• When I use the PRINT MAP function and select PDF format, my browser malfunctions or does not display the results. How do I fix this problem?
  
• When I use the PRINT MAP function, the map does not open in the MapsOnline interface, but tries instead to open my desktop Adobe software. How do I fix this problem?
  
• How Do The Find Property Functions Work?
  
• How Do I Find Abutters?
  
• How Does Advanced Search Function Work?
  
• How Do The Map Navigation Tools Work?
  
• How Do I Print A Map?
  
• How Does The Map Size Function Work?
  
• How Do The Quick Zoom Functions Work?
  
• Can I Control Which Map Layers Are Visible?
  
• What Does The Update Map Function Do?  And, Why Is It Necessary?
  
• Why Do Some Layers Turn-On or Turn-Off By Themselves When I Zoom-In or Zoom-Out?
  

In order to view PDF documents on the Internet, your browser requires the Adobe plug-in. Click here to download the current version of Adobe Reader.

Also, some pop-up blockers can stop PDF documents from being downloaded and viewed. If you have a pop-up blocker software, either turn it off while using this website, or configure the blocker software to allow PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader to function.

When viewing PDF documents inside the MapsOnline interface (or any Internet page), your Adobe Reader software must have certain preferences set so that PDF documents from the Internet are viewed inside your browser and not by your desktop Adobe software. Sometimes, this preference can be set correctly, and still not perform correctly (as established by Adobe's website). If you are experiencing this problem, try the following:

This procedure will reset your software and enable PDF documents to open within your browser again. If not, we have noticed over the past year that some newer Adobe software, when installed on a computer with older versions of Adobe software, can create this same situation. The only solution in this case seems to be to remove the older software.

Your website may have several Find Property functions, depending on the data available. It is common for a community MapsOnline website to have Find By Owner and Find By Address functions which will help an end-user locate a property.  In this case, you should type in only that text that you are sure is correct and then click the "GO" button.

For example, if you are looking for 120 Lake St, you could type in "120 lake" and click "GO".  You would not type in "St" because the database may have this address entered as 120 Lake Ave.  If there is a 120 Lake St and a 120 Lake Ave, both will come up in a results window, and you can click on the one you want to zoom to.

If you have a Find By Owner function, enter the portion of the owner's name that you know, and click "GO".  This function can be tricky because the database may have the last name entered first and the first name second, or vice versa.  Until you work with the website long enough, you do not know how the system will respond.  So, be patient.  If you are looking for John Smith, enter "Smith" and click "GO", see your list of possible matches, notice how the names are entered, and you will be better able to search effectively the next time.

Finding abutters to a particular property is a common need. In general, a user is looking for abutting properties to particular property. To do so, you must first enter the parcel-id in the Parcel-ID box. If you do not know the parcel-id, you can find the parcel by using the Find Property functions , or by just clicking on a parcel using the Identify Tool in the map window.

Regardless of how you select, the subject parcel will be highlighted.  When a single parcel is highlighted, and you click on the General Tab, you will find that parcel's identification number already placed in the Parcel-ID box for you. If for some reason it is not, or if you already know the parcel-id, then enter it into the Parcel ID box.

Now just enter the distance to search for abutters and click GO.  The list of abutting properties within the specified distance from the search property will show up in a the Info Tab and the map window will zoom to these same properties and highlight them in red. You can print the list on your own printer, or download the list as a text file for your use. You can also go to the Print Page to print a map of your abutters.

It is very common for MapsOnline users to want to search for more than just a property by owner or address.  Users often are looking for a particular street, building, park, water body, or other map feature.  In response to this, we have incorporated the Advanced Search Function.

The Advanced Search Function works just like the Find By Address or Find By Owner functions, but is a little more difficult to use and requires a little practice.  You have to determine three different inputs; the Search Map Layer (which you pick from a list), the Search Item (or column in the database) which you pick from a list, and the Search String (which you type in).  Only those layers that are currently turned on and are visible can be searched with this function.  Also, only those map layers that are configured for queries work with this function. 

Once you click "GO", the function will search the database and provide a map window that shows you the possible matches to your search.  You can then click on the "zoom-to" links one at a time to find what you are looking for.

Lastly, you should only type in that text to search for that you are sure of.  For example, type in "120 Lake" to search for "120 Lake St" since the address may actually be "120 Lake Ave".

