Flip Lines

MAPublisher Flip Lines reverses the endpoints of a line or an area (open or closed path). Adobe Illustrator Brushes and Type on a Path tools are designed to position patterns and text depending on the direction of the endpoints. Two consequences of this are:

1.Labels are placed upside down and backward when using the MAPublisher labeling tools (MAP Tagger tool and Label Features, see Text and Labels).

2.When applying graphic styles with a brush pattern to paths (manually or using MAPublisher MAP Themes), patterns are not applied at the right side of the line or in the expected orientation.

In order for the labels or patterns to be consistent for a group of lines, flipping lines may be necessary.

Requirements

Lines can be flipped on Line and Area layers.

Using Flip Lines

To flip lines, select lines on the artboard and click the Flip Lines button on the MAPublisher toolbar or from the menu Object > MAPublisher > Flip Lines.

 Flip Lines is a discrete operation. It may not be apparent that the lines are flipped.

 When exporting Area layers to GIS formats, polygon outlines must have a positive #Area value in the MAP Attributes panel. If some values in the #Area column are negative (and #AreaDirection is equal to Counter Clockwise), Flip Lines can then be used to reverse the #AreaDirection and convert the #Area to a positive value.

 For compound paths, the #AreaDirection property is always equal to Indeterminate, even though compound paths can be flipped.

 The MAPublisher MAP Tagger tool and Label Features have an option to enable Flip upside-down labels to create text in a consistent orientation, without requiring the use of the Flip Lines operation.