Creating a grid for data driven pages that does not align with true north?

[PaulStephenson]

Hi All,

I would like to create a grid for a set of features. It would be a more efficient use of space (and aesthetically better) to create the grid some degrees away from true north.  The Grid Index Features tool is certainly ideal for setting up for data driven pages, but there does not seem to be an output option to serve my problem. I briefly looked through and tried changing several different environment settings, but without luck. Have I overlooked a simple solution or is this not worth the trouble?

Thanks!

pts

[MarcinGasior]

In Setup Data Driven Pages dialog window you can set Optional Field for Rotation parameter.
This is the same parameter as Rotation in dataframe properties, General tab.

To be able to use this option, first you need to create new field in your index layer and populate it with rotation angles you want for each page.

When you index line feature class, you can try Strip Map Index Features tool which creates an index that 'follows' a line.

[PaulStephenson]

Thanks for the input! I checked it out, and yes adding the field changes rotation, of whole data frame as if you would in the dataframe properties. I am interested in creating the grid based on the dataframe already being 'tilted'. I've attached two snapshots containing streets and the grid. I am looking to create a grid that aligns more with the streets orientation than north/south. I could likely create one in an area this small, but in larger-area scenarios it would be good to have this automated...

pts

[MarcinGasior · Accepted solution]

Maybe you can just rotate your index features to align with your data?
You can do it in Edit session using Rotate tool (pressing A key allows to enter specific rotation angle).

[PaulStephenson]

That is the best option yet. Once rotated however, the grid no longer intersects the features as when created (see attached). But I can easily create a new grid based on a larger area, then remove any grid 'squares' not needed.

This solves my issue of wanting the grid to align with the degrees away from north.

Thanks so much!

pts