Creating a street index for data driven pages

Discussion created by suec on Apr 11, 2011
Latest reply on Jun 28, 2019 by tgonzalez_forney

Like • Show 1 Like1
Comment • 21

I am not a programmer. I have created a map book of our county showing all the streets. Is there an easy way to create a list of the streets in each grid cell of the index for data driven pages? It used to be a choice in the old DS Mapbook tool. Will it be added back in a future release?

Outcomes

21 Replies

timothy_hales-esristaff Apr 19, 2011 6:29 AM
Hi Sue,

You might take a look at this idea that has been posted on the ArcGIS Ideas page.

Indexing Capability for ArcGIS 10 Mapbooks (data driven pages)

-Timothy
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
hogarc Jan 25, 2012 11:47 AM
I have come up with a simple solution to the dreaded Create Street Index. Just read the README to see how it works. I do hope this helps.
Attachments
- StreetIndex.zip188.5 KB
4 people found this helpful
Like • Show 3 Likes3
Actions
- mrobinson @ hogarc on Aug 11, 2015 11:13 AM
  This little toolbox is a thing of beauty. Been looking for a tool like this for years. Works in 10.3.
  I did not have the sequential value problem described such as 2,24,15,3,8. It worked fine and now I have text that I can create custom indexes without all the dissolving and joining and then editing in excel.
  Thanks so much for this. A big timesaver!
  Hope someone is working on the suggestion also mentioned to create not only the page number index but also a page internal grid such as JOHN DOE ST Page 1 C2, D2, Page 2 A2.
  
  Blessed are the programmers who make a cartographer's life easier.
  Like • Show 2 Likes2
  Actions
- tgonzalez_forney @ hogarc on Jun 28, 2019 7:22 AM
  This was PERFECT! Thank you for saving me SO MUCH TIME!
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
lissajo64 Sep 27, 2012 8:49 AM
Thanks for the great Street Index tool Scott. Just tried it and it seems to have worked like a charm!
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
kathleenmurphy Oct 19, 2012 12:39 PM
Scott, the Street Index toolbox worked great. thanks so much. Is there some reason ESRI couldn't have come up with this?
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
secant47 Nov 20, 2013 3:30 PM
Scott's model works pretty well for me with one small problem: the streets are not sequenced into ascending order in the field that is created. For instance, I have for CENTRE AVENUE pages '27, 20, 21, 14'.

I dug into this a little, and it seems that the pages are sequenced in ascending order of associated ObjectID in the Grid record - page 27 has ObjectID 18, page 20 has 24, p21 has 25, p14 has 31.

So, I have a choice from 3 options: carefully rebuild the grid so that ObjectID and Page_Number are in sync, run the indexing again; process the output to sort the page strings into ascending order; or just edit them by hand. I will probably take the latter route since I have little time and only about 250 streets in total, a lot of which lie on a single page.

Just thought I would document this experience! I would love to hear form anyone who has a workaround...

Jon Ball,
Cochrane, AB
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
Wayne_Whitley Nov 20, 2013 4:43 PM
I haven't looked at the tool, but is your page number output a string in a single field, as in '27, 20, 21, 14' (without the quotes)?
If so, you should easily be able to use the field calculator to quickly sort the values...I did not test this, but I think it would be a simple expression something like (the expression below has been edited - the 1st one posted was in error):

', '.join(sorted(!your_field_of_page_numbers!.split(', ')))

Make sure you use the Python parser. If that doesn't work, let me know -- should be a minor adjustment if necessary.

To explain how this expression works, the original string is split at the comma+space and the resulting list of string values is sorted, then converted back into the similarly formatted string as in the beginning (the elements are extracted from the list via 'join' and assembled w/ the comma+space put back in)

Hope that helps...sorry for the delay, knew the orig posted expression was not quite right but had to think about it for a bit.
If you need further help with the field calculator, see the link below for a similar type of use - you can follow the steps shown using the expression provided above (change 'your_field_of_page_numbers' to your source field that contains the unsorted page number strings).

Changing the case of text field values
Geodata » Data types » Tables
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/Changing_the_case_of_text_field_values/005s00000028000000/
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
secant47 Nov 20, 2013 9:28 PM
Thank you! I can't wait to try this tomorrow - will post regarding how I get on. I can't believe how compact this code is!
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
secant47 Nov 21, 2013 8:38 AM
Wayne - the field calculation worked very well. The one small problem was with single digit page numbers: '41, 42, 38, 31, 27, 20, 10, 5, 2, 3, 1' was sorted to '1, 10, 2, 20, 27, 3, 31, 38, 41, 42, 5'. I guess this is an 'alphanumeric sort' rather than a 'numeric sort' (not sure of the correct terminology here). The calculation has improved matters for me a the point from which I can make a very quick manual clean up.

