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Functionality
-------------

The MXD2map converter works as a commandline tool to transform maps from the
proprietary ArcGIS file format "MXD" to a MapServer configuration file.

To transform an ArcGIS mxd file to a MapServer configuration file the mxd file
must have a valid and available data source and must not fit the restrictions
described in the appropriate section.

How to use
----------
The converter is started via the commandline running the command::

  $java -jar mxd2map.jar

The converter can be configured in two ways:

1. The converter.properties file (see converter.properties.sample)
2. via commandline arguments

Both take a parameter for the path to the mxd file, the outputfile and a mapfile
template for initial mapfile config. Commandline parameters have a higher
priority than the properties file.

The available parameters on the commandline are::

  -m or --mxd		The mxd file to convert.

  -a or --map		The path to the output file. Should end with ".map".

  -t or --template	The template to use for an initial mapfile
			configuration.

To have the full functionality for ArcGIS map conversion it is necessary to have
the ESRI fonts available. ArcGIS products install these fonts to the default
windows font folder "c:\\windows\\fonts". To make them available for the converter
there has to be a MapServer font set (see
http://mapserver.org/mapfile/fontset.html). The MXD2map converter comes with an
initial fontset containing all relevant ESRI fonts and the free font FreeSans.
The font set file named fonts.txt can be edited and further fonts can be added.
To use a font set, the file needs to be referenced in the MapServer template
otherwise the converter can not create character symbols and will show up errors
in the conversion process.

The converter uses a separate symbol file to provide symbol sets to the
MapServer configuration. A pre-build symbol file can be referenced in the
template to have initial symbols available. If no symbol file is referenced a
new one is created by the converter if necessary. The resulting symbol set is
written to the same directory as the output mapfile named
[mapfile-name]-symbols.sym.


Features
--------

Currently supported features:

 * The MXD2map converter can use ArcSDE database connections and local
   shapefile datasources to create a mapfile.

 * Convertable symbols:

   * Simple marker symbols
   * Character marker symbols
   * Arrow marker symbols
   * Any combination of character marker symbols
   * Linesymbols with pattern and cartographic attributes
   * Polygons filled with solid color and outline
   * Polygons filled with a hatch and outline

 * Convertable layer:

   * Feature layer
   * Layer containing unique values
   * Layer containing class breaks
   * Grouplayer with one grouplevel

 * Further map attributes:

   * Projection and units
   * Min/max scale denominations
   * Map extents
   * Simple labeling
   * Filter and expressions