About Loading Map Data Using MapMaker

With MapMaker, you can load base map data into the Trapeze map database for use with Trapeze4 applications.

Base map data can include streets, railways, water, and other special features.

Before loading data into MapMaker, you must ensure that the data is projected to the WGS (World Geodetic System) 84 standard. You must also ensure that the data is saved in a map format that MapMaker can load.

MapMaker can load map data in fixed and flexible formats. In fixed format data, the content and order of data fields is standardized. In flexible format data, the content and order of data fields can vary, so you must specify which import file fields to load into specific Trapeze4 map database fields.
Note: Your transit site’s license specifies which of the following map data formats you can load using MapMaker.

MapMaker can load map data in the following fixed formats:

  • TIGER/Line - MapMaker can import segment, polygon, and point data from TIGER/Line Record Type 1, Record Type 2, and Record Type 3 files.
  • Ordnance Survey Integrated Transport Network Layer (OS ITN) - MapMaker can load segment, polygon, and point data from OS ITN data files.
MapMaker can load data in the following flexible formats:
  • MapInfo Interchange File - MapMaker can load segment data from MapInfo .mif and .mid files.
  • ArcView ESRI Shape File Format - MapMaker can load segment data from .shp files and .dbf files. An ODBC data source name must be defined for the .dbf file.
  • ASCII-delimited - MapMaker can load segment data such as street net- works, railroads, power lines, and water line features from ASCII- delimited files.
Note: ASCII-delimited format does not support shape points, so all segments are loaded as straight lines.

Before loading map data, you must ensure that the data values are appropriate for the Trapeze map data source.

If MapMaker cannot load your map data in its current format, you can convert the data to a format that MapMaker supports before loading the data. For example, you could convert map data from ESRI Geodatabase format to ArcView ESRI Shape File format, which you could then load using MapMaker.