Trade flow arrows

Question

Hi,

I am trying to symbolise the volume of trade between countries. I have manually sketched them which visualy looks good but is very time consuming. I want big chunky arrows I can automatically assign (ideally based on an attribute i.e. volume of trade) rather than the thin ESRI arrows which lose quality if they are made too thick.

Thanks

JimW1 · Answer

Try the Cartographic Representation tools. I made some good looking eco-linkages arrows but not as artistic looking as you have made. I warn you that the Represention toolbar is a little tedious at best and I never did figure out how to tie anything to feature attributes.

Alternatively make them in Illustrator, export them to CAD, and then georeference the CAD drawing back into GIS. Export as shapefile/feature class and you will have vector based arrows.

Please post back if you figure out how to base these arrows on field attributes as I will soon be trying to do the same thing (different data)

WillowOuthwaite · Answer

Hey

Thanks for your advice, the trade I am dealing with is not just between bordering countries but international e.g. Sweden to Brazil, Australia to France, so I think using an arrow pointing at an importing country wouldn't give a clear enough picture. I have attached a pic of what I am trying to replicate in ArcGIS, I have made a similar one to this with my data but  I can only export it as a JPG so when I georef it, it loses quality.

Thanks!

Image from Flow Map
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dphan/code/flowmap/

ca-hi-ak-web.jpg

NilsBabel · Answer

Hi,

I am trying to symbolise the volume of trade between countries. I have manually sketched them which visualy looks good but is very time consuming. I want big chunky arrows I can automatically assign (ideally based on an attribute i.e. volume of trade) rather than the thin ESRI arrows which lose quality if they are made too thick.

Thanks

You could try using a point symbol for your trade arrow.  Place them on the border of the countries.  Select a large fancy arrow as the symbol.  Add an attribute called rotation.  Enter the azimuth that you want the arrow to point to in this attribute.  Then in the symbology choose to rotate the symbol based on an attribute.  That might give you the desired effect if you choose a big enough arrow symbol that you like.

Good luck,

Nils