The Dashboard Development Kit is included in the software - you will be asked if you want to see the manual. It is assumed that you are familiar with the Dashboard and know how to use Excel.

Aggregation
& presentation
methodology 

Note you are using the MapKit at your own risk, and that it is your duty to respect copyrights. Print this file, it will make your job easier. Officially this feature is not supported, so it will require some work from you - be patient, but if you are really stuck, ask me for help. Make sure MS Word is running while you install the MapKit.

The mapkit, which you can download by clicking here, contains the following files:

DBMapKit.rtf  (manual, slightly adapted on April 20, 2003)
Benelux.txt   an example of a source in XY points format - see "Important NOTE" below
Read_llc.exe  map converter
shp2gen.ave   Avenue script for converting ArcInfo shapes to "Ungenerate" (ASCII)

For producing a map,

1. download the mapkit and start the dbmapkit.exe
2. open Explorer and browse to the folder C:\db_circs\db_resrc\Maps\
3. drag the Benelux.txt over read_llc.exe
4. answer yes when you asked "Write data for xx regions"
5. press F5 and follow your instinct; the following files should afterwards be in the map folder:
   Benelux.map   map polygons for use by the dashboard
   Benelux.dmi   map attributes for use by the dashboard
6. open the group file of your Dashboard:

• go to the folder C:\db_circs\db_resrc\[my_dashboard]\
• look for the file my_group.txt or defgroup.txt (the newer one is the right one)
• open this file and adjust the map settings

Example: If you want to include the Benelux states as a group in the CSD_CUT4 datasets, open
C:\db_circs\db_resrc\csd_cut4\defgroup.txt
and make the following changes (in red):

The next time you run the UN CSD Dashboard, there will be the Benelux group in the list, somewhere between OPEC and G77, and when you select it, the map will appear. Note that recent versions of the Dashboard use the ISO3166 three-letter country codes, e.g. BEL, LUX, NLD - for your own Dashboard, "normal" names e.g. of cities or regions will work, too.

Your own example is hopefully simpler, but the logic will be the same. Remember to use short filenames: max. 8 characters, no spaces. Note also that the spelling of nations/regions/cities etc. must be identical in the Excel source and the points file, otherwise you will get white areas in the Dashboard (blue areas: country is recognized but has no data). Make frequent backups…

If you have done all that and still can’t see a map, send me a zipped archive with the points source file and the defgroup.txt, and I will see what I can do.

Hold shift to accelerate these adjustments. Resize the window if you have trouble with the display.

Important NOTE: this kit will work only with maps from files that are organized like the DCW (Digital Chart of the World) data set at http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/

Choose a continent, then a country, and when you see the download options, choose "Download Points"

This will open a page called "DCW Polygon Point Generation", where you can download the points of a polygon defining your map.