Book Image

Mapping with ArcGIS Pro

By : Amy Rock, Ryan Malhoski
Book Image

Mapping with ArcGIS Pro

By: Amy Rock, Ryan Malhoski

Overview of this book

ArcGIS Pro is a geographic information system for working with maps and geographic information. This book will help you create visually stunning maps that increase the legibility of the stories being mapped and introduce visual and design concepts into a traditionally scientific, data-driven process. The book begins by outlining the steps of gathering data from authoritative sources and lays out the workflow of creating a great map. Once the plan is in place you will learn how to organize the Contents Pane in ArcGIS Pro and identify the steps involved in streamlining the production process. Then you will learn Cartographic Design techniques using ArcGIS Pro's feature set to organize the page structure and create a custom set of color swatches. You will be then exposed to the techniques required to ensure your data is clear and legible no matter the size or scale of your map. The later chapters will help you understand the various projection systems, trade-offs between them, and the proper applications of them to make sure your maps are accurate and visually appealing. Finally, you will be introduced to the ArcGIS Online ecosystem and how ArcGIS Pro can utilize it within the application. You will learn Smart Mapping, a new feature of ArcGIS Online that will help you to make maps that are visually stunning and useful. By the end of this book, you will feel more confident in making appropriate cartographic decisions.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
Index

Working in the Map View


Map View allows us to compose maps individually. As we have just seen, the information viewable in the map view is controlled by the Contents pane. We can set visibility and stack layers, as well as update layer names to legend-friendly labels.

Symbolizing layers

For this map, we want the state boundaries to serve as outlines for the counties, so if it's not already on top, bring the State Outline layer to the top of the Drawing Order.

Beneath each of the map layers in the Contents pane is the legend for that layer. At this point, each layer has only a single symbol:

  1. Click once on the colored box for State Outline in the Contents pane to reveal the Symbology pane. The Symbology pane is where you set the display characteristics of map features:

Figure 2.10: The Symbology pane, and Gallery and Properties tabs

We want to see both the state boundaries and the counties, so let's change the properties of the States symbol to display just the outline. Switch to Properties on this...