Annotation size problem

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05-30-2011 03:59 AM
MladenSimic1
New Contributor II
Hi everybody.

I've got a problem with the size of annotation in my mxd document. I've created annotation feature class with the reference scale set at 1:5000 and the size of annotation set at 7 mm. Map units are meters.

When I measure annotation size in mxd document, the size is 25m. It is not correct since it should be 7mm x 5000 = 35m, according to predefined parameters. Also, when I measure the size of annotation when I print the map in scale 1:5000, the size is 5mm. Any suggestion?

Thanks in advance.
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3 Replies
StefanSemm
New Contributor
Hey everyone,

i am new in this forum and i need help with a possibly similar problem. I have to visualize multiple utility networks. The pipes and cables have defind line width, for example 2pt. When I zoom in and out, i realize that the line width vary. When zooming out, the lines become thicker than when i zoom in. I attached two screenshots, which shows the problem. I assume, that arcgis may have an engine, which tries to generalize during zoomig. If so, can i disable it? Could somebody help me? Thanks Semmi
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MladenSimic1
New Contributor II
@semmi

Your problem is probably related to reference scale. You need to specify reference scale for your data, or your lines will appear with the width relative to your screen.

Regarding my question, annotation size depends on the font I choose. From the ArcGIS Help:

When displaying text, the actual height of a text character will vary from font to font


It seems a bit odd for me, but...
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MladenSimic1
New Contributor II
@Cartographer, thank you for your response.

I completely understand Esri's logic behind the font size, but I can't applaud it. Of course there are letters of different size, but what happens when I choose font size of 7 mm? The thing that happens is that there is no single letter with the height of 7 mm in my text. So we can't talk about font size, precisely it is only the measure of the space reserved for text in Esri's annotation engine. The only solution that sounds reasonable to me is that the font size should be the size of capital letters. The other letters are smaller and can be fit in specified size. But, that is only my opinion.

This is the only thing that causes my problems. I didn't say that the size of my text is 25 millimeters. I said 25 meters. That's when I measure the size of the capital letters in my map document (data view) using ArcMap "measure distance" tool. I specified annotation text height of 7 millimeters, font is Arial, reference scale is set to 1:5000. So, when I measure the text in the map document, the text height should be 7mm x 5000 = 35 meters, not 25 meters!

When I print the map in the scale of 1:5000 and measure the height of capital letters on a paper using a ruler, the size is 5mm, not 7mm as I specified.

So, in the end, I understand where is this coming from, and the only solution for me is to try with different text size over and over again until I get 35 meters size of capital letters in my map document, e.g. 7 millimeters on printed map.

I forgot to say that when I choose different font, I get different results. That fact backs up Esri's explanation concerning the way the text size is determined.

Thank you again,

Regards,

Mladen
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