Quick Start with Notepad

This example will enable you to get started with entering data using Microsoft Notepad. It shows how some latitude/longitude data can be quickly entered for The World map, but the principles are the same for entering any type of co-ordinate or grid reference data into any of the maps. It is recommended that you print these instructions before you start.
See the Data Entry page for other ways of entering DMAP distribution data.


  1. Start DMAP and select File|Open File Group, then select 'The World' and click OK.
  2. Select View|Distribution Map, then select '1 The World' and click OK. This gives a base map of the world.
  3. Select View|Zoom In and then drag out a box to cover your area of interest (for example, Australia).
  4. Select Tools|View or Edit current DIS file. This opens the Distribution Data file world.dis in the text editor Notepad.
  5. Place the cursor after the 1 on the first line of text and press the ENTER key. This will produce a blank line between the lines containing 1 (a Species Code) and -1 (the terminator for the block of data for a Species).
  6. On the new empty line created, enter a latitude+longitude co-ordinate, for example (within Australia), 25S+130E
  7. If you wish, you could enter more co-ordinates on successive lines before the line containing -1
  8. From the Notepad Menu bar, select File|Save, then File|Exit.
  9. From the DMAP Menu bar, select View|Distribution Map, then select '1 The World' and click OK. You should then see the entered distribution record as a green 'dot' (circle or oval). If it is not visible, you may need to zoom in closer.
Note that this is only a 'skeleton' procedure to get you started quickly. To find out how to enter data for more than one species in a DIS file, and how to enter species names, read the DMAP Help system.


Comments or questions about this procedure can be sent to Contact Alan Morton


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