spmap error: __POL.dta could not be opened

[Steve Cicala]

I'm getting a strange message using spmap on Stata14 (Mac) (strange because it does not seem to be a problem across computers (no issue on Stata14 Unix)). I'm looking to overlay a boundary map on top of a colored map. The base works fine with the command:

spmap load using "$gis/FERC/pca99_shapefile_coord", id(stataid) clnumber(30) fcolor(Reds2) ocolor(none ..)

But the following returns an error on one of my machines:

spmap load using "$gis/FERC/pca99_shapefile_coord", id(stataid) clnumber(30) fcolor(Reds2) ocolor(none ..) polygon(data("$gis/FERC/pca99_mkt_date_shapefile_coord") ocolor(black))

I get the error: __POL.dta could not be opened.

I see an earlier question about this error was due to mis-naming a file. I don't think that's the case, because I can draw the boundary file on its own without a problem:

spmap using "$gis/FERC/pca99_mkt_date_shapefile_coord", id(stataid)

[Robert Picard]

The spmap command saves the following permanent files in the current directory to perform intermediary steps instead of using standard Stata temporary files:

"__POL.dta"
"__LIN.dta"
"__POI.dta"
"__DIA.dta"
"__ARR.dta"
"__LAB.dta"

Make sure that you have read/write permissions for Stata's current directory. Use pwd to find out the name of the current directory. See help cd on how to change it.

[Steve Cicala]

Perfect, that did the trick. Thanks!