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as a single map feature. You can achieve this by making them both part of
the same polypolygon. Each vertex on a polygon or polypolygon is a coordi-
nate pair, and all of the coordinate pairs make up the polygon. Autodesk
MapGuide treats polygons and polypolygons the same way—to use the poly-
gons and polypolygons from a spatial data file in a map, you create a polygon
layer.
Text
Also known as annotations in other applications, text features are blocks of
text placed at specific coordinates on the map. Like points, each text feature
has a single coordinate pair associated with it.
Creating a Spatial Data File
Typically, you use an application like AutoCAD Map to create your data, then
export it to an Autodesk MapGuide SDF. If the application you are using does
not support the SDF file format, you can use Autodesk MapGuide SDF Loader,
Autodesk MapGuide SDF Component Toolkit, or AutoCAD Map to convert
the data to SDF. Then, Autodesk MapGuide Server reads the SDF data and
sends it to Autodesk MapGuide Author and Autodesk MapGuide Viewer to
be displayed.
When creating SDF files, you should use only one type of data in each SDF
file, if possible. For example, an SDF might contain only points,
lines/polylines, polygons, or annotations (text) from your AutoCAD Map
data. This optimizes performance in Autodesk MapGuide.
Note When naming the SDF, make sure that the file name does not contain any
of the following characters: double quote ("), asterisk (*), colon (:), slash (/), back
slash (\), less than (<), greater than (>), question mark (?), pound sign (#), or ver-
tical bar (|).
For points/symbols and text, you can store coordinates in a database instead
of an SDF. You can update coordinates in a standard database application
quite easily, and you can rotate, align, and size text based on fields in the
database.
You should also be aware of the coordinate precision you will need (see
"About Coordinate Precision" on page 113), and then choose the best
conversion tool for your needs. The following sections explain the informa-
tion you need to know about using each of the conversion applications.
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Chapter 5 Working with Data in Autodesk MapGuide
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