Gutters - What are They Good For?

Setting gutters for ERMA layers can be useful if:

• labels are getting cut-off or duplicated, or 
• if there is long straight line that has a gap or looks discontinuous (like the fisheries closure) 

Unless you have issues with a particular layer, gutter should be left blank because gutters may:

• make the layer draw more slowly 
• cause artifacts, like striping, to show up during printing 

For those of you who have been adding gutters to every layer because that is what someone taught you during the spill, feel free to discontinue that practice and use the time you save to get yourself a snack or coffee.

Techie Details:

ERMA requests the map data in 256x256 pixel tiles. This helps to make drawing faster than drawing the whole thing at once. However, one tile has no "awareness" of the one next to it. So, if there are labels that are close to the edge of the tile, you will likely get duplicates because it will draw a label for each tile.

Another option for dealing with display artifacts may be to turn on the single tile mode. Again, this will be slower to draw than the default tiled mode, so do not use unless you're having problems with the layer.