• The data column is not numeric
• The entries in the PID column do not exactly match the PIDs of the boundary objects

The data column is not numeric

For the former, if the data column is a column of text entries, you will need to choose a numeric column instead. If the column does contain numbers, it's probable that the column is formatted as text. To fix this:

1. In the MapViewer worksheet, highlight the PID column.
2. Click Data | Text to Number.

The PID of the data does not exactly match the PID of the boundaries

For the latter, the PID must exactly match between the data file and the boundaries, since the PID is what MapViewer uses to link the data to the boundaries. This crops up if your boundaries use the county name state abbreviation and your data uses the full state name. This can be fixed by choosing the data file column that matches the boundary PIDs, or by changing the boundary PIDs to match the data file PIDs. To do this:

1. Click Edit | Select All to select all of the boundaries on your base map layer.
2. Click Boundary | Redefine Attributes.
3. Choose the appropriate attribute or worksheet column in the Available object and worksheet attributes list on the left and click the Redefine PID button.
4. If desired, repeat to redefine any other attributes, then click OK to make the change and close the dialog.

This problem can also arise if both use the FIPS codes but the FIPS code starts with a 0 (as for Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, and Connecticut). If the column is formatted as numeric, the leading 0 is removed, so the 4-digit data column does not exactly match the 5-digit boundary file PIDs. To fix this:

1. In the MapViewer worksheet, highlight the PID column.
2. Click Data | Number To Text.
3. Verify both the Integer values will have a fixed number of digits and the Add leading zeros (if necessary) checkboxes are checked.
4. Set the Number of digits to 5 and click OK.

Once your PIDs are the same, or your data column is numeric, you can create the map.

In MapViewer 8, this error message has been split into its two components to make it easier to fix, and the application has become smarter about choosing the PID and using text/numeric variable columns, so it is less likely that you will run into this issue.

Updated October 6, 2016