Table of Contents
Multiple Maps and Shared Layers
Whenever you have more than one map on your account, it is possible to share some of your layers across multiple maps. For example, you may have a Water System map seperate from your Sewer System map but both maps have a common "Customer" layer. By "shared" we mean that whenever someone makes a change to the Customers layer on the Water System map, then that same change is immediately seen on the Sewer system map.
Actually it is common to share many layers between your maps. For example, the Water System map might contain all of the sewer system layers and the Sewer System map might contain all of the water layers. So why have different maps you might ask. The reason is that on the Sewer System map only the sewer layers are visible by default and on the Water System map only the water layers are visible by default. This is possible because all of the display settings, such as colors, symbols, and visiblity, are saved with the map and not the layer. So while the content of each layer is shared between maps, the display settings are not. The manholes might be green on one map but gray on another map but the manhole locations, textual data, and attachments are only stored in one place with the shared layer.
Pros and Cons of using multiple maps
We still recommend managing all of your information in a single map for most customers.
CON: It is easy to loose track of where things when you your layers are spread out in different places
CON: It is easy to create duplicate layers when you forgot that you already created a layer for that same purpose on another map
PRO: When you have several dozen layers, you can create seperare maps for each department so that they only see the layers they are interested in.
PRO: If you are a service company that works in different geographical areas then it is usually helpful to create a different map for each area.
How to share a layer with another map
To share an existing layer with another map use the Add new layer link on the layer list and then select the "Add Existing Layer" action.
How to create additional maps
To create a new map see Maps section of the Account Screen.