Introduction to the Mapping Facility › Alternative Maps

Alternative Maps

Purpose

The mapping facility allows the use of alternative maps. This feature is useful in any application in which a dialog or program should show different copies of the same map to different users. When the alternative map feature is used, each user sees the appropriate copy of a given map.

Generating Alternative Maps

The developer can use the online mapping facility to generate an alternative copy of a map.

Note: For more information on defining and using alternative maps, see the appendix "Alternative Maps."

Possible Applications

• Users who speak different languages can be shown versions of maps in their own languages.

  For example, the following figure shows an English-language map and its Spanish-language alternative. The name of the English-language map, ENGMAP01, is changed to SPNMAP01; the title of the map is changed from EMPLOYEE INFORMATION SCREEN to INFORMACION SOBRE EMPLEADOS.

• Users with different levels of expertise or authority can be shown versions of maps that display only the information those users are qualified to view.

  For example, users who are not authorized to see salary information would not be shown the SALARY field on a map; a version that shows the SALARY field would be displayed to authorized users only.