Flash Map Description:

A thematic map is a geographical presentation of data in numerical values using colors. Thematic maps make use of color-coded areas to show geographic patterns in statistical data, like that of the population or median income of a specific area. There are various types of thematic maps that include choropleth or shaded maps, proportional symbol maps, dot maps, and isarithmic (contour) maps. Such kind of map is heavily utilized to visualize the location-based data by highlighting trends and distributions across a geographic area. For example, an epidemic heat map was designed to illustrate recent Swine Flu epidemic cases around the world; the Michelin Guide can show the distribution of 1000 top rated restaurants in different countries with a thematic map.

Steps:

1. Download the iMapBuilder digital mapping software from its official website and install in your computer.

2. Run the software, click the icon "Create" to create a new map.

3. Select the map on the left under Available Map Templates and a preview can be seen in the Preview window on the right. You can select the drop down list at the top to filter the maps by category, click "OK" to open the template.

4. Click [Heat Map Settings] tab and check [Enable Heat Map Function]. Choose the colors for start of gradient, end of gradient and highlight.

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5. Click [Fill Heat Map Data] button and then a pop up window will be displayed.

6. Add numerical data in Heat Value column, and don't modify the ID and Region Name columns.You can import your data from an excel unicode text file (.txt) by pressing [Import from Excel] or click [Paste all from clipboard] button to paste the data from clipboard. You can also export the data to Excel by pressing [Export to Excel] for calculations in Excel Spreadsheet. Click [Verify Data] to verify if the numbers are valid integer values.

7. Click "Preview" in the menu bar to see how it will look in the browser.

8. Save, publish and upload your thematic map to your server.