topic Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same) in Geoprocessing Questions

Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:59:30 GMT

Hi -

I'm about as green as green can be when it comes to model building but it's time for me to dive in.

For my first project I have maybe 50 shapefiles that I would like to assign a value field and specific color ramp to however I have little idea where to begin. The shapefiles are submarket boundaries for various markets in the US.

I see that there is an apply symbology tool however I suspect that it will take whatever "value field" field and values are in my "symbology layer" and use them however there are no duplicates in values. It's ok to use the same field but the values are all different for the different shapefiles.

I thought that I'd create a tool that applied my default symbology selections to a shapefile and then would run that tool in a batch mode.

My confusion is reflected in the confusion of the request 🙂

Looking forward to any help and guidance you all can give me.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:58:02 GMT

Could you provide some more details about how the symbology layer is made and saved and what you see wrong, perhaps with some screenshots? Are you working on vector features or rasters? Or you can share your data, so that we can have a look.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:08:22 GMT

Could you provide some more details about how the symbology layer is made and saved and what you see wrong, perhaps with some screenshots? Are you working on vector features or rasters? Or you can share your data, so that we can have a look.

Hi Dan -

So the symbology layer is just one of the market layers that I've set up the way I want. The two main items are:

1) It's a Category type symbology
2) The Value Field is the field "Submarket" which is the same field name but not the same values in each shapefile.
3) The Color Ramp is "Dark Glazes"

I am working with vectors - polygons.

In order to share files I put the shapefile files in a zip and then attach to post, right? I will go ahead and make samples of two of the submarket files and show one with symbology and one as is.

Thanks!

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:33:59 GMT

Thanks for providing more details and preparing a sample data.

Yes, you can just attach a zip file to the post.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:05:06 GMT

Dan - sorry for not posting today. Off doing other work and was having a problem making a packaged layer file (i made one but can't find it anywhere on the computer 😞 ). I realized that you'd need packaged layer with one of the shapefiles to see the symbolism I was trying to duplicate.

I will post tomorrow.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:13:10 GMT

No problem. Take your time.

You can try the package, but you don't have to. All I need is the symbology layer, the source data used to create the symbology layer, and the data you are trying to apply the symbology to.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:09:19 GMT

Thanks for providing more details and preparing a sample data.

Yes, you can just attach a zip file to the post.

Hi -

There are two packaged layer files in the attached zip file.

One, subset_ABQ, has the symbology that I would like to use (remembering that field submarket will have different values in each different shapefile) and the second, subset_AVL, is another file to be processed that has default symbology.

Thank you for your help.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:46:30 GMT

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for providing the sample data. I tried the following:

Added the \v10\0000subset_AVL.lyr to ArcMap.
Ran the Apply Symbology From Layer tool (Data Management toolbox - Layers and Table Views toolset in ArcGIS 10 SP3):
Input Layer is the subset_AVL
Symbology Layer is the \ABQ_sym\0000subset_ABQ_sym.lyr.

The subset_AVL layer was symbolized, showing the 7 unique values from SUBMARKET field; none of them were in the symbology layer. The symbol colors were unique and the labels were shown correctly. Please see attachment.

Did you not get what I get? What ArcGIS version are you using?

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:53:24 GMT

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for providing the sample data. I tried the following:

Added the \v10\0000subset_AVL.lyr to ArcMap.
Ran the Apply Symbology From Layer tool (Data Management toolbox - Layers and Table Views toolset in ArcGIS 10 SP3):
Input Layer is the subset_AVL
Symbology Layer is the \ABQ_sym\0000subset_ABQ_sym.lyr.

The subset_AVL layer was symbolized, showing the 7 unique values from SUBMARKET field; none of them were in the symbology layer. The symbol colors were unique and the labels were shown correctly. Please see attachment.

Did you not get what I get? What ArcGIS version are you using?

OK - I have to apologize profusely for wasting your time and say thank you for taking the time to show me something basic.

I'm trying to learn how to make a model to do this in a batch and I made the assumption that the "apply" symbology tool would work like the "import" symbology option in the feature symbology tab. I thought they were essentially the same thing which is why I got flustered.

Now I have to figure out how to make the "input layer" into a parameter and then make this a tool so that I can do a batch.

I got sidetracked with not understanding the tool - and now can move onto the model which I really have no idea where to start.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:26:58 GMT

No problem. You can start from here:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Setting_symbology_using_a_layer_file/002w00000049000000/

Good luck!

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:51:56 GMT

Dan -

Yeah, I've been to that page and done the tutorial :). I sort of have a model basically using the apply symbology tool but when I try to use it as a batch I get error 000735 input layer:value is required although it would seem that the layers are there. I will play around some more. I'm also surprised that there is no "output" location for my batch shapes.

Do you have any other resources to recommend? I'm really not getting this very quickly - the tutorial didn't do much for me.

Thanks.

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

JenniferMinnick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:20:20 GMT

Another "duh" moment. Input and output layer are the same.

Next phase is I have close to 300/400 of these...any way to do something to have them batched automatically via a model or (ick) python.

As in apply this (very simple) model (really just a tool) to everything in this folder?

Re: Applying Symbology in a model (values not the same)

DanLee — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:26:15 GMT

I am glad that you now understand how Apply Symbology From Layer works.

Your next question is not completely clear to me. I suggest that you take some time to prepare a new post with detailed description and if possible some screenshots of your model and parameter settings. Someone might be alble to help you. Thanks.