Silent Spring Institute

MassHEIS
Help Section

Guide to the Map

Navigation

To move between pages, use the tabs at the top of the page.

The MassHEIS Home link will bring you back to the starting page.
The SSI Home link will take you to the Silent Spring Institute homepage.
The Help/FAQ link will bring you to further information about working with the MassHEIS site.
The Back button in your browser is disabled in this application. Please use the tabs or you will see this error:

Layers and Legend

The Layers list allows you to turn data layers on and off, select data to learn more about, and open or close folders to view or hide data layers.

When a layer is highlighted and the radio button is filled in, it means that it is active.

Click on the circle to make a layer active.
Some tools ( i.e. Identify and Query) require layers to be active in order to use them.

Please note that checked layers that are higher on the list will draw over those below them. This can cause confusion if two layers cover the same area. For example, if you check Breast Cancer for 1982-1990 AND Breast Cancer for 1990-1998, then only the one higher on the list will be visible until it is unchecked.

When the Auto Refresh box is checked, your maps will refresh automatically when you turn layers on and off. If you wish to control when the map refreshes, uncheck the Auto Refresh box and click the Refresh Map button when you have made your selections.

The Legend displays the symbols for the data layers you have checked.

Inset Map

The inset map provides an overview of the state of Massachusetts and will indicate with a red box the area you have zoomed in to. You can turn off the inset map by using the Inset Map tool: .

Tools

	Inset Map	Click this to turn on or off the inset map.
	Zoom In	Either click once on the map or draw box for extent of zooming in. NOTE: Some layers are scale-dependent, which means that you must zoom in to see them, e.g. local roads.
	Zoom Out	Either click once on the map or draw box for extent of zooming out. NOTE: Some layers are scale-dependent, which means that you must zoom out to see them, e.g. public drinking water supply wells.
	Zoom to Full Extent	Will zoom out to the full extent, i.e. entire state of Massachusetts or Cape Cod.
	Zoom Back	Will send you back to the previous map scale.
	Pan	Click and drag cursor to pan the map to a new location.
	Identify	Point and click on a feature on the map. Make sure you have made the data layer you are interested in active first. The radio button should be filled like this: . Additional information about the feature will appear in the Map Information tab at the bottom of the screen.
	Query	Enables you to query for attributes of a layer. The query will appear in the Map Information tab. For help on using this tool, please click here. NOTE: The desired layer must be active in order to query it.
	Find	Type in a keyword to search for attributes of a layer. NOTE: The desired layer must be active in order to query it.
	Select by Rectangle	Draw a box around the features of a layer you would like to select. The features of the layer inside the rectangle will be highlighted and reported in the Map Information tab. NOTE: The desired layer must be active in order to query it.
	Select by Line or Polygon	Choose to select features of a layer by line or polygon. The features of the layer intersecting the line or inside the polygon will be highlighted and reported. NOTE: The desired layer must be active in order to select it.
	Clear	Clears any selection.
	Print Map	Type in your desired map title, and click on "Create Print Page."

Map

The map window is the center window that contains the map area that you are viewing. To zoom in and out or move around (panning) the map, see the Tools help.

Links and Map Information

The Your Health and Your Community tabs provide links to more information about the health problem you are examining and about environmental measures in your area.

The Map Information tab will display the results of using the Identify, Query, and Find tools.