  The Zoom-In Tool enables you to zoom-in to a specific location.  Simply click on this tool with your mouse, then click on the map and hold your finger down while dragging a box around the area you want to zoom in to.  When you complete the box, release your mouse button, and the map will zoom in to your area.

  The Zoom-Out Tool enables you to zoom out from the current map.  Simply click on this tool with your mouse and the map will zoom out.  Click repeatedly to continue zooming out.

  The Zoom-To-Extent Tool enables you to zoom out to the entire extent of the map layers.  This is generally how the map is displayed when it is first opened.

  The Pan Tool allows you to move the map around in any direction.  After clicking on this tool with your mouse, click anywhere in the map window and the map will center on that point.

  The Identify Tool allows you to click on a map feature and bring forward information about that feature in a new window.  For example, if you clicked on the Identify Tool, and then clicked on a street, the name of that street and possibly more information would be presented to you in a new window.

  The Photo Tool allows the user to click on a photo map layer and bring forward a photo of that map feature (or multiple photos). The resulting photo(s) will be located in the Photos Tab, which will automatically be activated for the user.

  The Clear Features button will remove any highlighted map features that resulted from any searches or queries.  For example, if you use the Identify Tool to click on a property and view information about that property, the property will be highlighted when you click on it, and will remain highlighted until you "remove" or "erase" the highlighting using the Clear Features button.  This function is important because there are times when you find a property using a search and you will want to pan around, zoom in or out, etc. to see what is around that property without losing sight of that property.

  The Measure Tool allows you to measure the distance between points on the map.  After clicking on this tool with your mouse, simply click on the first point, and then click on a second point.  The distance between the two points will be reported in the lower left hand corner of your screen.

Once you have zoomed-in to the area you are interested in and turned-on the map layers you want to see in your final map, click the Print page link at the top-right of the screen.  This click will return the Print Page:

Note the directions provided in the print window. Those directions are repeated here:

• 1) Enter a title for your map.
• 2) Select the desired page orientation and image format.
• 3) Click "Preview Map" to preview the entire map here.
• 4) Click "Save Map" to save the map to your computer.
• 5) Click "Print Map" to print the map to your local printer.

You will be presented with a view of the entire map. The quality may not look very good in this first view because the entire page is being squeezed to fit in the available space. However, if you want to see the actual clarity of the map, simply click on the map image once. The full size map will appear, and you can scroll around this map image to see the level of detail you would get if you printed the map on your printer or saved the map to your computer.

       Today, web pages are most commonly designed to function on a standard 800 x 600 pixel computer screen.  We have set the default map size to enable all of the page to fit this minimum screen size.

We understand, however, that many people have larger screens than this minimum standard.  Therefore, we have incorporated the Map Size function to enable the user to increase the map size to fit their screen.  Simply click on a larger map icon, and the map window will resize automatically.

Popular areas to zoom-in to have been pre-set for the user.  The user simply has to select from the pull-down list of Quick Zoom areas, and the map will zoom directly to that area.  For example, the user can zoom to the downtown area, a park, lake, shopping mall, or local government building, etc.  Each of these areas must be set by the webmaster, so if you would like to add a Quick Zoom area in your community, contact your webmaster.

The user can control the visibility of all map layers, including those which are clicked-on when the page is initially loaded.  Simply click in the check box to the left of each map layer to indicate whether it should be visible or not.

Remember, some layers' visibility is also controlled by the map's scale, i.e., some map layers will not be visible when you are zoomed way out, such as street names and fire hydrants, because you could not read them or see them well at that scale.

The Update Map function is used everytime the user changes which layers are visible.  After clicking layers on or off, the user must click the Update Map link to refresh the map and show the desired changes.

The Update Map function works in this manner so that the user does not have to wait for the map to redraw each time a layer is clicked on or off.  With this approach, the user can change the visibility status of several layers, and see the results of all the changes at one time.

Sometimes the software automatically controls layer visibility when the user zooms in or zooms out because those layers cannot be seen or interpreted by the user at certain scales and keeping them on only slows down the processing.  By controlling layers in this manner, the map is kept "cleaner" for the user and the map redraw is quicker.

An example of a layer which might be shut-off automatically when a user zooms-out is the Street Names layer.  Street Names cannot be read when the user is zoomed-out to the entire community because the letters are too small at that scale.