Gambia Geoportal Help

This page provides helpful information about how to use the Gambia Geoportal. You can use the sidebar links to navigate to what you want to know.

The Gambia Geoportal provides access to data sets and a map editing application allows users to browse existing maps and contribute their own.

Browsing Layers

The Layers tab allows you to browse data uploaded to this Geoportal.

All data can be downloaded in a variety of formats, for use in other applications.

Browsing Maps

The Gambia Geoportal allows users to create and share maps with one another.

The Maps tab is a gateway to map exploration on the Geoportal. From here you can search for a map or create a map, which will open the Map Composer.

Google Earth Mode

Any map viewed in the interactive map editor can be seen in 3D mode with the Google Earth plugin. To switch to 3D mode select the Google Earth globe logo, the rightmost button on top toolbar. If you do not have the Google Earth plugin installed you will be prompted to install it.

Creating a Map

To create a new map go to the Contributed Maps tab and click the create your own map link.

This will take you to the Map Composer with a base layer loaded.

To add data layers from the Gambia Geoportal click on the green plus button located below the layers tab on the left hand side of the screen. This will open a dialog listing all the layers available on the Gambia Geoportal.

To add layers to your map select them and hit the Add Layers button. When finished you may hit Done to close the dialog and go back to the map.

Reordering and Removing Layers

Change the display order of the layers listed in the data tab by simply dragging and dropping their names. The order in the map will be updated to reflect that. To turn a layer's visibility off simply uncheck it, and to remove it entirely select it and hit the red minus button.

Saving your map

Once a suitable set of layers and zoom level has been found it's time to save it so others can see it. Click the Save button--the left most icon on the top toolbar, an image of a map with a disk--on the top menu and fill out the title and abstract of the map.

Publishing a Map

Any map from the Gambia Geoportal can be embedded for use in another site or blog. To publish a map:

  1. Select the from the list of maps on the community or map page and then hit the 'Publish map' button.
  2. Choose your desired height and width for the widget in the wizard.
  3. Copy the HTML snippet provided in the wizard to any HTML page or iFrame-supporting blog post.

This will put an interactive widget showing you map in your web page or blog post.

Note that the Map Composer also has a button to publish the map. Just be sure to save the map before publishing if there are changes that you want others to see. It publishes the last saved version, not the last viewed version.

Remixing a Map

Any map available can serve as a starting point for a new map.

  1. Open the map in the Map Composer.
  2. Add and remove layers as you like.
  3. Pan and zoom to highlight the area of interest.
  4. IMPORTANT: Update the title, abstract, contact info and tags to reflect the new map.
  5. Save the map.

You will be able to see your new map when you search for it from the Maps tab.