FusionMaps & STYLES

FusionMaps uses Styles concept from FusionCharts v3 to help you apply font, effects and animations to objects of the map. Styles lends a simple mechanism using which you can easily control the visual layout of map.

To use Styles, all you need to do is:

  • Define your own style attributes in the XML data document, and
  • Associate (i.e., apply) them with defined Objects of the map.
Defined Objects for the Map

Each FusionMaps map has the following list of defined Objects for direct association with style definitions. For example, the background of the map is termed as BACKGROUND. Similarly, the plot on the map is named as PLOT. This enables you to associate each style to multiple map objects or associate multiple map objects to a particular style.
Object Name Description Features Supported Animation Parameters Supported
BACKGROUND BACKGROUND refers to the entire background of the map.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xScale
  • _yScale
    		•
    PLOT Plot refers to the actual map entities on the map i.e., individual city/state/county drawings.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xScale
  • _yScale
    		•
    LABELS LABELS refers to all the labels of individual entities.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
    		•
    MARKERLABELS MARKERLABELS refers to the labels of the defined markers on the map.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
    		•
    MARKERS MARKERS refers to all the defined markers on the map.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xscale
  • _yscale
    		•
    LEGEND LEGEND is the object in which the names of defined color ranges for the map show up.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
    		•
    TOOLTIP TOOLTIP refers to the tool tip shown when mouse is hovered over the entities.
  • Font
    		•
    MARKERCONNECTORS MARKERCONNECTORS refers to any defined connectors between markers and the connector labels (if defined).
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
    		•
  • _alpha
  • _xscale
  • _yscale
    		•
     

    Advantages of using Style:
    • Better control over map look & feel.
    • You can precisely define custom animations and effects according to your own taste.
    • Your formatting (cosmetic) attributes are grouped together in one element in the XML document, thereby separating data from visual formatting.
    • You can store the entire style definition in a central location in your application, so that all maps within application can utilize it.
    • Easy re-use of style definitions. Each style can be applied to multiple map objects or vice versa.
     

    Style Types
    Before we delve into more details, let's briefly skim over the different style type options that are present in FusionMaps.

    Font

    The Font style allows you to control text properties for all the text on the map. Using this, you can set the font family, color, size, background color, border color, spacing etc. of individual text elements on the map

    Animation

    Animation style type allows you to define your custom animations for your background, plot, legend and text. Each of the above object can have multiple animation properties (like x, y, xscale, yscale, alpha etc.) and each sequence can have its own duration

    Shadow

    To apply shadow effect to any object on the map, use this style type with configurable properties

    Glow

    Glow Style type lets you apply glow effects to objects on the map.

    Bevel

    To apply bevel effect for any of the map objects, use this style type.

    Blur

    Blur Style type helps to create a blur effect for any object on the map. The amount and distance of blur are configurable.