Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional - Manual (Page 271)

In the Create Thematic Map - Step 3 of 3 wizard panel, click Customize Settings. This opens the
Customize Dot Density Setting dialog box. Here you can change the number of units that each dot
represents, and also select the dot shape (square or circle) size, and color. You can specify a circle size
from 2 to 25 pixels in width. For a square, the size can range from 1 to 25 pixels.
The Help System contains these related topics:
• Creating a Dot Density Map
• Customizing a Dot Density Map
• Modifying a Thematic Map
Individual Value Maps
Individual Value maps show points, lines, or boundaries that are shaded by individual values contained
in a particular field. You can use both numerical and nominal values in individual values maps. MapInfo
Professional gives each unique value its own color or symbol. When an individual values map uses
symbol types, the symbols are taken from the base table.
For example, a soft drink distributor maintains a table of the supermarkets that buy soft drinks from him.
Each supermarket sells the distributor's brand of soft drink for a different price. If the distributor shades
the supermarket points by price, using individual values, all stores that sell the soft drink for 49 cents
are shaded one color, all stores that sell the soft drink for 51 cents are shaded another color, and so on.
Each unique value is assigned its own color. The distributor is able to see the price distribution among
the supermarkets and can determine where he should increase his sales volume, based on the price.
If you are shading your points, lines or boundaries using nominal data, you can shade only by individual
values. Nominal data is either non-numerical data (name, type of cuisine served, or brand of automobile
sold) or numeric data where the numbers represent non-numeric data like an ID number. Dates are
considered numeric data and can be used in both ranged and individual values maps.
For example, you have the results from a consumer survey. One question on the survey reads "What is
your favorite Sunday afternoon activity?" The possible responses are:
1. Sleeping
271 MapInfo Professional User Guide
Chapter 10: Creating Thematic and Other Themed Maps