Changing the size and color of selected sides of a polygon

[JoeD]

Hey:

I am creating a map of an island and I need to symbolize the island by district. I would like to change the size of the district boundaries between the districts, but I do not want to change the size of the boundary at the edge of the island (where the island meets the sea).

For example, I want the symbology of three sides of a polygon to be different than the fourth.

Is this possible?

Cheers.

[JosephCarter]

Dissolve the boundaries, symbolize the dissolved polygon and place on top of the district layer . . . .

[JoeD]

I have tried this but, I still have to cover the border from the district layer and, thus, keep the dissolved layer's border the same size. This makes me lose detail at the island's natural boundaries.

Doing a dissolve and overlaying the polygon, in my experience, only works for political (straight) boundary lines and for changing color - not size.

I would like to change the size of the boundary lines touching the ocean but not the ones touching land. Sorry if I wasn't specific enough before.

Thanks for the response though.

[DanPatterson_Retired · Accepted solution]

You will have to create different features.  I would be best to convert the polygon boundaries to polylines and split them up to form lines that can be symbolized separately.  Attempts to force polygon boundaries to behave in a certain fashion is difficult when you can simply do lines and overlay

[JoeD]

Worked perfectly.

Note: the tool is called 'polygon to line(Data Management)'.

I just did a select and create layer from selection after this to get the boundary lines as a separate layer.

[JosephCarter]

Try this. You can draw the interior district boundaries with the “Drawing” Draw a graphic line tool. Draw each district’s interior boarders separately and symbolize. Now select each one (one at a time), use the “Convert graphics to Features” under the Drawing dropdown. You now have the choice of converting the graphic to a shapefile or feature class. This is low-tech, but it should get your project completed as you described. . .