Creating and Copying Warehouse Maps

This procedure explains how to create warehouse maps, which are interactive two-dimensional maps used as templates for creating Warehouse Maps widgets.

Note

We recommend that you be familiar with Warehouse Maps Creator concepts before starting these procedures.

Overview of Steps

Step	Why do this
Step 1: Adding a New Map	A map must exist in Rebus to design or import it.
Step 2: Creating Layers	To set up the layers’ hierarchical relationships that create an interactive map.
Step 3: Mapping the Warehouse	To represent the warehouse on a map. At this stage, you either design or import the map.
Optional: Designing and Overlaying the Warehouse Layout	You can do this if you want to overlay the map with the warehouse’s layout. You can design the layout with elements like doors, supporting poles, rooms (e.g., break room, receiving room, office, etc.), areas (e.g., staging, packaging, loading, unloading, etc.). By overlaying the map with the warehouse layout, you can see where map objects are in relation to these elements.

Step 1: Adding a New Map

1. From the Rebus menu, go to Admin Tools > Widgets > Warehouse Maps Creator.

2. Click ‘New’ to access the Create New Map screen.

3. Fill in the following fields:

Fields - Creating New Map

Field	What You Enter…
Map Name	Name of the warehouse map.
Measurement Unit	The unit used to define the warehouse’s dimensions in the real-world.
Optional Map Image Template (JPEG, GIF, PNG, SVG)	An image of the warehouse’s map and layout to display as the background while designing the warehouse.
Map Dimensions	The lower and upper X and Y coordinates to define the map dimensions based on the real-world warehouse.

4. Click ‘Save’ to add a new warehouse map.

Step 2: Creating Layers

1. Select the map you’ve added.

2. Click ‘Create Layers.’

3. Fill in the following fields:

Fields - Creating Layers

Field	What You Enter…
Layer Name	The name of the layer that composes the warehouse map.
Set as Location	Whether the layer represents the location. A layer configured as Location lets you create multiple levels on the map. Only one layer can be set as such, and it cannot be a parent to any other layer.
Select Parent layer(s)	The layer(s) to which the current layer will be chained to.
Move with Parent Layer	The parent layer to which the current layer’s map objects will follow geometric changes made to the parent layer’s map objects.
Map Object Properties	See the next step (step 4).

4. Configure map object properties by clicking ‘+Add Property’ and filling in the necessary fields for simple, automated, or composite properties.

5. Do one of the following depending on the property you’re configuring:

Field	What You Enter…
Property Name	Enter a name for the property.
Property Type	Select one of the three types of properties: simple, automated, or composite.

6. Click ‘Save’. You’ve created a new layer.

To create another layer, click ‘+ New Layer’ and repeat the steps until all map layers are created.

Step 3: Mapping the Warehouse

The process of mapping the warehouse depends on the configured properties:

Configured Properties	What You Do…
Simple and Composite	Designing Warehouse Maps
Automated	Importing Warehouse Maps With a .csv File

Designing Warehouse Maps

This section covers manual design of the warehouse maps and assigning ID values to map objects. The procedure varies depending on the design method used, which can be either top-down or bottom-up.

Design method	Procedure
Top-down	Designing Warehouse Maps—Top-Down Method
Bottom-up	Designing Warehouse Maps—Bottom-Up Method

Tip

You can overlay layers to see child objects’ positions within parent objects, which is useful for objects that do not move with the parent object. For more information on overlaying layers, see Map Interaction Tools. For objects that move with the parent layer, see Map Objects that Move with Parent Layer.

Designing Warehouse Maps—Bottom-Up Method

This procedure covers:

• Building components,

• Assigning values to child components’ simple properties,

• Adding components to the warehouse map, and

• Assigning values to simple properties of components added to the map.

Step 1: Building Components

1. From the created map, click ‘Edit’.

2. Go to the ‘Components’ tab.

3. Start building a component by

Clicking ‘Create Component’, or

‘New Component’ from the upper right corner of the screen.

4. Fill in the required fields.

Field	What You Enter…
Name	The name of the component you’re creating.
Layer	The layer to which the component belongs.

