Unable To Create Labels In 3.5 Desktop

tharpcoop01

Just installed ArcGIS Pro Desktop version 3.5 and finding the learning curve extremely steep. I've been searching thru the online documents and videos, however, they either leave out critical details or are for older versions that don't match the screens I see in 3.5. I created a new map project and placed 3 locations on the map using WG 84 lat/long coordinates. I want to add labels to each of the locations. My locations are in a feature layer called Locations. According to what I've found here and elsewhere online, I should click the layer and then I should see a Feature Layer tab set with a Labeling tab but I'm not seeing that anywhere in the ribbon. I'm sure I've missed something or skipped a step somewhere but I'm not able to determine what it is. Any suggestions?

Thank you.

SteveCole

I would just right click on the layer in the Table of Contents and select Labelling Properties from the menu. That's where you define your labels and their symbology. Once that's set, right click on it again and then click the option located immediately above Labelling Properties (Label). That will actually toggle the labels on and off.

The context sensitive Ribbon is one of the biggest gripes about Pro (for me at least).

tharpcoop01

Hi Steve -

Right clicking on the layer doesn't give any Labeling Properties either. I suspect it may have something to do with the information in Brendan's reply. Thank you for the suggestion, however. That may indeed come in handy when I get the layering thing figured out.

BrendanNewell

Hi @tharpcoop01, from the screenshot it looks like you are working with a graphics layer. So when you select this layer you do not receive the labeling tab as expected rather you see a graphics and graphics layer tab. the tabs you are referring to will appear when the source data is a feature class. Depending on the type of data you select you will receive a different tabs in your top ribbon.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/mapping/layer-properties/graphics-layers.htm

try converting your graphics to a feature class

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/conversion/graphics-to-features.htm

tharpcoop01

Thans for the links Brendan, that would seem to explain what I'm seeing (or not seeing 😉). Unfortunately, the link for converting graphics to features doesn't seem to contain any actual steps for completing that operation. There's a link hanging off that page referencing "Work with graphic elements in a map" that also seems to lack the detailed steps I need to convert the graphics layer to a feature set. I suspect I'll just have to start over on this project but not til after I've checked out the video link Robert provided below. Thank you for the information though, I think you hit the nail on the head as to why I'm not seeing the ribbon options I'm looking for.

SteveCole

Unlike Arcmap which had the Graphics to Features command in the Graphics Toolbar, in Pro you need to use the Toolbox to accomplish this. Go to the Analysis Ribbon and click on Tools to open the toolbox. In the search bar, just type "graphics" and Graphics to Feature should be one of the results. Click it, select the graphics layer in the dropdown and then add the remaining parameters.

Robert_LeClair

Another item to consider is as you're new to ArcGIS Pro, I highly recommend taking this free web couse "Get Started with ArcGIS Pro" from the Learn ArcGIS website. It's about 45 minutes long and there is a section in there that teaches you how to label features. Give it a try!

tharpcoop01

Thank you Robert, I'll check out that vid. Hopefully it's got a bit more detail that the online docs I've looked at.

tharpcoop01

For reference, I found the YT video below which mostly described what I'm trying to accomplish for this particular project - adding a set of XY coordinates from a file. Although it references an older version of Pro, it got me in the ballpark and I was able to get my coordinates onto a map and created/edit labels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bpxTpGQcSg

The ultimate goal is to do some drive time/distance analysis from each of the location coordinates. I was able to get this done using the ArcGIS map native to PowerBI but it's limited to only 45 minute drive times and 60 mile drive distances.

However, we only have the Creator license and it appears I'll need a Business Analyst add-on license to do that - unless anyone knows a way to do basic drive time/distance analysis without that. It's always something, ain't it? 😁 Anyway, thank you all for your help, it definitely provided valuable info and got me pointed in the right direction.

Robert_LeClair

To my knowledge, without the Network Analyst, there are not too many options to conduct advanced network analysis. You could simplify that analysis with buffers to calculate distances for service areas. There are likely open souce tools using QGIS or pgRouting as well.