Creating map labels by combining two columns

When creating a label layer for a map, you may want to display a label combining multiple columns or expressions. For example, you may want to label each Postcode Sector with its ID and Town name.

To add a label layer:

• Open a map template

• From the Data panel, right-click on your schema (in this example we will use Postcode Districts) and select Add Map Layer | Add Layer…

• Name the layer appropriately

• Change the Layer Type to Label

• Click on the Select… button next to Label Expression

• Delete the current expression from the Expression box at the top of the window

• Search the tables to find the first column you want to use as the label, and double click on it. This will paste it in the Expression box at the top of the window (here Area Name)

• Next we want to add the joining/linking expression:

• InSite uses the ampersand (&) symbol as the joining character, known as Concatenation.

• Typically this is combined with any text you would like to add between or in addition to columns’ text, often this is a space, dash, colon or comma for grammatical purposes but is not limited to these options, and could be a title or other string.

For this example, we will add the string:

& ‘, ‘ &

which will add a comma between the first and second column. The apostrophes denote string/text.

Note: Concatenation only works with expressions of the same data type. If trying to join an integer with a text string, you will need to convert the integer to a string using the Convert() function.

• Find the next column you want to use in the label, and double click to paste it into the expression box

• Click OK then select Create

The labels will appear on the map. In this example, a label will look something like

W 12, SHEPHERDS BUSH