Overlapping layers

[DanneaDixon]

I am having trouble with getting the symbols from each of my layers to not overlap.

I have a set of coordinates and each layer on my map represents a chemical element, for example, I have calcium, chlorine, and oxygen, levels for each coordinate on my map. When I turn on each layer, the symbols overlap because the coordinates are the same for each layer. I tried the disperse marker tool, but that only works if all of the symbols are on one layer.

Is there a way to prevent the symbols from overlapping, without having to move all the symbols to one layer?

[Zeke]

The coordinates are points, then? Have you looked at Placement Properties, where you can set the preferred orientation for each layer? E.g. Calcium above the point, Chlorine below, etc. Or there's always Annotation or Maplex.

[DanneaDixon]

Yes, the coordinates are points. I'm new to ArcGIS and the only placement properties I see are for representations. Are there placement properties for layers?

[DanneaDixon]

I'm using ArcGIS 9.3 by the way.