Dynamic Map Frames Grid - Rotation, gridlines, labels

Question

Hi all - I am using the dynamic Measured Grid option for a map layout. I used to use these all the time in ArcMap, but the one for Pro seems to be very glitchy and has terrible options.

(1) The main issue: my data frame has a rotation on it, so our site appears square and centre; the grid lines on the Layout Grid do not rotate with the data frame nor is there even an option to do this. The labels then also look awful - the angle means some easting labels crowd into the northing space and they are just a mess.

Measured Grid:
(2a) The arcade expression box is empty, so no label will show some of the time - but I can't even add any text into it, it won't let me. If i remove the grid, then re-do it, I seem to be able to set the text? I tried an expression to show the last 3 digits but it just won't work.
(2b) the labels will not display if I offset them to inside the map frame - how else can i print these if they are off the page?!

Custom Grid:
(3a) I can create a custom grid which has the correct alignment, but then I cannot add Gridlines, only Ticks. This seems an oversight? I need lines.
(3b) I also cannot adjust the increments at all. What is the point?? I thought I could try 2 custom grids - 1 with a 5m primary line, then a second with 1m increments, but it is not adjustable when tied to a layer.

We normally draw our grids out as a shapefile, but I thought this might be a quicker elegant solution. I seem to be wrong. Any tips for creating a sensible, usable, Measured Grid for Layout are welcome. I think if i could just rotate the thing, then the rest would be less of an issue.

CustomGrid5m.jpg

MeasuredGrid.jpg

RobinLatour · Answer

Thank you Aubri - the arcade expression box I mean is what is noted in the Format section for labels. There is space to write in an expression, which the help link says is arcade. I tried and tried and nothing worked, but - as you say - i think it was Pro being funny, because after your reply, I reopened my file and there was an expression in there and it works now. 
So now I can get labels I like, but I am disappointed the grid cannot use the data frame rotation - seems an oversight to me. Without the data frame rotation, these grids are effectively useless for me, which is a shame. I can at least export the grid to a feature class, and work with it from there, but it's a little limited there too.

MeasuredGrid_label.jpg

Aubri Otis · Answer

Hello,

I'm sorry grids are causing so much trouble! Maybe I can offer some help and clarifications.

1) Measured grids simply report the projected coordinates as is, so if there is a rotation in the map then they reflect that because the XY coordinate lines are rotated. A custom coordinate system might be helpful here if the rotation shouldn't be shown.

As for the labels, that is a common issue. ArcGIS Pro is able to better calculate and display the correct labels than ArcMap, which often means more labels appear on the grid. There is a solution to getting those pesky easting/northing labels to not appear on the opposite sides though! You can set directional labels to appear only on certain grid edges. Learn how here

2) I'm not sure what you mean by Arcade expression box? Measured grids don't support Arcade expressions. They do support grid formatting tags which use a different syntax than Arcade. Maybe that's why the expression you had didn't work? There are examples of grid formatting tags here, including some that only show part of the coordinate. Regardless, boxes enabling and disabling randomly should not be happening. That sounds like it could be a bug, or maybe just a case of Pro being in a weird state temporarily. A restart of Pro, and maybe even your machine, may fix that problem.

Labels should draw inside your map frame if you use a negative offset. However, Pro has a pretty robust label drawing conflict mechanism. So if two or more labels are going to overlap when being drawn then one or both of the labels gets dropped. When you have labels inside the map, it's easier for labels to overlap, especially at the corners. You can try adjusting the offset, label interval, or label size to see more labels.

3) Custom grids are powerful and I'm glad you are finding ways to use them! They work differently than other grid types though. Custom grids are feature driven. They don't have gridlines, because the feature layer acts as the gridline. If custom grids added gridlines they would be in conflict with the layer symbology on the map, so instead only the layer symbology is used. Similarly, you can't adjust the intervals because they are feature driven. Labels and ticks can only be drawn where the feature intersects the map frame edge. You can create custom grids using features without any numeric fields, so there can't be any intervals. Does that make sense? You can learn more about custom grids here.

Again, I'm sorry grids are creating so many problems in your workflows. Hopefully some of the information here helps things go a little more smoothly.