E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 1 CONTENTS Microsoft Silverlight 2 Why Use Microsoft Silverlight? 2 Which Version of Silverlight do I have? 2 Microsoft Silverlight Troubleshooting 5 Silverlight Installation can be Corrupted 5 Silverlight plug-in has been Disabled 7 Lockout due to ActiveX (Install Silverlight Message) 8 Pop-up Blocker 9 Windows Internet Explorer 10 Mozilla Firefox 11 Google Chrome 11 Other Pop-up Blocker Options 12 Additional Resources 13 Talk to a Person 13 Report an Issue 13 E-Mapping Help 14 Mac Users 14
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 2 MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT Why Use Microsoft Silverlight What are the benefits? Microsoft Silverlight is a powerful tool for creating and delivering rich Internet applications and media experiences on the Web. (www.microsoft.com) Benefits: Silverlight helps provide a universal cross browser experience. Different browsers often interpret JavaScript differently, resulting in inconsistent user experiences. Silverlight helps reduce these differences so all users see the same things and can access the same information It is a safer environment than JavaScript. Silverlight operates in a sandbox and has little chance of harming a computer; it is much easier to write malicious JavaScript however It is easier to maintain than a traditional website It provides a rich, engaging interface Silverlight saves the County and the Taxpayers money The maintenance issues and safer environment listed above are a large part of this It costs nothing for users to install Which Version of Silverlight do I have? If it is your first time accessing E-mapping, the site will direct you to the current version for download. E- mapping will also prompt you to download a newer version of Silverlight if yours happens to be too out of date. Should you ever want to know the version you currently have, simply follow the steps below: For Microsoft Windows users 1) Click on the Start Menu and then All Programs
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 3 2) Scroll through the list of programs to find Microsoft Silverlight Now you have 2 options: You can either - a) Start the program by using your mouse to left-click on Microsoft Silverlight (furthest to the right) and then viewing the version
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 4 b) Another option is to use your mouse to right-click on Microsoft Silverlight (furthest to the right) selecting Properties and then viewing the Target or Start in boxes under the following pop-ups Shortcut tab
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 5 MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT TROUBLESHOOTING Silverlight Installation can be corrupted 1) Go to your computers Control Panel (if you are using a PC this is accessed through your Start Menu) 2) Select Add or Remove Programs 3) Scroll down until you find the Microsoft Silverlight highlight and select Remove
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 6 4) Go to Microsoft s webpage and download the latest version available. http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/get-started/install/default.aspx 5) Follow the Installation Instructions applicable to your browser - Instructions for Windows Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox users can be found on this webpage as well. 6) Remember to refresh any web page you are on (i.e. E-mapping) for these changes to take effect.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 7 Silverlight plugin has been disabled 1) Check to see that your plugin (aka add-on, aka extension) has not been disabled. a) If you are using WINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER go to Tools Manage Add-ons Enable or Disable add-ons b) Locate Microsoft Silverlight on the Manage Add-ons popup. If Silverlight is Disabled, simply navigate to Settings at the bottom of this popup and choose Enable and hit OK.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 8 a) MOZILLA FIREFOX is similar to Windows Internet Explorer (shown above). Go to Tools Add-ons Enable or Disable add-ons from the resulting popup. a) GOOGLE CHROME plugins can be accessed via simply opening your Chrome browser and typing in the following command chrome://extensions b) Similarly, you can also go to Tools Extensions c) The add-ons installed should be displayed. Lockout due to ActiveX (Install Silverlight Message) If you installed Microsoft Silverlight by following the directions above everything should run smoothly - In rare cases, some people have reported that they are being denied access to E-mapping (locked out) by an Install Silverlight message, even though they know they already have the current version installed. Often an additional box under your web browsers Tool menu (ActiveX Filtering) may have inadvertently been checked. What is ActiveX? ActiveX is a software component of Microsoft Windows. If you have Internet Explorer, then ActiveX is already installed on your computer. ActiveX controls are small programs, sometimes called add-ons that are used on the Internet. They can enhance your browsing experience by allowing animation or they can help with tasks such as installing security update (www/microsoft.com) ActiveX Filtering puts you even more firmly in control of the ActiveX controls running in your browser. When ActiveX Filtering is enabled, you can choose which websites you want to allow to run ActiveX controls. Sites you have not approved cannot run these controls, and the browser will not show prominent notifications prompting you to install or enable them. (http://ie.microsoft.com)
