How can I get background maps on shapefiles?

Question

Greetings -

A total JMP newbie, but enjoying the ride so far! How can I get a background map to show up with a downloaded shape file?

I am able to get past the stage (I think!) of the .shp and .dfb files and saving them into the Maps folder of JMP as -XY.jmp and -Name.jmp files, but when I attempt to overlay the shape file boundaries on a background map I do not get a background map - only the boundaries. The shape file I have downloaded is for Canadian Census Subdivisions and comes from the Canadian government, so I am hoping the file is not corrupt?

I have watched the "Creating Custom Maps" video on the JMP community, and tried to follow the instructions in the "Essential Graphing" chapter of Using JMP, but to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated, using JMP 17.0.

Cheers,

MB

Screenshot 2024-08-07 at 9.53.47 PM (2).png

DivisiveBudgie5 · Answer

Hello Byron!

Thanks very much for the rapid response and I'm sorry for taking this long to get back to you. The issue is, when I do exactly what you say above, the map does not appear. I've tried to trouble shoot and as such I have played around with the Maps file in JMP with the Canada maps there. In short, I can get the background map to appear in the pre-installed Map Files (CA-Admin1-Name.jmp) but even here when I try to include the Census Consolidated Subdivisions boundary file I have downloaded (using the check box for this file from the Boundaries list on the right hand side of the "Background Map" panel) JMP immediately crashes, every time. So in one case I can't get the background map although I can get the boundaries (and I've followed your instructions exactly and tried every option from "Simple Earth" down and still I do not get a background map) and in the other I can get the background map but not the boundaries, hah!

Effectively what I am attempting to do, in the long run, is overlay political boundaries with background maps and, if possible, soil shape files that I can download online. I've attached an example of something similar to what I am attempting from ArcGIS, and I've been thinking that the same sort of thing should be similar in JMP, but I've just hit these few issues along the way. Maybe it isn't possible, and that's cool, but I've been trying and from what I've found I think it should be possible, but I'm just not getting something right here. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot and have a great weekend,

Mick

Build mpas like these for four regions, with overlay of soil zones.png

Byron_JMP · Answer

Hello, Welcome to JMP!

I'm impressed you got the shape and name files worked out, that alone is a little tricky.

the background map is super easy. Do a right click on the graph space in graph builder, select Graph>Background Map