Help Library

Launching the Interactive Map

From the MAGIC home page, the interactive mapping tool can be accessed in two ways:

1. Hover the mouse pointer over the ‘Maps’ box, at the top-right of the screen. From the drop-menu, select the ‘Interactive Map’ option:

2. Simply click the large ‘Get Started’ button:

Navigating the Website

The MAGIC website is intuitive, and offers a fluid user experience. As an aid, these navigational pointers may be of some benefit.
Any standard link that can be clicked will be displayed as a generic blue hyperlinked text element:

Some buttons will act as drop-menus. These do not need to be clicked. Simply hovering the pointer over the element will show the embedded options nested within:

Some of the elements within the Interactive Map have an arrow inset. Clicking the arrow will drop-down the menu options:

Table of Contents elements, in the Interactive Map, will have a + or a – symbol beside each text identifier. Clicking the + will expand the accordion down, and show the data elements within it. When the symbol is a -, there are no deeper data layers to expose:

Downloading a Dataset

From the home page scroll the cursor over the Maps tab and select Dataset Download from the drop down list

The downloadable datasets are split into 2 options, those that are directly available from the site and those which are available from an external website.

Direct Download - From the Dataset column, find the desired data and click on the hyperlink.

You are met with a Terms and Conditions page which you must Accept to obtain the Dataset.

You are then shown the Datasets which can be downloaded in two common mapping formats. To begin the download, click on the preferred file type.

Link to Website - From the Dataset column, find the desired data and click on the hyper link.

Static Maps

Static maps have been produced for a number of individual datasets, where the data is not always visible in the interactive map, for example where scale thresholds are imposed on datasets that are too large to be viewed at national scale.

From the home page scroll the cursor over the Maps tab and select Static Maps from the drop down list.

Click on the Name hyperlink to view, print or download the relevant map.

The static map will open in a new tab. The location of the Download and Print options will depend on the browser being used. For example with FireFox the print and download options will be at the top right of the screen, as shown below:

Navigating around the Map

The Interactive Map can be navigated in two main ways:

1. The navigation tools (as pictured) offers a number of options for navigation:

The top circle allows the map to be navigated in standard compass directions, by clicking the relevant direction.
The Zoom to Full Extent Tool can now be found in the centre of the compass. The function has always been available in the drop down scale bar but it has now been also added to the interactive map for ease of use. The Zoom to Full Extent Tool allows you to zoom to the full extent of the map therefore allowing certain datasets to be viewed at national level.
The middle arrows are for Previous Extent and Next Extent. Clicking these will move to the last, and the next successive view extent that was viewed.
The bottom + and – buttons are for zooming in and out of the mapping view.

2. Simply click the large ‘Get Started’ button:
   • Scroll wheel will zoom in and out.
   • Left click, hold and drag will manually pan around the map extent.

Changing the Map Scale

The current MAGIC interactive map scale is always displayed in the Set Map Scale box which can be found at the top-right of the interactive map page:

There are 3 simple ways to change the map scale in MAGIC:

1. Using a pre-set scale

To select from a pre-set range of popular scales, click on the down arrow and select a scale from the drop down list:

2. Define your own scale

If you want the map displayed at a scale that is not listed you can delete the scale that appears in the dark blue box and enter your own scale. Click return and the map will be displayed at your chosen scale:

3. Clicking the or navigation icons on the map to zoom in or out of the map. This will change the map scale by ±50% for each click:

Using The Table of Contents (ToC)

To hide or unhide the ToC, click the arrow indicator located to the right of the ToC banner:

ToC Hierarchy/Structure:

In the ToC there are 2 buttons: expand [+] 1 and collapse [-] 2 and 3 levels of tick box 3a, 3b, 3c

1. [+] button. Click to expand the theme or sub-theme in order to see the layers contained within it – the button will change to [-] - note this does not actually turn on any layers.
2. [-] button. Click to close the theme or sub-theme and hide the layers contained within it – the button will change to [+] - note this does not actually turn off any of the layers it merely hides them in the ToC. When the symbol is a [-], there are no further data layers to expose:
3. a. Empty tick box
   2. Empty tick box - next to a sub-theme e.g. Organisational boundaries (grey background) – click this to select all the layers within that sub-theme - a will appear in the box - click again to turn off the layers and the will disappear. NB: do not click the empty checkbox unless you want to select ALL the layers in that sub-theme.
   3. Empty tick box - next to a data layer – click to turn on that layer - a will appear in the box - click again to turn off the layer and the will disappear. Please note that some data layers will not appear until certain zoom thresholds have been reached.

Where a layer name is greyed out in the ToC e.g. Limestone Pavement Orders in the image below, it will not be visible in the interactive map at that scale because it has a scale threshold set on it. This document outlines the scales that layers are visible at.

