Labeling of Geocoded Results

[DavidWang]

I used a US Street Address Locator to map 59 locations in California that are represented as small dots on a California basemap. I want to create a legend-type table that I can place on the map layout so that a person looking at the map could easily find the location of the place he/she is looking for. For example, I want a table that I can place on the layout to look something like this:

ID    Name
1     Joe's Hamburger Shop
2     In N Out
3     Tommy's
4     Fatburger
etc  etc....

I can somehow do this by opening the attribute table and using the Objectid and Name fields, but it always separates the table into two pages because there are two entries. Plus, my ultimate problem is I want to create a symbol at each location that has a circled number that corresponds to the correct ID and that will dynamically changed if the table is edited in any way. Can someone lead me in the right direction for this?

[TimHopper]

David,

1. To create your circles with the ID number inside, just use dynamic labeling.

If you don't want a point to show at all (just the number in a circle) change the fill of the point to "No Color".  You'll also have to click "Edit Symbol' and change the Outline color to No Color as well.

For the label:

(a) Go to the Labels tab of the Layer Properties > Select Label features in this layer > Choose your ID field as the Text String field.
(b) Click on the "Symbol" button > Edit Symbol > Advanced Text tab > Check on Text Background > Click on Properties
(c) Change the Type to Marker Text Background > Click on the Symbol button and select a circle of appropriate size (Circle 2 is pretty good) >  Click on Edit Symbol > Underneath 'Layers' on the bottom left, you'll see two actual pieces here, the inside and the outline of the circle.  Click on the inside layer and change the color to white.  (You could also delete the inside if you only wanted an outline)  Click OK until you get back to the Layer Properties > Labels tab.
(d) Click on Placement Properties > Place label on top of the point > Click OK > Click OK

2. For adding the table to the display:

(a) Go to the Layer Properties > Fields tab > Check OFF the visibility for all fields except ID and Store Name.
(b) Go to Layout View > Open the Attribute Table > From the dropdown in the upper left (white piece of paper) select 'Add Table to Layout'

This will add the table to the layout with only your two fields visible.

You mentioned something about separating the tables into two pages, not sure what you meant there, but if the option above for adding a table doesn't work, I'd suggest building the table you want in excel and then going to Insert Menu > Object, and adding the excel table from there.

Does this help?

[DavidWang]

rthopper,
    Wow! Thanks for all the detailed info. That's exactly what I was looking for. I don't think i would have ever been able to figure all that on my own. I do have problems though with some of the circles overlapping each other so I can't see all of them unless I zoom in really closely, but my problem with that is if I zoom in too close then only half of my viewable area will be visible when I print the map. I'm trying to get the entire state of California into a printable area where I can see all of the circles. I constantly switch between data and layout view zooming in and out and moving the picture with the arrows around in data view to see if it'll look ok in layout view. I wonder if there's a more efficient way of sizing the map to fit on the page. Another thing I don't know how to do is to crop the surrounding areas from California out of the layout or better yet to just draw California and not draw anything else which would improve speed.

[TimHopper]

David,

I'm glad to hear you're on the right track.

As far as the crowded labels are concerned, why don't you investigate converting your labels to annotation.  There are two types of annotation: map based annotation and geodatabase annotation.  Map based annotation is save directly to the mxd and is not transferable to other documents.  Geodatabase annotation resides as a feature class in a geodatabase, so you can use it in many mxd's.

When you convert labels to annotation they become static features in the map.  They no longer change location or size when zooming in and out.  Because of this, when you convert your labels to annotation you must do so at a specific reference scale, which is the scale you will be printing your map at.  The nice thing about annotation is you can manually move them around your map so they don't overlap with other labels.

Your other option would potentially be Maplex (an advanced labeling engine) which is available if you have an ArcInfo license.  Maplex provides more "rules and weights" which can be setup to prevent the overlapping of labels.

- - - - -

To limit the extent of features that draw on the map (only California, for example), you would mainly have three options.

1. Clip the data frame to the extent of a feature class.  If you have a feature class with all 50 states, you also have the option to clip to a selected feature.

2. Clip your feature class(es) permanently to obtain features which only reside within a specific area.  If you had the state of CA, you could clip highways, rivers, etc, based upon this feature.

3. Export selected features as their own feature class.  If you had a polygon feature class of the fifty states, you could select California, and export that selected feature out to its own feature class.

