We thought we’d take a closer look at a couple of add-ins you can find on the ArcGIS Explorer Labs group (authored by Explorer team member Michael Waltuch). Both are useful for locating businesses and more, and placing them on your map.
We’ve added both, and both work similarly; they search within a 10-mile radius from the center of your map. How do you know where your map center is? If you use Find the map will automatically be centered on the match. So, for example, below we’ve entered “Philadelphia, PA” and the map is automatically centered on the match location. To zoom out or in while keeping the center, just use your J and L keys or the navigator zoom slider.
A way to show the map center is to toggle the target indicator. Do this by clicking the ArcGIS Explorer button
then choosing ArcGIS Explorer Options
then choose the Map Window category and you’ll find the Show target indicator option under the Position Information heading.
Now in the center of your map you’ll see the target indicator – “+”
First we’ll take a look at the Bing add-in.
We’ve searched for “cheese steak.” The matches appear, and we’ve clicked one to get more information, including a link to the business Web site.
To move any of these to your map as a note, just select, right click, and choose move to map.
Here’s the Yahoo! add-in
And we’ve done the same search.
The information includes a link to the business Web site and ratings and reviews.