Each MAGIC theme has a variable transparency slider underneath its name. This feature allows users to determine the levels of transparency of the datasets so that the base mapping can be seen more clearly. The far right is total opacity, and the far left is total transparency. Variances in between can easily be set to user preference.

100% Opacity:

50% Opacity:

0% opacity i.e. transparent:

To view the associated metadata for each ToC layer, click the to the right of the layer name. This will open up the metadata window, which explains the dataset in greater detail:

Searching the Map

The Map Search tool, is found at the top-left of the Interactive Map page:

To perform a search, simply enter a search term, and click the magnifying glass icon, to the left of the search field. The search will perform, and the map will navigate to display the search results.

For Regions, Counties and Postcodes a blue polygon will appear on the map for the selected area. For Coordinates/Positions a blue dot will appear. To remove the blue point or polygon from the map click on the Clear Selected Feature button above the map.

There are 3 search types are as follows:

1. The default search is COUNTY, PLACE OR POSTCODE which allows you to search for any of the following (the search will automatically recognise, from the text you enter, whether it is a county, place or postcode):
   1. counties
   2. towns, cities, locations, etc;
   3. postcodes and postcode areas

NB: if you want to search by Region or Coordinates/Positions you will need to select the relevant data type by clicking the down arrow icon, on the left of the search field and selecting the relevant data type

2. REGIONS: allows England regions to be searched (north east, etc.)
3. COORDINATES / POSITIONS: allows coordinates and grid references to be searched for.

The Coordinates/Positions search will support a number of different coordinate formats:

• 6 digit British National Grid in the format (only for OSGB36 projection): e.g. SX 123 456 (spaces optional)
• Easting & Northing metres (only for OSGB36 projection): e.g. 123456, 234567 or 123456 234567 (, is optional)
• Latitude Longitude pairs in any of the following formats (brackets are optional):

Map Tools

There are 11 interactive feature tools on MAGIC – these can be found above the map:

What the tools do:

For some of the tools a pop up window will appear on the map as shown below:

If you find this window is obscuring parts of the map you want to see you can easily move it by clicking on the black banner at the top of the pop-up window and dragging to anywhere else on the screen:

See help sections below for information on how each individual tool works.

Using the Drawing Tools

Drawing Tools can be accessed by clicking the pencil icon in the Feature Tools section at the top of the mapping window:

EDITING YOUR DRAWINGS

Select the upward pointing arrow and click on the drawn shape to manually edit, re-size or move it. It also allows for a selected shape to be deleted using the DELETE key on your keyboard.

ADDING TEXT

Select the Text (A) option to manually add text to a point on the map. When clicked, an Input Text box will appear:

Input your desired text, click ‘OK’, and then click at a point on the map where you wish the text to be displayed. Follow this process for each new text entry you want to add to the map.To enlarge the text on the map, select the upward pointing arrow, click on the text, then drag the selection box to make it larger.

ADDING POINTS

The Point tool allows points to be added to the map, at your chosen location. Multiple points can be added with successive clicks.

ADDING LINES

Select the Line tool to manually add straight lines to the map (this can include lines with changes of direction). To add a line, select the line tool and click on the map at the start of the line, move and click to continue drawing the line, double click to finish drawing it. Multiple lines can be added to the map using the same method.

ADDING FREEHAND LINES

To add a freehand line, simply left click the icon with the squiggle on it and hold to draw and plot the line, and release to complete it. Multiple lines can be added to the map using the same method.

ADDING RECTANGLES OR SQUARES

To add a rectangle or square left click the Rectangle tool (square) then click and drag to define your area, let go to finish. Multiple rectangles or squares can be added to the map using the same method.

ADDING CIRCLES

The Circle tool works in exactly the same way as the Rectangle tool. The difference is that the user can create circles to their desired size.

ADDING POLYGONS

To add a user-defined polygon consisting of a series of straight lines, select the polygon tool and click at each successive point that you wish the polygon to include. This could range from a simple three sided triangle to a more complicated shape of multiple sides and angles. To complete the polygon, double click, and the polygon will be automatically completed and shaded.

ADDING FREEHAND POLYGONS

To add a freehand polygon, left-click the freehand polygon tool and hold as you draw your desired shape, and release to complete. Unlike the standard Polygon tool, the freehand polygon allows for much more versatile and freestyle polygon creation.

DELETING ALL SHAPES

To remove all user graphics on the map, select the Delete All (x) tool. If confirmed at the prompt, all added graphics will be removed from the map. To remove a single graphic instead, use the editing tool (upward pointing arrow, featured under Editing your Drawings above).

STYLING TOOLS

The styling tools allows for text, points, lines and shape fills to be given different colours, from a pre-populated selection. The selected colour will apply for the relevant styling until another is chosen. It may be easier to set you colour styling options before you start drawing.

