Chapter 4: Creating Geographic Maps

Business Objects retains the Geographic Map feature in Crystal Reports 10, although no major changes in this feature appear. Your reports can include not only textual information (for example, states, cities, and sales totals), but also a colorful map that, for example, plots sales totals by state. Using maps, you can display information in a way that helps to analyze geographical data more easily. In addition to regular groups and details section fields, Crystal Reports allows you to create maps based on online analytical processing (OLAP) grids and groups using specified order grouping.

Note  

Crystal Reports 10 s installation program does not install geographic map capabilities by default. You must choose a custom installation method and specifically choose the mapping component.

Different Map Types

Crystal Reports provides five different types of maps. The type you should choose depends on the data that you ll be depicting in the map and the way you wish to show it. Table 4-1 discusses the different types of maps and their uses.

Table 4-1: Crystal Reports Map Types

Map Type	Description	Uses and Comments
Ranged	Assigns different colors to ranges of numbers . For example, a state that contains over $500,000 in sales would be bright red, a state that contains between $250,000 and $500,000 in sales would be orange, and a state that contains less than $250,000 in sales would be a deep magenta .	Useful for comparing different regions or countries to each other by shade or color . There are four ways to choose how the ranges are colored: Equal count Evenly divides the number of map ranges so that an equal number (or as close as possible to an equal number) of mapped values appear in each range. This avoids map views containing almost all one color, which may occur if the data you are mapping is heavily concentrated on the low or high end of the overall range of values. Equal ranges Divides the map ranges by the summary numbers being shown on the map. This option assigns equal ranges of summary values, regardless of how many groups or regions make up each range. Natural break Also uses the summary numbers to determine map ranges, but bases range breakdowns on the average amounts of the ranges. Standard deviation Divides the map ranges such that the middle interval breaks at the average of the summary values. The ranges above and below the middle break at one standard deviation above or below the middle.
Dot density	Displays a dot on the map for every occurrence of the item being mapped. A higher concentration of dots appears in areas of the map that have the most occurrences.	Used to show a concentration of activity (for example, quantities or subtotals) in certain states or countries.
Graduated	A symbol (a circle, by default) represents data, and the size of the symbol is based on the concentration or level of the amount: small amounts are represented by small circles, large amounts by large ones.	Shows just one symbol per country, state, etc., but shows a different size depending on the number the map is based on. The default symbol is a circle, but you can choose from other characters , as well as apply special effects (for example, a drop shadow, halo, etc.) to the symbol.
Pie chart	Displays a pie chart over the related geographic area.	Only useful when comparing multiple related data points for the same geographic area. A pie chart is better for comparing items against each other, where all items total 100 percent. For example, if you are graphing sales by account rep, grouped by state, you would see a pie chart on each state showing how much of the state pie each rep has.
Bar chart	Displays a bar chart over the related geographic area.	Only useful when comparing multiple related data points for the same geographic area. A bar chart is better for comparing items over time, or other comparisons that aren't piece of the pie oriented. For example, if you are graphing sales for the past five years, grouped by state, you would see a bar chart on each state comparing the sales for the past five years .

Caution  

Crystal Reports 10 contains a limited number of maps. If you use a field that contains geographic values that Crystal Reports can t resolve to an existing map, the map may not show any meaningful data, or it may show up as a blank area on your report. Crystal Reports mapping modules are provided by a third party, MapInfo. You may also get more information from MapInfo at http://www.mapinfo.com.

• Group map Requires you to use existing groups with their subtotals and summaries for the map. A report grouped by country, for example, can be used to show the concentration of customers by country if you include a summary function that counts customers for each group.

• Advanced map Allows you to create a map based on data in the report s details section. You may have a detail report containing a sales figure for each customer. If you include the state each customer is in, you can create an advanced map based on the state and the amount of sales for that state. The map will show how sales compare by state. In effect, the map will group and subtotal your records by state, even if no state group exists on the report. You also would use an advanced map when you need to map multiple values per geographic region (as in the pie chart and bar chart explained in Table 4-1).

• Cross-Tab map or OLAP map Plots data from a cross-tab object (covered in Chapter 11) or an OLAP grid (covered in Chapter 19). The cross-tab object must have at least one row or column field that s based on a geographic item, such as a country or state. OLAP grids must have a certain type and organization of dimensions (see OLAP Maps later in the chapter for details). Because cross-tabs and OLAP grids can contain multiple summary fields, you can use them to create pie chart or bar chart maps.