ShieldSymbolizer

New documentation

Configuration Options for ShieldSymbolizer

ShieldSymbolizer supports all options of TextSymbolizer and the following additional options:

parameter	value	default
base	Base symbol template (See below)
file	The file to use for the shield background
opacity	opacity of the image used for the shield	1
text-opacity	opacity of the text placed on top of the shield	1
unlock-image	No known function	"false"
shield-dx	offset the shield image and text horizontally	0
shield-dy	offset the shield image and text vertically	0
transform	Transform image

dx, dy

dx, dy (from TextSymbolizer) only move the text, but not the Shield. This behavior will be changed in a future release of mapnik. (See below).

placement

placement="line" only means placement along a line for ShieldSymbolizer, whereas for TextSymbolizer it rotates the text too. Add the spacing parameter to get the ShieldSymbolizer to repeat along the line, otherwise placement="line" and placement="point" will look the same.

base

Add <FileSource name="foo">/home/bar/baz/</FileSource> to the beginning of your stylesheet and then use <ShieldSymboliser base="foo" name="bridge"> to refer to /home/bar/baz/bridge.

Good to know

ShieldSymbolizer can be used to label points.

E.G. If you want to place points on cities and their name above it. If you try to use a TextSymbolizer and a PointSymbolizer separated you will often see points without texts and/or texts without points.

To draw labeled points configure your shield symbolizer with placement = point and custom value for dx/dy to move the text around the point

Examples

Setting up a sample shield symbolizer, from the Cascade Users of OpenSource GeoSpatial (CUGOS) list: http://groups.google.com/group/cugos/browse_thread/thread/b62b4890e1933bba

XML

    <Style name="My Style">
        <Rule>
            <ShieldSymbolizer face-name="DejaVu Sans Bold" size="6" fill="#000000" file="images/shield.svg" width="20" height="20" spacing="100" transform="scale(2.0,2.0)" min-distance="50">[NAME]</ShieldSymbolizer>
        </Rule>
    </Style>

Python

    shield = ShieldSymbolizer(Expression('[NAME]'),'DejaVu Sans Bold',6,Color('#000000'),PathExpression('images/ushighway_shield_20.png'))
    shield.min_distance = 50
    shield.label_spacing = 100
    shield.displacement = (dx,dy)

C++

    rule_type rule;
    /* Parameters:
          name
          face name
          size
          color
          image
          image type
          width
          height
    */
    shield_symbolizer ss("[NAME]", "DejaVu Sans Bold", 6, color(0, 0, 0), "/path/to/icon.png", "png", 20, 20);
    ss.set_label_placement(mapnik::LINE_PLACEMENT); // Place label along the line
    ss.set_displacement(dx, dy);
    ss.set_label_spacing(min_distance);
    rule.append(ss);

Resources

http://www.routemarkers.com/
http://www.weait.com/content/badges-badges

New interface in HarfBuzz branch

parameter	value	default
shield-dx, shield-dy	Move shield only.	0
dx, dy	With unlock_image = true: move text only.	0
	With unlock_image = false: move text and shield	0
unlock_image	True: Shield base point is always the input line/point (usecase: labeling bus stations).	0
	False: Shield base point is the center of the text (i.e. depends on dx,dy,vertical-alignment, horizontal-alignment) (usecase: highway shields)