Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional - Manual (Page 341)

If you want to align objects with respect to each other, the objects are aligned with respect to an imaginary
rectangle, called the bounding rectangle, that completely encloses the objects. The horizontal and vertical
settings you choose position the objects at the top, bottom, left, right, and horizontal or vertical center
lines of the bounding rectangle, rather than at the edges of the layout.
The Distribute option tells MapInfo Professional to distribute the vertical and horizontal space between
objects evenly. You can perform multiple alignments in one layout.
You can also align objects and frames relative to each other both horizontally and vertically. There are
four options - Align Left, Align Right, Align Top, and Align Bottom on the Layout menu. These
shortcuts offer simpler options to the previously existing menu options on the Align Objects dialog box.
The alignment operations are equivalent to using this dialog to perform one of the four alignment options,
"with respect to each other". This means that the selected objects (including frames) in the layout align
relative to one of the selected objects.
• For more examples, see Examples of Aligning Objects in a Layout Window in the Help System.
Creating Drop Shadows for Layout Objects
When you move or resize the layout object, the shadow does not resize or move. You may not want to
create a drop shadow until you are sure of the position of its source.
To create a drop shadow:
1. Click the object with the Select tool or hold down the Shift key and click on several objects, or choose
Select All from the Query menu to select all the objects in the layout.
2. On the Layout menu, point to Create Drop Shadows to open the Create Drop Shadow dialog box.
3. Type the size of the horizontal and vertical offset for the drop shadow.
4. Click OK. The drop shadow appears behind the selected object.
5. Since a drop shadow is just a rectangle object, you can delete it or change its fill pattern and line
style.
See Also:
Layouts
Setting the Map Scale for a Layout Window
One of the most difficult tasks in generating good output is setting the scale of the map. There are two
ways to set the map scale. The first method is to choose Map menu and click Change View. This scale
setting affects the on-screen scale of your map according to your monitor size. This scale setting is not
used as often, because generally the scale on screen does not need to be exact. Use the on-screen
scale when you are making a presentation that will be viewed directly in MapInfo Professional.
The Map Window Preference setting Use Cartographic Scale affects the entries in the Change
View dialog box. Note:
Accurate scale is more important on the printed map. To get the correct scale for output, you must
coordinate the Map window with the Layout window. You must also decide on the desired end result.
For example, you may want a map that has a 1:25000 scale and fits in a nine inch layout frame. If this
is the case, you will have to alter the zoom level of your map to fit these conditions. Or, in the case where
you must show a set distance across the map, you may have to allow for a larger page size. The following
two formulas will help you set the right map zoom, scale, and frame width.
Limiting Frame Size When Setting the Layout Scale
The following formula calculates the zoom that must be set in your Map window in order to have a map
meet set scale and frame width criteria.
((Frame Width in Inches * Scale)/12) /5280 = Map Zoom in Miles
341 MapInfo Professional User Guide
Chapter 12: Stylizing Your Map for Presentations and Publishing