A quick animated map
March 18, 2010 at 5:12 pm 2 comments
This post shows you how to make a simple animated map using ArcGIS and Corel Photopaint (click on the map to show):
The animation is actually just a series of images, combined into a single file in GIF format.
You need ArcGIS (I have 9.3) and Corel Photo Paint (X3).
Start with designing your map in ArcGIS:
Go to File > Export and export the map in a raster format, e.g. as frame1.gif.
Then move the marker a bit (or whatever you want to animate).
Export this frame as well: File > Export, name it frame2.gif. Continue creating individual frames and exporting them. I made 4 frames (frame1.gif to frame4.gif).
Now go to Corel Photo-Paint and load the first image of your animation (frame1.gif).
Click Movie > Create from Document. This creates a movie with a first frame.
Click Movie > Insert from File and add the second frame (frame2.gif). Repeat this, adding all frames.
Go to Movie > Play Movie and see what it looks like. (Hit Esc to stop.)
Go to File > Export and save the movie in ‘GIF Animation’ format, e.g. as mapanimation1.gif. A window with export options comes up – here you set looping (Frame Repetition) and how fast it should run (Frame Delay).
Done! Now use this animation in your PowerPoint presentation or on your website.
Entry filed under: Projects. Tags: Animation, ArcGIS, Corel.
1.
BUDIYANTO | March 19, 2010 at 8:02 am
Thats good animation, may be its will be shown better if we can implementation in transportation case..
2.
KarlHennermann | March 19, 2010 at 2:32 pm
To be clear, this animation is just a series of four interchanging images. I don’t think animated GIFs are actually that useful in a transportation application – I imagine for a logistics/transportation/asset management application you rather need a contentious timescale, and maybe real time tracking.
However, it makes me think: imagine a server getting location data, and generating an image like the above every hour, then some process assembling them into animated GIFs. That could be a low-cost asset tracking application.