Indexing Capability for ArcGIS 10 Mapbooks (data driven pages)

[RegisDognin]

I am hoping to be able to use Data Driven Pages in ArcGIS 10 to create mapbooks.  I have used (30-day trial) software from MapLogic called "Layout Manager" (one time intial cost $1200 - my City cannot pay).  It is the industry leader for the moment.  One strong capability of that software is indexing.  Lets say you create a "Fire District Map" showing the city's roads, streets, hydrant locations, and more.  THERE MUST BE AN INDEX FOR EVERY MAPBOOK (if desired).  The index software figures out for every segment of road or streets which pages of the mapbook contain these streets.  Long Hill Ave may appear on 6 different pages.  It must list those pages.  Constitution Boulevard will also appear an many pages.  The index will tell you which pages to look for that Boulevard.  Huntington Circle will be on one page only.  The index confirms which page.  The index is usually located as a separate section at the end of the mapbook.  The user should have options as to how the index is formated (font, font size, comma delimited page numbers, 1-2-3 column formating, in alphabetical order with option for a break and large capital letter between each alphabet group, page numbering, and so forth.

A fireman going to a fire needs to quickly see which page(s) of the mapbook he needs to turn to to get to the fire and find the hydrant location.  It may be a matter of life or death.  An INDEXING CAPABILITY is VERY IMPORTANT!

[To my knowledge, ArcGIS 10 does not have this capability yet.]  I have been asking ESRI about this.

[BryanTownsend]

at our organization, the map book with index is a 'must have' for first responders and 911 communicators.  we rely on a local map book shop to produce this product for us, this gets expensive and we don't get to add certain information to their map.  We also found an arcgis extension that works, but is awkward to import the results back into the arcgis desktop layout.  

We would very much like for the the arcgis 10 mapbook to include this indexing capability so that we have one seamless solution as we make products for our public safety coworkers.

[ScottJackson4]

When I first heard about DDP i was excited and was hoping that the ability to create a street index would be included. Unfortunately it is not, but I agree that this would be wonderful. In our Fire map books we inlcude street indexes where we list the street names as well as the address ranges for those displayed on each page. Ex: 500-900 Green St.............7A. The current way that we have been doing this has been very labor intensive as well as tedious and of course with some errors. We support 2 different Fire Departments so this would tremendously help us. Public safety is very important so we need to make sure that we can give them correct information and valuable tools. 

[GurunathanGanesarethinam]

Hi,

You can take a look at the sample arc py script from link below that can help you create index pages for your map book. This sample combines the use of Data Driven Pages, arcpy.mapping, and a 3rd party PDF design toolkit called ReportLab all together to create a final map book product with index pages

http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=FBE3D235-1422-2418-8820-E071E...

Guru G

[LisaMcAleer]

The latest & greatest Arc10, and we still have to rely on Identity, Frequency, and ACCESS reports........

[ChrisMathers]

 I wrote a script to make indexes but it requires an MXD with four text boxes in the layout. If arcpy could create a new mxd and add text box objects to it than it could be completely stand alone. Unlike the one already linked to it does not need a third party pdf library. All libraries are standard python and arcpy..

http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/21619-Data-Driven-Pages-Index-Code

[ChrisFox]

Thank you for all the comments and votes on this idea. We appreciate and understand the importance of this idea to many people's workflows. Unfortunately this functionality is not planned for the next release of ArcGIS Desktop but with your continued support for this idea may be considered for a future release. Until that time I would encourage everyone looking for this functionality to use the arcpy.Mapping Map Book with Index Pages sample discussed in earlier comments or the recent code sample provided by @clm42.

[MelissaJohnson]

This is a MUST for Map Book users.  I am going to have to go to another computer with 9.3.1 on it to create an index for a project I am working on.  I will try out the Python scripts if I have time.  This is a HUGE limitation of Data Driven Pages.  I hope ESRI will include a simple way to add an index in the future!

[CarlRoss]

www.mainstreetgis.com . $50.00 plugin for ArcMap. Indexes anything you want, with 4 choices of output.  If these guys can do it this good, why cant ESRI? I bought it and quit fighting with all this unnecessary python coding. Love it!

[ChadSpratt]

As far as I can tell, index grids are useless except for making map books. It does't do me any good to put a grid on a map if I can't use it in conjunction with an index to find things on the map.

[ChadSpratt]

The idea jstreeb mentioned is actually implemented. Create a grid (Grid Index Features tool), do a one to one spatial join, and under properties for the PageName field set the Merge Rule to "Join" and put something like ", " for the Delimiter. Then just export the table and you have an index you can work with.

Too bad you can't do spatial joins with the grids that are built into the dataframes. Still, not too bad of a process.