Clustering objects on a Map

Introduction

Hello and welcome to a new guide on how to best use Movicon.NExT™.

In this technote, we are going to show you how to geolocate an object on the map on multiple zoom levels. This will be illustrated through the construction of an example.

Geolocalization

The geolocation option is a screen property. To geolocate an object, you will need to insert it on screen and then enter it’s coordinates in the GeoScada section along with the zoom settings to mark and view it on the map.
To give you a better idea of how this is done we will guide you through an example.

Example

Begin by opening the Movicon.NExT development environment to create, or load, a project.
Once you have done this, configure the initial map coordinates by entering them in the Startup Latitude Pos. and Startup Longitude Pos. fields in the project’s settings. These settings can be accessed by clicking on the name of the project in the project tree and activating its Properties window.

Main screen creation

Now that the startup coordinates have been configured, we shall proceed with creating the main screen:

• Look for the Screens resource in the project's tree structure in the Project Explorer window and select it.
• Right-click it and select the New option from the menu which opens.
• A New Screen popup will appear through which you can set the screen's main properties. Configure the screen as follows:
• • Width: 1920
  • Height: 1080
  • Name: Main
• Click the OK button to confirm the configuration.

Once the screen has been created, you can then change the project's properties by inserting the screen as the project's Main screen which will show when the project starts up. To do this:

• Select the name of the project from the application's tree structure.
• Open the Properties window.
• Change the following project properties in this way:
• • Startup Page Type: Main Screen
  • Startup Screen Name: Main

Once you have finished configuring the project startup page, click on the Save All icon located on the toolbar at the top to save the project.

Make sure that the Main screen is open, click on the Toolbox tab on the editor’s far right, next to the properties window, to open the Toolbox library offered by Movicon.NExT.
Go to the Buttons folder and open the Standard subfolder and select and drag the Standard Metro Style button onto the screen.
Once you have placed the button on screen, select it and open its properties window. Find the Text property and enter the Map string in the corresponding field.
Make sure that the button is still selected, open the Commands tab at the bottom of the editor. Find and select the Open Map command on the Commands List associated to the button and keep its default configuration as it is.

Creation of the geo-localized object

Proceed with creating a second screen:

• Go to the project tree within the Project Explorer window and search for and select the Screens module.
• Right click it and select the New option from the contextual menu that appears.
• A popup window will appear through which you can use to define the screen’s key properties in the following way:
• • Width: 200
  • Height: 200
  • Name: ObjMap
• Click the OK button to confirm.

Making sure the ObjMap is open, click on the Symbol Library located on the right of the editor, next to the properties window, to open the Symbol Library offered by the Movicon.NExT software.
Select the CoolingTower object located in the Buildings2 folder and drag it onto the screen. Resize it so that it covers all the space available within that screen.
Select the ObjMap screen from those listed on the project tree and open its properties window to set its Background to Transparent simply by selecting it from the combobox offered by the software.
Go to the GeoScada section and click on the three dotted button to expand the properties. Once the properties appear, enter the object’s coordinates in the Screen Latitude Coordinate and Screen Longitude Coordinate fields and then change the maximum and minimum zoom level visibility on the map by entering 1 in the Map Min. Zoom Visibility Level property and 10.99 in the Map Max. Zoom Visibility Level property.

Make a Duplicate of the screen by selecting it on the list of screens from the project tree by using the CTRL+C and CTRL+V in sequence to create a ObjMap1 screen.
Double-click the new screen to open it. Select the object and change its color by using the Background property.
Select the new ObjMap1 screen from the list of screens on the project tree and open its properties window.
Go to the GeoScada section and click on the three dotted button to expand the properties. Once the properties appear, change the maximum and minimum zoom level visibility on the map by entering 11 in the Map Min. Zoom Visibility Level property and 20 in the Map Max. Zoom Visibility Level property.

Save the project by clicking on the Save All icon on the Movicon.NExT editor’s toolbar.

Test Runtime

Launch the project into runtime by clicking on the Start Runtime button on the toolbar at the top of the editor in the development environment. Test everything by changing the values using the Movicon.NExT server.
When clicking the Map button at runtime, the map should open with the ObjMap screen at the coordinates set in its properties. When zooming in on the map, you will notice that the displayed object changes after the zoom’s visibility level surpasses 11 according to the GeoScada settings defined while developing the project.