5. Depending on the type of layer, configure the component:

Location LayerLayer set as the parent to the location layer:Layer set as the parent to the non-location layer:

Enter the ‘Width’, ‘Length’, and ‘Height’.

Configuring Components

Action	Steps
Add locations to a level	In the ‘Number’ text box, enter the desired number of the location component to add to the level. In the ‘Select Component’ dropdown, select the desired location component to add. Click ‘+Add’. The locations are added to the level and appear in the level’s Preview dialog.
Delete locations on a level	From the level’s Preview dialog, just click the desire location to delete.
Add a vertical opening to indicate possible circulation under a shelf.	Turn on the ‘Add Vertical Opening’ toggle. Next to Height, enter the vertical opening’s height. Click ‘+Add’. As a result, the component’s final preview shows the vertical opening.
Add a level	Click ‘+Add Level’.
Duplicate the latest configured level	Click ‘+Add Duplicate Level’.
Delete a level	Click the ‘delete’ button.
View a child component’s name in the Preview dialog	From the level’s Preview dialog, hover over one of the components; a text label appears indicating the component’s name.

6. Click ‘Save’ to create a component.

Type of Layer	Action
Location	Click ‘Save’.
Parent to the Location Layer	See Step 2: Assigning Values to Child Components’ Simple Properties
Parent to the non-location layer	See Step 2: Assigning Values to Child Components’ Simple Properties
Otherwise	Click ‘Save’.

7. Repeat the steps to create all needed components.

Step 2: Assigning Values to Child Components’ Simple Properties

As you’re building a parent layer’s component, you assign values to the simple properties of the child components used to build the parent component. For example, consider this ‘Bay’ component (parent) built with ‘Location’ components (children) and the ‘Location’ layer’s simple properties:

As a result, as we’re creating the ‘Bay’ component, we assign values to the simple properties of the ‘Location’ layer’s components ‘Level’ and ‘Position’. Note that…

• You can assign or reassign values to simple properties after saving the component.

• Assigning values to all a components’ simple properties automatically populates its composite property. But, you can override the latter with a value that deviates from the usual naming convention. For more information on how to do so, see Assigning Values to Composite Properties Manually.

1. Under ‘Child Component Properties’, click ‘+’. The Label Properties form appears.

2. Select the simple property and assign values manually or in bulk.

3. Click ‘Apply’ to populate the textboxes with values.

Field	What You Enter…
Starting Value	The value at which to start assigning to the map objects’ simple property. The starting value can be a number, a letter, or a combination of letters.
Increment Value	The value to increment the next simple property’s value.
Specify Number of Digits	Appears if a numeric value is entered in the ‘Starting Value’ field. Whether to specify a number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value.
Number of Digits	The number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. For example, if the number is 3, and the Starting Value is 1, the simple properties’ values would be 001, 002, 003, 004, etc.
Increment Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value increments: Column–The value increments on the next column (left-to-right direction). Level–The value increments on the next level (the locations’ vertical levels).
Reset Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value resets to the starting value: Column Level Reset at Value
Value that indicates when the labeling pattern resets to the starting value.
Labeling Pattern	The direction in which to systematically assign a value to each component’s simple property.

4. Click ‘Done’. .

Step 3: Adding Components to the Warehouse Map

1. Go to the ‘Map Editor’ tab.

2. Go to the layer to which you want to add the component:

   1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon .

   2. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

3. From the map’s interaction tools, click the ‘Add component’ button.

4. Do one of the following based on the type of component you’re adding:

Location Component	Otherwise…
Next to ‘Component’, select the component. 2) Next to ‘Level’, select the level on which to add the component. 3) Optional: To specify the location’s elevation, enter a value next to ‘Vertical Coordinate.’ This value represents the height of the location above the floor.	Select the component.

5. Click ‘Done’. The component is added to the map. You can move it to its appropriate place. The values assigned to all the simple properties are copied.

Step 4: Assigning Values to Simple Properties of Components Added to the Map

• You can assign values to simple properties in bulk or manually, as needed.

You can do this in two ways:

• Assign values to simple properties in bulk

• Assign values to simple properties manually

Note

A composite property’s value is automatically populated by its simple properties, but you can override it with a value that deviates from the usual naming convention. For more information on how to do so, see Assigning Values to Composite Properties Manually.