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 9 If you are using WINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER (instructions may be slightly different according to IE version installed) ActiveX Filtering may have been turned on by going to Tools Safety ActiveX Filtering. If you look at your address bar you should see an icon indicating that ActiveX controls are being filtered If you visit a webpage containing content you would like to view, such as E-mapping, you can easily turn off the filtering for that webpage by clicking the ActiveX icon in your browser and then selecting Turn off ActiveX Filtering (Images courtesy of http://ie.microsoft.com) POP-UP BLOCKER Pop-up Blocker may disrupt supplemental E-mapping links/attachments Many aspects of E-mapping work fine with a web browsers pop-up blocker turned on. If you are new to the E-mapping site, or have not used any of the advanced features, you may not notice anything amiss. It won t be until you try to download a Survey, Subdivision Plat, or connect to another website hosted outside of E-mapping that you get an error message Once you set your browser settings to allow popups you should be able to view all E-mapping has to offer without being sent back to the main page.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 10 If a pop-up is blocked you will get an error message similar to the one shown below: 1) If you are using WINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER (example above) a) Start by Closing the Information Bar. It is a matter of personal preference but if you don t want to see this warning again simply check the box for Don t show this message again and then Close. b) Next, use your mouse to click (right or left mouse buttons both work) on the yellow banner underneath your tab that says Pop-up blocked from here select Temporarily Allow Popups if you only want to avoid these messages for the active web session, or Always Allow Pop-ups from This Site to avoid having to do this all over again the next time you log on.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 11 c) The final step is simply confirming your decision by selecting Yes 2) If you are using MOZILLA FIREFOX a) As with Windows Internet Explorer you will notice a yellow banner underneath your tab showing that Firefox prevented a pop-up window. b) Rather than clicking on the banner itself, you will need to select the button for Options embedded in this warning. c) From here select Allow pop-ups for maps.bouldercounty.org 3) If you are using GOOGLE CHROME a) As with Windows Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox you will get an icon showing a popup was blocked. Unlike the other browsers, this warning is not always as evident but can be seen by a red X adjacent to your bookmarks.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 12 b) Select Always allow pop-ups from maps.bouldercounty.org Other Pop-up Blocker Options Note: The steps above demonstrate the most common approach to turning off pop-up blockers for a specific site. This example involves Windows Internet Explorer but other web browsers are typically very similar * You can also pre-empt any of these warning by simply going to Tools Pop-up Blocker Pop-up Blocker Settings and then typing in the name of the trusted website into the Addresses to Allow
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 13 *the exception is Google Chrome in which you will need to go into Settings Show advanced settings (at the bottom of the page) Content Settings under Privacy scroll down to Pop-ups and Manage exceptions ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Talk to a Person Nothing can be as frustrating as trying to muddle through help documentation when all you want to do is view our public data - If you find yourself reading this documentation and hitting a roadblock, or you would simply prefer to have someone walk you through your troubleshooting issue, please feel free to call our front desk at 303-441-3530 for assistance. If they can t answer your question they may forward you to our on-call GIS department, many of whom are familiar with the issues listed above. Should they be stumped, you can at least rest assured that your issues will be given to one of our county IT developers. Report an Issue If you are within E-mapping itself and applications are not working as they should (i.e. images distorted, tabular data simply not populating, reports not running or links to outside vendors not responsive) feel free to Report an Issue via the Icon shown. For those individuals who can t access E-mapping in the first place, don t fret The same issues can be reported by talking to our on-call GIS department as listed above.
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 14 E-mapping Help If your issue is not technical in nature and you simply want to know how to navigate E-mapping, the following help documentation can give you a quick tutorial. This document covers Navigation, Printing, setting up Bookmarks, Property Assessment, Taxes, Public Lands, Zoning, Plats, Measuring properties, setting up Buffers, Latitude/Longitude and much more. It can be located on our main web page (www.bouldercountyassessor.org) under Property Information & Mapping: Should you have already accessed E-mapping this same documentation can also be found under the following icon in the upper-right hand corner of the screen: Mac Users We realize many Boulder County residents are Mac lovers. Please know that our IT developers have made every effort to make sure both PC and Mac users have the same E-mapping experience. Even as recently as the end of 2012, our office had an additional E-mapping URL to accommodate some of the more troublesome issues Mac users were encountering on E-mappings traditional website. As of this date, many of these issues have been resolved and all Macs should work seamlessly on E-mapping. With that said, please be aware that all county employees are issued PCs and may be slightly behind some of the latest Mac developments and compatibility issues. Installing Silverlight Remember that on Mac, software installation is password protected. This means that after downloading a new piece of software, you have to manually tell your Mac to install the software, and then provide your password to reassure it that it's really you making this request. To do so: Look in your Downloads folder (at the same level as your Documents folder) for the Silverlight dmg file. Double-click that file to start the download process. Follow the instructions, and provide your
E-Mapping Troubleshooting - page 15 administrator's password when requested. When you're done, there may still be a Silverlight disk image showing on your desktop. Click on the file icon, and then "Eject" it, as if it were a DVD or thumb drive. Processor compatibility Older Macs (pre-2005 or so), using the PowerPC processor, are not capable of running Silverlight. An Intel processor is required. Check under the Apple menu in "About this Mac" to find out what kind of processor your Mac has. If E-mapping is still not working with your Mac, please feel free to Talk to a Person or Report an Issue as listed above. Apple tech support may also provide some insight: http://www.apple.com/support/ Google (http://www.google.com) is also a good source of information. Search for: Macintosh Silverlight installation