North Arrow With True and Magnetic North

Question

Does anyone know a simple way to create a compass rose with true and magnetic north?  Just inserting a north arrow doesn't really do justice to map users.

JohnSobetzer · Answer

No simple answer but perhaps some workarounds:

See http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcwatch/0313/add-a-true-north-arrow-to-your-arcmap-page-layout.  You may need to use two north arrows to get what you want, one that rotates and one that is true north.

Another possibility you might look at is to create your own north arrow symbol showing true/grid/magnetic north for an extent and then use that in your project.  See http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/28056/how-to-make-an-emf-into-a-character-marker-symbol-north-arrow

If the precision of your declination over the extent of your project is such that you might need several different symbols to reflect the changing declination, you could create them as jpg or some other raster, and then use the Data Driven Pages to update the picture for each map as required.  See http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s900000022000000.  In addition you could put the actual declination in degrees in a text field in your index layer, add a text box below the arrow and have it dynamically update with each page.

KeithMcKinnon2 · Answer

I need a compass rose with magnetic declination to add to data driven pages that are aligned with a strip map.  I am creating trail maps for search and rescue.  The pages all have different orientations based on the trail feature class alignment.  I need a compass rose that includes magnetic declination that will update automatically for each page.  This information is crucial for orienteering in canyons and in situations where GPS is not available.  Why has this request been deferred for over 5 years despite numerous requests in the forums? http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=989&t=227449#690245

ZacharyHart · Answer

Yes, your example is what I'd like to be able to create.

Hey there, that was created with simple graphic elements.

ESRI's north arrows could stand to have a bit more variety as well.