Working with Background Maps
Background maps are the backdrops that are displayed on the Spatial tab in ProjectWise Explorer. They are used as maps over which the document and folder spatial locations are drawn.
Many background maps can be defined, but only one will be the reference background map. The reference background map is displayed by default when no specific map is assigned to a folder. It is also displayed in the search dialogs. It should therefore be general enough to be used to represent all spatial locations stored in the datasource. The current reference background map is marked by a different icon.
Proper creation of background maps results in better overall performance. Follow these guidelines to produce an efficient background map:
- Background maps should be simple enough that spatial locations are easily visible. Too much information is useless if spatial locations are difficult to view.
- Use Scale Range and Extent values properly so that only the necessary information displays when required. This ensures that only necessary tiles of information are sent to the client according to the requested extent and zoom factor.
- Avoid using many different layers with raster attachments. This decreases overall performance.
- Avoid attaching a raster with Raster Manager from Imaging Server and then using this DGN to create your background map. This results in poor performance.
Tip: The PLT file used in the generation of background maps is mapplot.plt, located in the C:\Program Files\Bentley\ProjectWise\bin\v89 folder. You can modify this file in any text editor as necessary, if you want to change how your maps are generated.
Tip: Optionally, you can also delete the background map definition file that is stored in a ProjectWise folder.