2.1 Overview of the Map Visualization Component

When an application uses the map visualization component, it applies specific styles (such as colors and patterns) to specific themes (that is, collections of spatial features, such as cities, rivers, and highways) to render a map (such as a GIF image for display on a web page).

For example, the application might display a map in which state parks appear in green and restaurants are marked by red stars. A map typically has several themes representing political or physical entities, or both. For example, a map might show national and state boundaries, cities, mountain ranges, rivers, and historic sites. When the map is rendered, each theme represents a layer in the complete image.

The map visualization component lets you define styles, themes, and base maps, including the rules for applying one or more styles to each theme. These styles, themes, base maps, and associated rules are stored in the database in map definition tables under the MDSYS schema, and they are visible to you through metadata views. All styles in a database instance are shared by all users. The mapping metadata (the set of styles, themes, and base maps) that you can access is determined by the map visualization component metadata views described in Map Visualization Component Metadata Views (for example, USER_SDO_STYLES, USER_SDO_THEMES, and USER_SDO_MAPS). The set of map definition objects that a given user can access is sometimes called that user's mapping profile. You can manage styles, themes, and base maps with the standalone Map Builder tool, described in Oracle Map Builder Tool.