Discussion: OCAD 6 - Beginner Question

Hey guys,

I am looking to start creating some basic park and school orienteering maps. I have downloaded OCAD 6 and I have started playing around with it but I must be missing something...

How do I insert a legend table listing all the symbols used on the map?

How do I insert a scale bar showing the scale of the map?

Is there an easy way to ensure that when I import a base template (satellite image similar to Google Earth output) it is loaded at a scale to fit the output sheet size I wish to use (typically A4)?

Sorry if these are basic questions, but I'm just not getting it! I have Googled, and while I can find some neat examples of maps created with OCAD 6, I can't find any instructions on how to actually do the drafting!

Thanks in advance - Matt

You have to make your own legend and scale bar using the symbol set provided, or create your own symbols! There is no easy button to press to 'create legend'.

With the base template, create your map over the top of the photo then it's up to you to choose the scale to fit the paper. This can be done post-production. Just be mindful that the scale bar will change size based on what scale you use, so you might have to fiddle with it if you change scales.

I didn't realise OCAD was available for free over the internet or do you mean 'downloaded from a paying provider'?

Thanks for that. I had been hoping for an 'easy button'!

OCAD 6 is available here for free:

http://www.ocad.com/en/downloads/freeware

Make your legend & scale bar using the provided symbols, but save it as a separate file. Then you can just import it into your map projects rather than having to create a new one for each map.

Getting the scale right from the outset is seemingly the most difficult part of this process, it's at least the one that people most often get wrong. The satellite photo will have no scale information associated with it, and 0CAD will want to know the photo resolution and the scale. You'll need to guess at this, but you also need to check to see if you guessed right. If you don't know what to use for Resolution, use 200. Use GoogleEarth to measure the distance between two easily visible points in the template photo (e.g. road intersections). Then when you get the template loaded, draw a line object between those points and use 0CAD's ruler tool to measure the distance. The two should match (within a reasonable tolerance). If they don't, then close the template and open it again with a different TemplateScale (leave the MapScale at whatever matches the symbol set that you're using). If 0CAD's distance was smaller than GoogleEarth's, then the TemplateScale number needs to be bigger (proportionally, so if you want, you can do the math instead of going it it by trial and error).

JJ's approach is pretty much what I use. Although I often use templates where the pixel size is precisely known (1.00 m/pixel, etc...). In those cases, you can do a bit of math to calculate the DPI for the desired scale.

Mapping small parks, you'll probably want a scale of 1:5000, so before you start importing things, got to options and set the map scale to 1:5000. Now when you import a template, the map scale will be automatically set correctly. The "draft scale" is kindof irrelevant, but not completely irrelevant. All you really need to do now is set the DPI. I generally don't worry about rotating the map for magnetic north until later.

If you choose a draft scale of 1:10,000, and you know your pixel size is 2.5 m/pixel, you can calculate the DPI as follows:
DPI = 0.0254 meters/inch * 10,000 (meters/meter) / (2.5 meters/pix) = 101.6

OCAD won't let you import with non-integer DPI though, so this will be rounded of to 102. If that 0.4% error is annoying to you, you can cheat the system by importing with a draft scale of 1:100,000, and now enter a DPI of 1016.

After you've imported the template, check your work by measuring the distance between two points, the way JJ suggests.

To get an idea for how large your map will look on a sheet of paper, go to the print menu. Define your print scale and paper information, then under range, select "one page" and click the "setup" button. Then click "define". This will create a selection box that corresponds to one printed page.

Thanks very much for all the considered replies guys - much appreciated!

Another question - how do I go about inserting a school logo onto a map?

It's somewhat bizarre that almost the hardest thing about drawing a map is setting up the framework of scale and relationship with materials such as aerial photos, other maps, your national grid etc. I don't think that would be peculiar to OCAD, it would be the same with any drawing system. My answer to the above question is to get an expert to set up the file with your source material in the background.

As far as I can see, the OCAD how-to's avoid this tricky question, heh heh.

OCAD is mainly a drawing program with dimensions in meters. It is not a true cartography program or a GIS.
This page may be helpful:
https://sites.google.com/site/juniormappersguide/

The background here is that 0CAD started as an improvement over drafting with pens. The original assumption was that the drafting would be from fieldnotes at a known scale (and when scanning was introduced, that the scan would be a known resolution). The idea of using materials like photos from the web kind of snuck in the back door, and there really hasn't ever been a formal means for supporting this. GIS-like capabilities are being pasted onto the original special-purpose drawing program.

But it has enabled a bunch of mapping stuff to get done in a relatively painless way, some more succefully than others.

I have told a number of people that the best way to get everything set up is to send it all to me and let me get things started properly.

You can't even spell OCAD correctly though.

If someone could save the legend from an OCAD map as OCAD6, that would be the next best thing to a "Legend" button.

There's a specific reason why I always spell it 0CAD, which would be evident to those who have dealt with it in the most intimate way, and which is entirely attributable to the late Hans Steinegger.

JJ taught me that O-maps are created with paper and colored pencils, not with computers and fancy electronic gadgets.

Oh?

Which one's you?

I'm the instructor at the front of the room.

You look young for your age or maybe it's just my eyesight. I'm getting old too.

Yes, that is the one. I'm the student in the green shirt. Thanks.

That was eight years ago.

That would explain the old computers or perhaps that's just your study grant. I have a computer just like it right in front of me.