SAVE THE GRAPHICS

If you would like to save the graphics you have drawn, for use in your own Geographic Information System (GIS) - click the Export button in the Drawing Tools window.
The graphics will be converted to shapefile format. Based on settings of your browser, either a window will appear asking you to specify the name of the file and the location where you would like to save it to or the file will be saved into your default downloads location.

Searching the Map Layers

To search within a data layer, the layer must be checked in the Table of Contents as visible. When the Search for a Feature icon is clicked, the main search window will open:

To select a data layer for searching, click the arrow image on the right of the Select Layer field. This will display a drop menu of all available options. Only one layer can be searched on at any one time.

To perform the search, enter a search term in the Enter Search field, and click ‘SEARCH’. The search will execute, and the results will be displayed in the mapping window.

The results will be displayed in a data window, with relevant data fields populated. To view a single result within the map, double-click the relevant row or use the tick boxes to view multiple results. To sort the results in alphabetic or numeric order click on any column header.

Searching for a Dataset

To search for a dataset click on the Search for Layers icon, a search window will open.

To search for a dataset begin typing in the Enter Search box. As you type the results will begin to filter. You can select the dataset/datasets you are interested in and click on the Display Selected Layers to view them on the map

The Theme column provides information on which theme/themes the datasets sit within. The Min and the Max scale columns provides information on what scales the data can be viewed at.

Using the Site Check Tool

Before you use the site check tool button, the first thing you need to do is ensure all the layers you want to search are selected (ticked in the Table of Contents (ToC). NB the number of layers you select will affect the speed of the site check - too many layers may result in slow site checks or error messages:

From the Feature Tools bar above the map select the Site Check button:

A new window will appear:

There are three different options (buttons) for doing a site check which are explained in more detail further down this section:

To do a site check at specific point
To do a site check along a line
To do a site check within a defined area (polygon)
This button allows you to delete all site check graphics you have drawn
Ticking this box will exclude any null results i.e. features from datasets that are selected but are not in the area of interest.
Once you have defined the point, line or area of interest on the map, click the Perform Site Check button to generate the site check results which will appear in a new window and will only provide information relating to the layers you have selected (ticked in the Table of Contents (ToC). By default the site check includes null results for any features selected but not in the area of interest. If you wish to exclude null results, click the Tick to exclude null results box at the bottom of the site check window before clicking on perform site check:

The site check can be printed by clicking the Print button at the bottom right hand side of the window. The site check can also be saved by following the instructions in our FAQ section M13: Can I save a site check report in MAGIC?

Using the Clear Selected Feature Tool

From the Feature Tools list click on the Clear Selected Feature tool.

Clicking on this tool will clear any of the following from the map:

• The blue polygon that appears on the map when you do a search for Regions, Counties or Postcodes
• The blue dot that appears when you search for Coordinates/Positions
• The blue point, line or polygon highlighting any features that have been searched for using the Search for a Feature tool
• Measurement lines and polygons
• Site Check points, lines or polygons once the site check has been performed

Using the Identify Feature Tool

With features displayed on the Interactive Map

Click the 'i' button which is located in the Feature Tools list

A cursor will appear on the screen and a pop up box indicating to click on the Map to Identify Features

When the Interactive Map is clicked with the Identify tool selected you will be shown a new window that lists all of the features present for the area you selected. You can then print the results.

Using the Where Am I Tool

From the Feature Tools select the Where Am I? tool.

With the cursor, click anywhere on the map. A new window appears with information for the point you just clicked on the map.

The information listed is Easting & Northing, Grid Reference, Latitude & Longitude, Postcode Area and National Grid Field Number. N.B. For the most accurate field number click in the centre of the relevant field.

Using the Measure Tool

From the Feature Tools list click on the measuring tool.

A new window will appear over the map with two measuring options, Area & Perimeter and Distance.

To measure a line/distance, select and then click anywhere on the map to start using the tool. Continue to move the cursor and click on the map to draw your line.

To view the final measurement you need to double click the left button on the mouse to finish drawing.

Once double clicked the final result will be displayed within the pop up window.

The default measurement is in Metres but you can change this by clicking the downwards facing arrow next to Metres, the other measurement options are: Kilometres, Miles, Feet and Nautical Miles.

To measure an area and perimeter select from the measurement tool window and then click anywhere on the map to start using the tool. Continue to move the cursor and click on the map to draw your polygon.

To view the final measurement you need to double click the left button on the mouse to complete the polygon.

The default area measurement is in Sq Metres but you can change this by clicking the downwards facing arrow next to Sq Metres. The other area measurement options are: Sq Kilometres, Sq Miles, Sq Yards, Sq Feet, Hectares and Acres.

