Summer services update
Printing tips
Printing from Landonline
Landonline uses a "universal printer driver" called Uniprint to deliver printed output in the form of Adobe Acrobat PDF files. Uniprint has a component on the Landonline server that generates the PDF file and a component locally on the PC that actually prints it, using the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Note that printing images returned to you by email depends on the capabilities of your image-viewing package. See How do I open an image sent to me via the Request Product list for more information.
Turning print preview on and off
The Uniprint component on the PC provides a print preview window that allows you to select your printer and page settings such as paper size, orientation, paper tray etc. You also have the option of simply sending all printing straight to your default printer, using your default page settings.
To send all printing to the default printer automatically, change the Uniprint setting as follows:
- Right-click on the Uniprint icon in the system tray
- In the view section, select "no preview"
- revert to previewing all print jobs
- Right-click on the Uniprint icon in the system tray
- In the view section, select "no preview"
- Choose either the Uniprint Previewer or the Acrobat reader.
Changing paper size
By default, each PDF file is created for printing on A4 paper. This will normally be fine for textual printing such as titles and survey details. Landonline customers printing spatial data may want to print to larger paper sizes. Printing up to A0 format is supported.
To print to a different paper size, you must select the size in two different places.
First the PDF file must be sized correctly when it is created on the server, then the PC must actually print it to the same paper size. The steps to do this are as follows:
- Before you print, ensure that Uniprint on your PC is set to allow you to preview the print job.
- Select "Printer Setup" within the Landonline application and choose the required paper size and orientation. This determines how the PDF file will be generated.
- When the print preview window opens on your PC, select the printer, paper size and orientation you require.
Note that there is also a "Fit to Page" option available from the printer options screen in the Acrobat Reader. Whilst you can use this option to scale a PDF file that was generated for one page size to fit a different page size, this will not retain the correct map scale for a spatial print.
Setting margins
Different models of printers have different sized non-printable areas around the edges of the page. The Uniprint printing software used by Landonline has no way of knowing what type of printer will be used for printing the PDF file it creates. By default it uses a standard margin size. On some models of printers the extreme edges of the output in the PDF file may be outside the printable area of the paper.
The margins can be set explicitly for each print job by selecting "Printer Properties, Advanced" within Landonline when requesting the print.
Alternatively, you can simply select the "Fit to Page" option when printing the PDF file from the Uniprint previewer or the Acrobat reader. This shrinks the output to fit within the printable area for your printer. Once this option has been selected in Adobe Acrobat it will be retained.
Note that "Fit to Page" would not retain the map scale accurately when printing the Spatial Window – so explicitly setting the margins is preferable in this case.
Saving a copy of the PDF file
Normally, when you print, Uniprint creates temporary PDF files on your hard drive. These files are deleted after each session.
However, you have the option to save a copy of the PDF file for future reference. This could be particularly useful if you are working from a laptop with no printer available, or if you want to send a copy of the output to someone else. See the notes below on embedding fonts, if you want to use a Spatial Window printout from a different computer.
These are the steps to save a copy of the PDF file:
- Before you print, ensure that Uniprint on your computer is set to allow you to preview the print job with the Uniprint Previewer (not the Acrobat Reader).
- When the print preview window opens select the save button on the toolbar.
Embedding fonts in the PDF file
Landonline uses a special TrueType font for depicting various elements appearing in the Spatial Window, such as survey marks and point vectors.
This font is loaded onto your computer when you install the Landonline software components. If the PDF file generated by printing the spatial window is saved and then opened from a computer which has not had Landonline installed, the Landonline font will not be available, and the symbols will be displayed using an alternative (and inappropriate) font.
There are two ways around this problem.
- Fonts can be embedded in the PDF file when printing using Uniprint. This allows the file to be completely portable.
Select "Printer Properties, Advanced" from the print dialogue and set "Font Embedding" to ON.
Note that this adds approximately 300Kb to the size of each Spatial Window print, so is recommended for occasional use only.
- Alternatively, you can install the Landonline symbol font on the other computer where you wish to use the file.
This can either be done by downloading and installing Landonline Components – see Landonline Software downloads and installation instructions
Alternatively, you can copy the font file from a computer where Landonline is already installed.
The font is called LOLsymbols, filename lolsymbo.ttf. Simply copy this file from the Windows, Fonts directory to the equivalent location on the other computer.
Viewing images FAQs
Can I view survey plans or documents online?
Yes.
How do I open an image Landonline sent to me via the Request Product List?
Images are delivered as PDF files attached to an email message. You must have compatible image viewing software installed on your computer in order to open them. Talk to your IT support staff or service provider about this software.
Can we see old Titles?
Yes. These have been scanned into Landonline and can be viewed as part of a historical title search.
How do I see a Title diagram on screen?
To view images on screen, use Searches to search for a product and add it to the Tree. For more information refer to your User Guide.
Using the spatial window FAQs
Can I view Record of Title references in the Spatial Window?
Specific parcel ownership can be accessed through the Spatial Window but not on a wholesale basis.
Individual or bundles of Records of Title can be searched for and added to the "Tree" and either viewed or printed.
Can I customise the Spatial Window?
The Spatial Window has over 100 layers of information and users can customise the view to display what is relevant for them.
By default Landonline customers have a pre-set theme. This theme opens the Spatial Window with a predetermined layer set loaded. This layer set provides a view that is similar to SDI and provides an efficient view for initial navigation to the area of interest.
The available layers are shown on the Menu between the Search Tree and the Spatial Window. On the All Layers tab there is a tree menu that allows users to add or delete and apply layers to the current view.
You can define a personal default set of layers that is used at start up of the Spatial Window. Customise the view to suit your needs and then click the Default button at the bottom of the Current Layers tab.
How does scale dependency work in the Spatial Window?
Much of the information in the Landonline Spatial Window is scale dependent. This means that the display characteristics of each item vary and will affect when, and at what scale, information is shown. There are three predefined Map View - Scale View options; these are Urban, Rural and Large Rural.