The Symbols data on the right of the Data Bands window defines the symbol to be used in plotting data falling into each band. It comprises...

Symbol shapes include Round, Square, Diamond, Triangle (or Delta), Nabla (**) and Star (as shown on the left) which can optionally be Filled or drawn as coloured outlines. If Filled, an additional black hairline can be drawn around the shape by setting the Line option.

Available shapes also include Cross, Plus, Asterisk, Slash and Back-slash for which the Fill and Line options do not apply.

(** 'Nabla' is an inverted Delta. The name is used in vector calculus and derives from the Greek name for the shape of a Hebrew harp! (So I’m told!))

The symbol Size is defined as a fraction of the 'grid/symbol size' set in the Basic Layout controls in the Main Window and can be any value between 0.0 and 1.0.

Symbol Colour can be changed by clicking on the colour block - this will open the standard Windows Colour Picker.

As changes are made in the symbol settings, they are reflected in the example symbols shown to the right of the details.

Though the user can define the symbol parameters individually for each band, a related set of symbols can be defined using the Set up a related set of Symbols button which opens the Symbol Schemes Window (below).

All of the symbols in a scheme will be of one Shape (defined from the usual pull-down list) and all will be Filled or drawn as a coloured outline. When Filled, an optional Black Outline can also be added.

The symbols can be defined in Stepped Sizes - Increasing up to 1.0 (i.e. from very small to the full grid size over the specified number of bands), Stepped Sizes - Decreasing down from 1.0 (i.e. from the full grid size down to very small), or can all be Equal and of the full grid size.

e.g. In Grid mode, if the symbols are square, filled, of equal size, and of different colours (see example on right) the map will consist of solid coloured areas representing the data bands.

The colour(s) of the symbols can be a Standard Spread of Colours pre-determined by DatMapR, or can be created from a Base Colour defined by the colour block. This can be changed by clicking in the colour block to open the Windows colour picker.

Based on the Base Colour, all of the symbols can be the same as the Single Specified Colour. Alternatively, they can be Shades or Tints of the specified colour (as defined from the pull-down list on the right) - these can vary between White or Black and the specified colour (in either order as required). If the specified colour is too near to Black or White, the range will be adjusted to provide a better spread.

The final colour alternative is to set a Cycle of colours based on specified colour. The 'hues' of the selected colours will then vary through part of the colour spectrum from that of the base colour, while their saturation and lightness will be based directly on the selected colour. Again the base colour may be adjusted if it is too near to the extremes of black or white.

Examples of a few alternatives are shown below ...

As the parameters are selected, a sample of the Symbol ‘Schema’ is show in the window. Clicking the Apply Symbol Scheme to Data Bands button will ask for confirmation before changing the settings in the Data Bands window.