The default perimeter measurement is Metres but you can change this by clicking the downwards facing arrow next to Metres. The other perimeter measurement options are: Kilometres, Miles, Feet and Nautical Miles.

If you have made a mistake or an incorrect measurement has been performed, there are 2 ways of clearing this.
1st - Reselect the measurement option i.e. Area & Perimeter or the Distance from within the pop up window.
2nd - Click the Clear Selected Feature tool from under Feature Tools above the map

The Reuse Graphics option can be used if you wish to see the measurement graphic (line or polygon) on the map once you have finished with the measurement. NB you must tick the box before drawing the graphic. If at a later stage you no longer wish to see the graphics appearing on the map you will need to untick the re-use graphics box.

Using the Print Tool

Please be aware of the following when using this tool:

• Map printouts preserve the scale of the map, not the extent of the map window.
• As only scale is preserved, the map extent will be changed – the printed area will be either smaller or bigger compared to the area seen in the MAGIC interactive map window.
• When printing, the centre of the map in the MAGIC interactive map window is placed in the centre of the print map frame. However please note the following:
  • The Table of Contents (ToC) on the left hand side of the interactive map window actually appears over the top of the map.
  • The centre of the map is therefore the centre of the map when the ToC is hidden using the Show/Hide Table of Contents arrow which can be found on the right hand side of the ToC.
• The map title, legend and margins in the print layouts take up some space too.
• The legend must be selected and visible in the ToC for the selected layers before it will print in the map printout legend.
• If you have a large number of layers selected, use one of the A3 large legend print layout options if you wish to see symbology appear in the legend for all the chosen layers.
• To preview your print – click the Printout hyperlink button which appears after you have clicked Print

To print:

With your desired features selected from the ToC, select the Print button from within the Feature Tools list.

A new window appears which allows you to add a personalised name for the Map.

These are the print layout choices:

NB: use the Large Legend Options when you have so many layers selected that the key for all the layers will not fit on the normal layout.

Select your preferred print layout option.

Select your preferred format.

Choose which Layout and Format best suits your requirements and then press the print button within the window.

NB: Once the Print button has been clicked, the application will take a moment to load (you will see a wheel spinning) and then the word Printout will appear as a hyperlink under the Layout option within the window

Click the Printout hyperlink to preview the print
NB: If you choose to subsequently print a different map you will need to click print again before clicking the Printout hyperlink again otherwise you will see the previous map.

Depending on the browser you are using will determine where the Print symbol is for example FireFox's  print option will be top right of the screen, as shown in the above image.

Using the Bookmark Map Tool

To save time in the future you can bookmark a page which will allow you to revert to a pre-defined selection of features and scale.

To do this have you first have to have your desired features selected from the Table of Contents, scale & projection set.

Now select the Bookmark page link from within the Feature Tools list

A pop up window appears and from here you will need to manually copy (Right click the mouse button & select copy or via the keyboard press Ctrl & C simultaneously) the link from within the box and paste it somewhere safe such as a word document.

Once you have saved this, you can then paste the link into a browser of your choice and obtain the previous map view that had been chosen with all of the features present.

Using the Load User Data Tool

The Load Data Tool can be accessed by clicking on the Load User Data Tool

Data can be added in the following formats: Map service, Feature service, WMS service, Shape file in zip format, gpx and csv file.

Using the Data Visibility Tool

Select your chosen layers from the Table of Contents. Please note that selecting more than 10 layers may cause performance issues and result in a timeout error.

From the Feature Tools list click on the Data Visibility Tool.

The Data Visibility Tool will open with your selected layers. By checking the Scale column you can calculate at which scale all the layers will be visible. Insert the required scale into the Set Map Scale box and click on the Go button.

The map will zoom into the requested scale. Please be aware that not all selected layers may be located at the geographical area where the map zooms in. You may have to pan around the map to find the features of the selected layers. For example, if marine data is selected and the map zooms inland the layers will not be visible on the map. The map overview function highlighted below is a handy tool for quickly panning around the map.

Using the Legend Tool

This tool is useful if you wish to see a legend only for your selected layers. From the Feature Tools select the Legend tool.

A legend will appear in a new window over the map. Only layers you have selected and which are visible at your chosen scale will be shown.

If you have selected a large number of layers you will need to use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the pop-up window to see all the legend. The legend window can be moved around the screen by clicking on the black banner at the top of the pop-up window and dragging it elsewhere on the screen.

Using the Change Projection Tool

For more information regarding the different projections available, click here. To change the projection system that the map is displayed in, you can use the map projection selector in the top right corner of the map page.

Click on the arrow and choose the projection you wish the map to be displayed in.

The OSGB36 projection is the default view and displays the Ocean Base map as standard.

The ETRS89 Projection is useful for Marine Based data.

The WGS projection is also useful for Marine Data.