[DavidWang]

Hi Tim,
    First question I wanted to ask is, on my Geocoded results layer I changed the labels in the label tab under the layer properties successfully, but underneath the Geocoded Results layer in the table of contents is still the original symbol which I reduced in size to a single dot so it wouldn't be visible in the map. I'm wondering why the original symbol that's listed under the Geocoded Results layer didn't change to the label I changed to. Is it ok if it's still there?

Second, I did try annotation, but I'm having a problem where only two out of the 59 labels are showing once I convert to annotation. I have tried every reference scale imaginable and tried both in the map and geodatabase annotation, but I cannot locate the overflow annotation. When I go to draw and choose overflow annotation there is nothing in the queue.

Thirdly, tell me if I'm on the right track with the clipping. I added a California counties layer to my map and clipped to the extent of that data frame which isolated the shape of california, and then I just turned off the counties layer. If i did it by state boundaries it would include all states in the US which is obviously what I don't want. Since there was no state boundary layer only for California I used the county layer. Am I on the right track with that?

Lastly, is there any way to format the attributes table when you add table to layout? I wanted the background of the table to be white instead of transparent and maybe change the size of the columns and rows themselves.

[TimHopper]

David,

1. This is what I was referring to in my first post.

"If you don't want a point to show at all (just the number in a circle) change the fill of the point to "No Color". You'll also have to click "Edit Symbol' and change the Outline color to No Color as well."

The symbol you see under the layer in the Table of Contents is different than the label.  This is the symbol that displays the point on the map.  I had you change the location of the label in an earlier post to sit "On top of the point" so that it would fall exactly where the point was.  If you hadn't changed this option, the label would draw a short distance away from the actual feature.  If you click on the symbol in the Table of Contents it will bring up the Symbol Selector.  Click on 'Edit Symbol'.  You can change the 'Color' to 'No Color' and the 'Outline' to 'No Color'.  Then it won't be visible at all on the map.

2. I would suggest using geodatabase annotation.  When you convert, if you have unplaced annotation, you can see these via the Attribute Table.  Right-click the feature class in the TOC and open the attribute table.  In the 'Status' field you will see your Placed and Unplaced annotation.  Check out this web help article which should help you get it placed on your map.  Once it's placed you can move them around.

3. If your states layer is actually just one polygon of the whole US, you're right, there's really no way to clip to California.  However, if the states layer is actually made up of the 50 states, you can select California and then use that selected feature for clipping.

(a) Select California, either with Select by Attribute or by simply using the Interactive Select tool.
(b) Open the Data Frame Properties > Data Frame tab > Clip to Shape > Specify Shape
(c) Outline of Features > States feature class > Features: Selected

Otherwise, clipping to your CA counties works just as well.  As long as you get the result you want, doesn't really matter how you get there. 😉

4. Format the attribute table?  Not so much...

The only options you really have come via the open attribute table.  Click on the white piece of paper in the upper left > Appearance.

You can change the font, font size, font color, column header, and cell size, but that's about it.

I'd suggest doing all of your formatting in Excel and then Insert it into ArcMap as an Object.  You can export the attribute table via the same menu where you found the 'Appearance'.  Export it out to a dbf and then open it in excel.  Do all of you formatting (background colors, fonts, etc) and then save it.

(a) In ArcMap > Insert Menu > Object
(b) Create from File > Navigate to your xlsx > OK

Voila!

You're almost there!

[DavidWang]

Tim,
    I was able to convert the labels to annotation, but the only way I was able to make it work was by doing it in the map, and features in current extent. There were no unplaced annotation. When I did store annotation "in a database" option with features in current extent it would convert all the labels but I wasn't able to move them. With the other combination of options I would only see two labels and there were no labels in unplaced annotation.

When I tried to clip to the extent of the California counties layer it would clip it properly but then the map became sooooo slow even when I turned off the counties layer. Do you know why that is?

Also, I tried to add USA counties from ArcGIS online and then I get error reading package contents error message. I get this with some other layers and was wondering why I can't add certain layers from online.

[TimHopper]

David,

Perhaps you weren't editing the geodatabase annotation correctly?  You need to be in an edit session and use tools from the Topology toolbar.  You cannot edit geodatabase annotation with the Drawing tools.

Not sure why the clip to extent is slow when you turn off the visibility for your counties layer.  I would suggest clipping to the extent of a single polygon the shape of CA.  Make a dissolved copy of your counties if you don't have any other feature classes with this data.  Or, you could use the states feature class from the Data & Maps provided with ArcGIS Desktop.

In regards to the packages, what service pack of ArcGIS Desktop 10 are you using?  If you're at SP0 and the layer package was created at SP1 or later you wouldn't be able to open it.  If you don't have any service packs, I would suggest installing Service Pack 4.