Key Features

Innovative and Cost-Effective

Maplex software provides your organization with the most advanced, flexible text placement and cartographic design software possible. In addition, Maplex substantially reduces cartographic production time.

Easily Integrated with Existing Systems and Data Formats

Maplex reads data from a wide variety of file formats including ESRI shapefile format (.shp), ArcInfo annotation layers, Spatial Database Engine (SDE) layers, Laser-Scan Internal Feature Format (IFF), Ordnance Survey National Transfer format (NTF), Ordnance Survey User Transfer Format (UTF), MAPDATA (MAP) Format, Maplex Features and Labels (MFL) format, and Maplex Placed Labels (MPL).

Create fully symbolized cartographic products on your computer screen, and then output hard copy to standard printing devices using Maplex. Maplex produces a variety of output files including Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, Adobe PostScript, Intergraph Design format (.dgn), Laser-Scan Internal Feature Format, Autodesk Drawing Exchange (DXF) format, MAPDATA format, and Maplex Placed Labels (MPL) format.

Labels output in MPL format can be fed back into Maplex as pre-positioned labels that are immovable during the software's next processing run.

Conflict Resolution and Label Positioning

Maplex resolves conflicts between text and label placements. Depending on the relative importance of cartographic quality and execution speed, you can specify in the Maplex rule base the priority of names and request selective automatic name deletion to ensure no overlapping exists. Label offset, stacking, automatic font reduction, curving, abbreviation, and truncation are further examples of the robust positioning and conflict resolution options included with Maplex. Choose one option or specify more than one, allowing Maplex to choose the best way to resolve each individual conflict.

Putting You in Complete Control

With Maplex, you are in complete control of map feature symbolization. Built-in point symbols include circles, stars, crosses, quadrilaterals, and triangles. You can also import externally designed point symbols as Adobe Illustrator files. Maplex line symbology includes U.S. and European style street labels as well as cased, noncased, dashed cased, dotted cased, and dashed-dotted cased. Symbol colors can be selected from a palette of 64 user-defined colors and specified graphically or numerically in (RGB), (HLS), or (CMYK) formats. And with user-defined symbols your color options are unlimited.