TYPE annotation
   TRANSFORM false
   FEATURE
         POINTS
             150 150  # some positions in the map
             150 550
             150 950
             350 350
             350 750
             550 150
             550 550
             550 950
             750 350
             750 750
             950 150
             950 550
             950 950
         END
     TEXT " " #this is your displaying text
   END
   CLASS
       LABEL #defines the font, colors etc. of the text
         # this is a custom truetype font build from an image
         # defined in fonts.txt as:  "myfont   myfont.ttf"
         FONT "myfont"
         TYPE TRUETYPE
         SIZE 48
         BUFFER 2
         COLOR 224 224 224
         FORCE TRUE
         PARTIALS FALSE
       END
   END
END


Hope this is helpfull for somebody.

Richard Duivenvoorde






John Smith wrote:
> if i just leave the annotation layer shown below in the map file, this
> is what gives?
> 
> msDrawLegend(): GD library error. Unable to initialize image.
> msImageCreateGD(): Image handling error. Cannot create GD image of size 
> 40 x 0.
> 
> but why??
> 
> i can label shape layers fine, just not annotation layers??
> jzs
> 
> On 7/19/07, John Smith <jayzee.smith at gmail.com> wrote:
>> guys,
>> racked my brains on what may be a simple problem- trying to add some
>> copyright info like so:
>>
>> LAYER
>>         NAME "copyright"
>>         GROUP "metadata"
>>         STATUS on
>>         TYPE annotation
>>         FEATURE
>>                 POINTS
>>                         30 30 # position of text in image pixel 
>> coordinates
>>                 END
>>                 TEXT "2007"
>>         END
>>         CLASS
>>                 LABEL
>>                         TYPE bitmap
>>                         COLOR 0 0 0
>>                         POSITION auto
>>                 END
>>         END
>> END # layer
>>
>> what gives??
>> jzs
>>
> 
>