Assigning Values to Simple Properties in Bulk

1. Go to the layer in which you want to assign values to the map objects:

1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon .

2. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

2. To select the map objects that you want to assign values to their simple properties, move through the map.

3. Click the desired labeling pattern. A labeling pattern is the direction in which to systematically assign a value to each map object’s simple property.

4. Click ‘Next’. The Step 2: Configure Labeling Attributes form appears.

5. Fill in the fields needed to configure the pattern’s attributes. You can click the eyeball icon to preview where values are assigned to each map object.

Field	What You Enter…
Property	The simple property to which you’re assigning values in bulk.
Starting Value	The value at which to start assigning to the map objects’ simple property. The starting value can be a number, a letter, or a combination of letters.
Increment Value	The value to increment the next simple property’s value.
Specify Number of Digits	Appears if a numeric value is entered in the ‘Starting Value’ field. Whether to specify a number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. See also: ‘Number of Digits’ in this table’s next row.
Number of Digits	The number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. In the example above, 3 is the number of digits. Therefore, the simple properties’ values would be 001, 002, 003, 004, etc.
Increment Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value increments: Column–The value increments on the next column (left-to-right direction). Row–The value increments on the next row (up and down direction). Any–The value increments on any of the three options.
Reset Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value resets to the starting value: Column Row Reset at Value
Value that indicates when the labeling pattern resets to the starting value.

For alphabetical values with an increment of 1 for example, the increment will look like this: A, B, C, […], Z, AA, AB, […], AZ, BA, BB… Specify Number of Digits Appears if a numeric value is entered in the ‘Starting Value’ field.

Whether to specify a number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. See also: ‘Number of Digits’ in this table’s next row. Number of Digits The number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. In the example above, 3 is the number of digits. Therefore, the simple properties’ values would be 001, 002, 003, 004, etc. Increment Condition One or more of the following options to indicate when the value increments: • Column–The value increments on the next column (left-to-right direction). • Row–The value increments on the next row (up and down direction). • Any–The value increments on any of the three options. Reset Condition One or more of the following options to indicate when the value resets to the starting value: • Column • Row Reset at Value Value that indicates when the labeling pattern resets to the starting value.

1. Click ‘Done’. You’ve assigned values to simple properties in bulk.

2. Click ‘Save’ to save this change on the map.

Assigning Values to Simple Properties Manually

1. Go to the layer in which you want to assign values to the map objects.

   1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon.

   2. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

2. On the map, select the object to enter or edit its value. The Map Object Properties form appears.

3. Enter the new value for the simple property.

4. Click ‘Save’ to save this change on the map.

Assigning Values to Composite Properties Manually

1. Go to the layer in which you want to assign values to the map objects.

   1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon.

   2. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

2. On the map, select the object to enter or edit its composite property’s value. The Map Object Properties form appears.

5. Enter the composite property’s values in the textbox. You can check the ‘Override’ checkbox if you do not want the value to be populated automatically.

6. Click ‘Save’ to save this change on the map.

Designing Warehouse Maps—Top-Down Method

This procedure covers the following steps for the top-down design method:

1. Drawing parent objects

2. Creating child objects from parent objects

3. Assigning values to simple properties

Step 1: Drawing Parent Objects

Tip

For efficiency, draw one of the highest parent objects that you want to subdivide into children and sub-children. After creating its children and sub-children, repeatedly duplicate this parent object as many times as needed. You can duplicate an object from the map object’s editing toolbar.

1. From the created map, click ‘Edit’ to access the Property Configuration screen.

2. Go to the ‘Map Editor’ tab.

3. Draw the parent object using the Map Editing Toolbar.

Step 2: Creating Child Objects from Parent Objects

1. Make sure you’re in the right parent layer: hover over the layers icon and see which layer is currently selected.

2. Select the parent object and click the ‘Subdivide object’ button. The Subdivide Object form appears.

3. Fill in the fields (Columns, Rows, Levels, and more).

Field	What You Enter…”
Columns	The number of columns by which you want to divide the parent object.
Rows	The number of rows by which you want to divide the parent object.
Levels	The number of levels for stacking your locations. Note: The ‘Level’ field is available only when the child objects you want to create belong to the layer set as Location. For more information, see Creating Layers.
Child Object Properties	See Assigning Values to Simple Properties in Bulk.

