Our MapShapes have been very popular since we introduced them in 2008. Now that we’ve posted two articles on how to use Visimation MapShapes to create maps and visualize data, I just want to summarize by responding to 5 most frequently asked questions we’ve received about MapShapes. I hope this information helps you to determine if MapShapes will be valuable to you in your work:
What versions of MapShapes are available and what versions of Visio are supported?
We currently offer MapShapes for US states and counties in 10 sets. There are 9 …Continue reading
While it’s useful just to view geographic maps in Visio, the information becomes even more valuable when linked to data in Visio 2007. We’ll show you how to do this using Visimation MapShapes and you can use similar techniques to link data with any Visio 2007 diagram.
First, where do you find good data? Businesses that collect data about their operations or customers can link those data to Visio if they are stored in a structured data file like Excel, Access, SQL Server, or any other database application format. To illustrate the …Continue reading
Map of United States grouped by US Census Region
ShapeSource (www.ShapeSource.com) attracts thousands of visitors looking for Visio shapes and add-ons. What would you think is the most popular download? What type of shapes are requested most? The product downloaded most often is our free US Map stencil and we receive more requests for Visio map shapes than any other type of shape with the exception of network equipment.
To meet the demand for Visio map …Continue reading
Tripp Lite isometric
In our last post I discussed 1D Visio shapes and their powerful connection features that ease the task of creating drawings of objects assembled into systems. In this article I’ll describe a variation of 2D Visio shapes that are drawn to look like 3D views.
Visio includes in the box several stencils with objects drawn in an isometric style. Wikipedia has an excellent overview of the isometric projection technique if you are interested. The appeal of isometric is that it’s much easier to draw than perspective since distance …Continue reading
A 1D line with and without height
Visio shapes can be either 1D (one dimensional) or 2D (two dimensional). Unfortunately, there is no 3D shape although you can produce a “3D-like” 2D drawing by using the same methods as you would on paper… isometric, axonometric, perspective, etc. Most Visio drawings that simulate 3D are drawn as isometrics… but I digress and will cover that in a future post.
When you draw a straight line, Visio treats it as a 1D shape by default. When you draw a …Continue reading