topic Re: Label in polygon center in Mapping Questions

Label in polygon center

MattBull — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:55:57 GMT

I'm working with a township grid, and I want to label each polygonin the grid in the center and only in the center, regardless of how much of the polygon is visible in the data frame. I'm sure there is a simple way of doing it with the labelling properties, but I can't figure out how to do it. All the maps I've made have small portions of a township visible along the edge of the data frame and ArcMap labels that small portion. It doesn't look very good and doesn't conform to the mapping standards I'm currently working with.

Anyone have any ideas of how to do this?

Re: Label in polygon center

JonMorris — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:21:11 GMT

Hi Matthew,

You need to use the 'Fixed position within polygon' option (assuming you are not placing curved labels - it is only available for horizontal or straight). Set the center zone to priority 1, and all other zones to zero. Then labels will only place if the center of the polygon is within the visible extent. As you are labeling grid squares, this should work ok - the label will go unplaced if the geometric center of the polygon is outside the polygon bounds (e.g. Florida).

Re: Label in polygon center

MattBull — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:43:28 GMT

Excellent Jon, that worked perfectly. I knew there had to be an easy way to do it, seems I didn't dig quite deep enough in the labelling properties.

Thanks!

Re: Label in polygon center

JonMorris — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:17:31 GMT

No problem. Don't forget to mark the post as answered if you are happy 🙂

Re: Label in polygon center

DanAskers — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 20:38:46 GMT

FYI - this is the correct answer but it does only work as long as there is no rotation angle set on the data frame. As soon as anything other than 0 is set then the settings seem to be over-ridden.

Re: Label in polygon center

SamuelTroth — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:48:08 GMT

Hey Dan, just wondering if you could add further explanation of the issue you're seeing? In my testing the label remains in the centre of the polygon regardless of the data frame rotation angle.