4. Click ‘Done’, and the map goes to the child layer, displaying the created child objects. In turn, you can create the next child objects of the ones just created until you’ve completed creating the map objects of the lowest layer (i.e., the locations).

Example: Subdividing an aisle into racks separated by an empty space

This example goes over subdividing an ‘aisle’ object into ‘rack’ objects to get this result:

Here are the steps for this example: 1. First, subdivide the parent object in a manner such as this one: * Columns: 3 * Rows: 4

2. Click ‘Done’. You’re led to the child layer in which the racks have been created.

3. Delete the map objects forming the column in the middle. In this example, we have four map objects forming the column, therefore we need to delete these four.

4. Click ‘Save’. You’ve finished the steps for creating rows of racks that are separated by an empty space.

Step 3: Assigning Values to Properties

This step goes over assigning values to properties, allowing you to assign ID values to map objects. You can assign values to simple properties in two primary ways:

• Assigning Values to Simple Properties in Bulk

• Assigning Values to Simple Properties Manually

Note

A composite property’s value is automatically populated by its simple properties, but you can override it with a value that deviates from the usual naming convention.

Assigning Values to Simple Properties in Bulk

1. Follow the steps according to what you want to do:

Assign values while creating child objectsEdit Labor Users in Bulk

Assign values to the child objects that you’re creating from subdividing the parent object.

1. In the Subdivide Object form, next to ‘Child Object Properties’, click the ‘Label Property’ button. The ‘Step 1: Choose a Labeling Pattern’ form appears.

2. Go to Step 3.

2. Click the desired labeling pattern A labeling pattern is the direction in which to systematically assign a value to each map object’s simple property. Follow the steps according to whether you’re assigning values for:

• Non-location map objects: Click the desired labeling pattern’s icon.

• Location map objects: Before going through the steps, learn more about how the Labeling Pattern form works for assigning values to simple properties of location objects

1. Configure the desired arrow combination.

2. Select the desired labeling pattern icon.

3. Click ‘Next’, and the ‘Step 2: Configure Labeling Attributes’ form appears.

4. Fill in the fields needed to configure the labeling pattern’s attributes. You can click the eyeball icon to preview where values are assigned to each map object.

Field	What You Enter…
Property	The simple property to which you’re assigning values in bulk.
Starting Value	The value at which to start assigning to the map objects’ simple property. The starting value can be a number, a letter, or a combination of letters.
Increment Value	The value to increment the next simple property’s value.
Specify Number of Digits	Appears if a numeric value is entered in the ‘Starting Value’ field. Whether to specify a number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. See also: ‘Number of Digits’ in this table’s next row.
Number of Digits	The number of digits to be displayed in the simple property’s value. In the example above, 3 is the number of digits. Therefore, the simple properties’ values would be 001, 002, 003, 004, etc.
Increment Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value increments: Column–The value increments on the next column (left-to-right direction). Row–The value increments on the next row (up and down direction). Level–The value increments on the next level (the locations’ vertical levels).
Any–The value increments on any of the three options.
Reset Condition	One or more of the following options to indicate when the value resets to the starting value: Column Row Level Reset at Value
Value that indicates when the labeling pattern resets to the starting value.
Labeling Pattern	The direction in which to systematically assign a value to each component’s simple property.

5. Click ‘Done’. You’ve assigned values to simple properties in bulk.

6. Click ‘Save’. You’ve saved this change on the map.

Assigning Values to Simple Properties Manually

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the layer in which you want to assign values to the map objects. a. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon. b. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

2. On the map, select the object to enter or edit its value. The Map Object Properties form appears.

3. Enter the new value for the simple property.

4. Click ‘Save’ to save this change on the map.

Assigning Values to Composite Properties Manually

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the layer in which you want to assign values to the map objects.

1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon.

2. Under Active Layers, select the desired layer.

2. On the map, select the object to enter or edit its composite property’s value. The Map Object Properties form appears.

