AWhere Professional

The "Welcome" window that appears upon starting AWhere is now designed to be a better launching point for your work in AWhere.

Six new options in the Welcome window serve as springboards to get you started, or asProfessionalt you in getting the help and information you need to get started using AWhere. These include direct access to Flash Demo Tutorials, Training Modules, Quick Start Template databases, Help Files, AWhere, Inc website links, and AWhere, Inc. Contact information.

Once AWhere is running, you can display the Welcome window at any time by selecting "Welcome dialog..." from the Help menu.

This version of the AWhere Professional release conProfessionalts largely of modifications and improvements to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) in an effort to make AWhere even more intuitive and user-friendly. More information about the new AWhere Professional interface can be found in the AWhere helpfile.

• New default interface - AWhere will start with only the main toolbar, Treeview pane, and map window pane visible.
• Template tab - The Open Database window now has a new tab labeled "Templates" from which you can load a Template data set.
• Map toolbar buttons moved - Toolbar buttons pertaining to the map window (such as zoom, pan, site selection and feature selection) have been moved from the main toolbar into the top part of the map window pane.
• North Arrow and Scalebar moved - These two items are now included inside the map window pane.
• Spatial Tools module removed - The main Spatial Tools navigation module that was once displayed along the left side of the AWhere interface has been removed. Access to the Spatial Tools is now provided via the "Spatial Tools" drop-down menu near the upper-left of the interface.
• New options for pane configuration - You can choose from several pre-configured interface (pane) layouts, via the "View" menu.
• New look to the Map Layers Treeview - The check-boxes in the treeview have been modified; read more about the treeview in the AWhere helpfile.
• Some tools renamed - What was formerly called "Characterization" is now called "Map Query", that which was formerly referred to as "Data Link" is now identified as "Connect to My Data" (or Data Connection), and "ReportWhere" is now referred to as "Report Tools". Also, several of the treeview components are now referred to using different terms. Refer to the AWhere helpfile for more on that.
• More user-support resources in Help menu - Several new user-support items are listed in the Help drop-down menu, including Flash Demos and Training Modules.

This was formerly known as the "Data Link" tool. This tool has evolved to become a key, and much used, feature of AWhere.

Thus, we have worked hard to make it even more robust and user-friendly. It has been renamed, and slight changes have been made in the way you connect your data to map layers. What were formerly "Data Links" are now referred to as "Data Connections".

Training Modules are self-paced, self-guided training tools that contain step-by-step instructions, as well as (usually) sample data, designed to help you learn about a given feature or capability of AWhere.

Previously, these were distributed separately from AWhere, and started from outside of AWhere. They have now been more integrated into the AWhere application itself, and can be accessed and started from within the AWhere interface, via the Help drop-down menu.

From the Open Dialog window, you will see a new tab labeled "Templates". This tab contains a listing of any template data sets that have either been installed along with AWhere, or that have been placed onto your computer subsequent to the AWhere installation. You can download any of our template data sets from the Downloads section of our website.

When you make edits to color settings for attributes being displayed as Unique Values or Class Breaks, those new settings will not be applied to the map until you click on the "Apply Classes" button at the bottom of the Display Properties tab.

We have made it much easier to simply make a copy of a map layer, and paste the copy back into the same AWhere dataset, particularly handy when you want to create a brand new map layer based upon your externally linked (connected) data. The "Paste Special" option gives you further options. This task was previously accomplished via the "Export Layer" and/or "Save Layer As" tools (both of which have been removed from AWhere).

The AWhere Map Exchange Export process has been improved so that when you are exporting a map layer to which external data is currently connected, you can opt to include that external data (flat files only, e.g. MS Excel, MS Access or Text files) with the exported map layer.

All external data connection properties will carry over with the export/import process.

AWhere offers numerous tools for displaying and symbolizing spatial data. This facilitates the easy interpretation of spatial trends and also allows for the creation of high quality, personalized maps. Some of these tools include color renderers, data classification tools, unique value renderers, feature labeling tools, and location-based pie charts.

AWhere Site Comparison Characterization enables the visualization of zones that meet the criteria defined by similarity to a selected location. This is a powerful tool for identifying areas that have similar characteristics to a particular location, whether it is a field test site or a sucessful business location.

Characterization is a core function of AWhere. It can be used to describe areas based upon their biophysical, social, and economic characteristics, or to search for areas that fall within a predefined set of parameters.

AWhere Zone Mapping Characterization enables the visualization of zones that meet the criteria established by the user. This is a powerful tool for identifying areas that have specific characteristics of interest to your business, whether it is vulnerable croplands or where your potential customers are located.

AWhere Zonal Statistics tool provides the method by which to evaluate the variation and composition of a target zone by generating statistics from spatial information about the zone.

The Place Search tool is a utility that allows you to quickly locate geographic features like towns, lakes, or political units, etc. It provides the ability to search for an attribute in a database and then view its location on the map.

A new layer properties interface provides easier access to map display properties.