Overview

Once you've added all the devices to the map, you can arrange them to suit your ideas about the network.

Default Appearance of Devices and Networks

By default, InterMapper displays devices as rectangles in its map. These devices are connected by links - straight lines of differing thickness to indicate the kind of link - to networks, which are represented as ovals.

Possible Arrangement Approaches

You can use InterMapper's layout tools to arrange your maps in ways that are most useful to you.

One strategy:

  1. Find one or more clusters of related items and move them close together.
  2. Once you have created clusters, you can move them to different parts of the map.
    For example, an Ethernet or FDDI backbone with its attached routers might make a good cluster. Similarly, a central router or switch with its attached networks might serve as a cluster.
  3. If networks or ports are not important for a map, hide them from the Interfaces Window.
  4. See Using the Arrange Commands for more information about using the commands from the Format menu.
  5. For other information related to arranging your maps, see Arranging Tips.

Enhancing Your Map's Appearance

InterMapper has many tools for enhancing your map's appearance. These include:

Setting a Map Background

Create a new map, and then save it. You can scan your own map, or obtain an image that covers the right area from one of the sites listed in Using Geographic Coordinates. InterMapper can use PNG, GIF, or JPEG image files as backgrounds for maps. You can obtain suitable images by scanning or creating your own maps, or use one of the many map sites listed in Sources of Maps.

To add a background image to a map, simply drag the image file into the map window. It will be added to the map and become visible.

Setting the Geographic Coordinates of a Map

If you use a geographic map for a background, you can associate specific points on the map with geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) by adding benchmarks. For more information, see Using Geographic Coordinates. Once you have specified the coordinates, you can specify geographic coordinates for devices as you import them to the map, and they are automatically placed at the correct location.