3. From the composite property’s textbox, enter its value. The ‘Override?’ toggle appears. You can turn it off if you want the value to be populated automatically.

4. Click ‘Save’ to save this change on the map.

Importing Warehouse Maps With a .csv File

To import the map, first, you must create a .csv file to import the warehouse map and assign the values to its map objects.

Download example file

Note

There is no validation for case sensitivity for columns.

CSV file columns:

Column Name	Mandatory	Description
ID	Yes	The ID values of the map objects that need to appear on the warehouse map.
Type	Yes	The automated property’s name previously entered during the property’s configuration in Rebus.
ParentID	No	The parent object ID in which the current map object is going to be in.
X, Y, and Z	Yes–only for location objects	The cartesian coordinates of the location’s center on the map when looking from above.
XLength	No	The location map object’s length in the x-direction (i.e., left-right direction). Note: This value is applicable only for square and rectangular location map objects, and that are parallel and perpendicular to the warehouse walls.
YLength	No	The location map object’s length in the y-direction (i.e., up-down direction). Note: This value is applicable only for square and rectangular location map objects, and that are parallel and perpendicular to the warehouse walls.
Level	Yes	The location’s storing level.
Corners	Yes–For non-location objects and locations with no Xlength and Ylength	The coordinates of the object’s corners; the rest of the columns onward can be used for specifying a corner’s coordinates. This is applicable for non-location map objects and location map objects that are not parallel nor perpendicular to the warehouse walls.

To upload the .csv file, follow these steps:

1. From the ‘Edit’ tab, on the upper-right corner, click ‘+Import’. The Import Map Objects form appears.

2. Fill in the fields, including Measurement Unit, Map File (CSV), and Map Dimensions.

Field	What You Enter…
Measurement Unit	The measurement unit used to define the real-world dimensions of the warehouse.
Map File (CSV)	The CSV file.
Map Dimensions	The X and Y coordinates of the ‘Bottom Left Corner’ and the ‘Top Right Corner’.

Note

The units of the map’s corners must respect the selected ‘Measurement Unit’.

3. Click ‘Import’.

Tip

To make any changes to the map and or to the automated properties’ values, you can export your map, make the desired changes, and then re-import it. To do so, click ‘Export’, make the changes, and redo the steps of importing the file.

Optional: Designing and Overlaying the Warehouse Layout

You can follow this procedure if you want to overlay the map with the warehouse’s layout. You can design the layout with elements like doors, supporting poles, rooms (e.g., break room, office), areas (e.g., staging, packaging, loading, unloading, etc.). By overlaying the map with the warehouse layout, you can see where map objects are in relation to these elements.

Designing the Warehouse Layout

1. From the map’s interaction tools, hover over the layers icon.

2. Under Active Layers, select ‘Warehouse’.

3. Design the layout using the map editing toolbar of the Map Editor.

Overlaying the Warehouse Layout

When you’re in another layer, you can overlay the map with the Warehouse layer. To do so, hover over the layers icon and then, under Overlay Layers, select ‘Warehouse’.

Copying Warehouse Maps

If you need to create a new warehouse map that is similar to an existing one, you can copy the original map and modify it to save time.

Steps:

1. From the Rebus menu, go to Admin Tools > Widgets > Warehouse Maps Creator.

2. From the Maps panel on the left, select the map that you want to copy.

3. If it’s an active map (indicated by a green circle), in the upper right, click ‘Deactivate’.

4. In the upper right, click ‘Copy’. The Duplicate Map form appears.

5. Enter the Map Name.

6. Click ‘Save’.

Result:

The new warehouse map is created based on the existing map. All configurations, map drawings, and property values from the original map are copied to the new map, except for the name.

Modifying Map Information

You can modify your map’s basic information like map name, background image, and preview settings.

Steps:

1. From the Rebus menu, go to Admin Tools > Widgets > Warehouse Maps Creator.

2. From the Maps panel on the left, select the map that you want to modify.

3. To change the map name, type directly in the ‘Map Name’ field.

4. To upload a new background image, click Browse in the ‘Map Image’ field and select the image you want to use.

5. To view the map preview, click ‘Preview Map’.

6. Click ‘Save’.