If you work with ArcMap, you know how to turn on dynamic labels for a layer and display the value from a specified attribute field for each feature in the layer. What if you want to label each feature with more than one attribute? You can easily do this by creating a label class. Suppose you want to label a group of counties with ...

We've received the title question several times in the past few months.  While a specific answer is already on Ask a Cartographer, I thought it would be good to address some of the circumstances that cause problems or require exceptions to our response: I've got the county parcel database and I'm only supposed to label the parcels in my ...

Yesterday I got an email from a long time colleague showing me an online map and asking, “When will it be possible to do this map with ArcGIS”? The map is the interactive map of Washington DC at http://dc.everyblock.com. In particular my friend was looking at the crime map wondering how the proportional symbols showing crimes became disaggregated ...

Whether you’re labeling soils, buildings, geologic units, lakes, or parks; you’ll eventually be faced with the problem of the text for the label being larger than the polygon you’re labeling. In most cases we recommend offsetting the labels from the small polygons and using leader lines to positively associate the label with its feature. The ...

We got one of those perennial 'tough nut' questions on Ask a Cartographer today. The question has to do with using annotation versus on the fly labeling with Maplex and what are often called overflow labels, which I have also heard called ''key lists''. While we are able to recommend tips and tools for specific circumstances or implementations, ...

If you're making a map that is either a large format print map or a map that will be served via ArcGIS Server, squeezing every bit of wasted time out of drawing performance is critical.  Don't get tired of sitting there drinking extra cups of coffee watching the word ''Drawing'', all your layer names, and that little blue globe. If you're ...

So, you have just spent a few minutes deep in concentration setting up your labeling rules and applied them.  ArcMap's little globe is spinning, spinning... spinning... and nothing.  Several of your labels didn't draw. Panic and go to MappingCenter. Right? Not exactly.  There are a few things we always do when diagnosing the ...

Complex maps such as topographic maps present several significant challenges for setting up labeling rules and creating annotation.  The first challenge is that these maps typically have many layers and types of features, requiring map authors to create and manage numerous label classes. Second, these layers may have a high density of ...

Not long ago a colleague wrote me saying she had overlapping polygons that need to be clearly labeled so she'd know to which polygon each label pertains. She sent me the drawing done in PowerPoint of the desired result but wanted it as an automated solution in ArcMap. The cartographic solution is to label the polygon boundary lines using a ...