Beta Feature: Streamlined Home Ribbon and Map Creation Workflow

Creating maps and adding layers is now faster and more intuitive with an updated workflow designed to streamline your work in Surfer.

Surfer lets you create multiple maps on a page, making it easy to compare data from different time periods, locations, or datasets side by side. Each map can also contain multiple layers. For example, you might overlay contour lines on top of base layers (e.g. a SHP file and an aerial image) so that all three datasets are spatially aligned within a single map.

Previous workflow

In Surfer 31 and earlier:

• The large buttons in Home | New Map created new, independent maps.
• To add additional layers to an existing map, you selected the map and clicked Home | Add to Map | Layer.

What's new in Surfer 32 Beta

We've streamlined the map creation workflow to better match how most users build maps.

Previously, the large layer buttons always created new maps, even when the goal was to combine multiple datasets into a single map.

In Surfer 32, creating maps and adding layers is more straightforward, making it easier to build the map you want with fewer steps.

If you've been using Surfer for years, the updated workflow may take a little getting used to. Once you're familiar with the new process, you'll be able to create and layer maps more quickly with fewer steps.

Specific Changes

Some of the most impactful changes are listed below.

1. The Home | New Map group has been renamed to Home | Create Layer. Some of the layer types have been renamed (e.g. Classed Post renamed to Post (Classed)), and the ordering has shifted slightly. 
2. The Home | Add to Map | Layer and Map Tools | Add to Map | Layer groups have been removed.
3. Click on any layer type in the Home | Create Layer group to create that layer in the plot window.
   • If no map is already created, it will create a new map with that layer in it.
   • If one map is created, it will automatically add that layer to the map.
   • If multiple maps are created, and one is selected, it will add that layer to the selected map.
   • If multiple maps are created, and none is selected, it will ask you which map to add the layer to.
4. What happened to New Map? If you have a map already created, and you want to create a new map on the page and not just add a layer to the existing map (e.g. a different area, a different scale, etc), you can still do this!
   • SHIFT+click on the icons in the Home | Create Layer group and the layer will automatically be created in a new map.
   • Right click in the empty white space of the plot window, and use the New Map flyout to create a new map.
5. Note: The Add to Map flyout from the layer context menus remains the same.

You might also notice some other useful additions!

• The Add to Map group on the Home page now includes more options (e.g. scale bar, legend, graticule, profile, and axis) to help you easily access the map components you need.
• The Add to Map group also now includes Color Scale. For those that are used to checking the Show color scale or Color scale option in Properties, this property has been moved up into the ribbon. This makes it quicker and easier to enable color scales for the selected layer.

• Grid Data has been renamed to Create Grid and, together with the newly renamed Create Map (formerly the Map Wizard), is now located in the new Wizards group.

Feedback Requested! Love it? Hate it? We'd love to hear your feedback! Please email us at surferpm@goldensoftware.com!