Map 2006 Map Book Question

[falls-c]

I attended a presentation on the 2006 Upgrade last week and the presenter's knowledge of how Map Book works was very limited, so he was unable to answer this question. I'm still using Map 2004, so I asked if the Map Book would give intelligent titles to the dwf files it creates, such as using the query title as the file name. (In previous versions of the program, it used randomly assigned numbers for titles, so we've used an add-on called "plot map set add-on" to fix this problem.) For those of you using the 2006 version, have you tried to run a set of maps based on queries you've saved? If so, were the titles something logical? If it's not saved with the query title, what is it saved as? I've ordered a demo disc, but while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I thought I'd check to see if anyone's worked with it yet.
Thanks!

[Jmurphy]

I did the tutorial on map books and the way it works now (R2006) is the map book is a set of sheets sets. I'm sure you can use the field entities to create your Titles. You may have to go back in and rename the sheets afterward if you want a "Title" that makes sense to non-map users. Ex "Layer=Road where ROW < 10" vs Roads with Right Of Way is less than 10 feet. Setting some temp variables in the project may work a little better than using the query statements or maybe using the display manager then create the Mapbooks.

[falls-c]

Yes, I finally got the demo disks in and ran the tutorial. You can right click on the sheet set trees and re-name each sheet to whatever you want. However, that's a tedious task for someone like me that has almost 1600 maps to change titles on! Hopefully, I'll only have to do it once as I set up the sheet sets. Thanks for your input.

[jim.dahl]

I think the Map books have been a pain since they first started Maybe that is because I don't use them, or maybe that is Why I don't use them. However, I have set one up in Map 2005 and thought that you could choose the field in the database for the title, or create a new one. The database also can have fields for adjacent tiles, date of edit, created by, page number, etc. Map 2006 did not appear easier to use, However, It appears to be more flexible in the set up process. Until I learn how to use them, I will keep using the Named paper space layouts to define the sheets, or use MapBooks for ESRI product, which is set up in minutes.

Jim

[falls-c]

I've been poking around in the program all week and have found the plot map set command. It no longer resides on any of the main menu pull downs. The only way to access it is to click on it's icon on the map toolbar OR type in _mapplot at the command line. It works great for me to use the old method, so I'll probably continue to use it until I have enough time to experiment further with Map Book. I agree, though, Map Book is not what I was hoping it would be.

[Glenn Pope]

I use the old boundary that I used with plot map for the tiles. Each boundary has the map name attached to it using object data. Map is set up to uses this to name the pages. Don't know if that helps you in getting what you want.

Just now started playing with the new map books. So far I got to say I like it. I think its alot easier to set up then the old plot map, and gives you a lot more options. There is room for improvement, but I think they are on the right track with this one.