Thank you!

Jon
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
Wayne_Whitley Nov 21, 2013 8:56 AM
ah, yes, you are correct - so this is the tweaked correction then (and you can just run the calc over what you have already, that is fine)----

', '.join(str(i) for i in (sorted(int(j) for j in (!PageNumber!.split(', ')))))

I should probably add a further explanation-

To sort 'numerically' (rather than 'alphanumerically', as you pointed out), that necessitates converting to integer the members of the list result from the 'split' operation; that is what this part below does:

int(j) for j in (!PageNumber!.split(', '))

...then the sort is applied:

sorted(int(j) for j in (!PageNumber!.split(', ')))

...then the list members must be converted back to string:

str(i) for i in (sorted(int(j) for j in (!PageNumber!.split(', '))))

Finally, the join to 're-insert' the ', ' formatting you had before:

', '.join(str(i) for i in (sorted(int(j) for j in (!PageNumber!.split(', ')))))

It particularly helps to compose an expression in this way to make sure you don't have any 'unbalanced' parenthesis - another check is that if you take out all the text in the expression, you should have a match in the number of left parens and right parens...as in the following:

(()((()(())))) ...or regrouping to 'see' this better: ((((((( ))))))) ...7 each, they balance and the Python parser is happy.

Thank you for pointing that out - and don't forget this:
The page number list members must not contain alpha characters; otherwise use the already posted expression in the previous post.

Any questions or clarifications needed, please let me know -- that was pretty interesting.

Thanks,
Wayne
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
secant47 Nov 21, 2013 9:45 AM
Wayne - it works like a charm!

Thank you for the update and for the clarification of how it works. I have a programming background in Assembly language and from that perspective it is amazing just how powerful Python can be. It would have taken me quite a while and maybe several hundred lines of code to write a routine that did what your calculation does back in those days. Now - my routine might run super-fast (especially with the help of a mainframe!), but this calculation that now combines text-parsing, multiple format conversions and sorting within a few dozen characters of code just blows my mind! You have given me great encouragement to take a step back and get much more familiar with Python...

Thank you again!

Jon
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
emlee Jan 29, 2014 9:33 AM
Hello,

Does anyone if I can generate street index pages on the Esri Street Base Map using the Python sample codes? Or I have to use my own street layer?

Thank you.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
DanN74 Mar 12, 2014 9:10 AM
I have come up with a simple solution to the dreaded Create Street Index. Just read the README to see how it works. I do hope this helps.

Scott,

This worked superbly for me. Thank you so much!
FYI-works fine on 10.2.1

Dan N.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
- pogmusic @ DanN74 on Feb 17, 2015 1:51 PM
  I am dealing with a similar issue and have found that the Spatial Join tool does what your tool does. Then you simply create a report to display the Index Table.
  
  My problem is that I need more than the page number. I need to have not only the page; but, the grid reference.
  EXAMPLE
  Facility Page/Grid
  Fire Departments 22 (A3), 31(D1), 6(G6), 8(C1)
  
  In addition, the data for the grid i.e. the columns and the rows (A2 etc,) is in the layer properties at the beginning of the Table of Contents.
  
  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  
  Lance
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
  - JohnRFix @ pogmusic on Jan 3, 2019 8:51 AM
    In regards to capturing the page and index grid on the page "Page 5, D2"... what I have done in the past is when I create my page layout (using the data driven page tools) I also create a second grid with a page size that matches the in-page grid. It take a little work to attribute that grid with a "column" value ("A" through "D" or whatever) and a "row" value (1, 2, 3...). Then I actually capture my street name text as annotation, convert to a point, and overlay my detailed grid.
    
    This gives me an index value of the actual label on the map, not just the feature itself. Indexing just the road feature is sort of "cheating" in cartography. But I admit, it's a whole lot easier to index the feature to a page, and I have done it too.
    Like • Show 0 Likes0
    Actions
gistech_darco Jan 17, 2018 7:59 AM
Thanks Scott! Works like a charm.

Cameron Brigman
Darlington County GIS Tech.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
ryan@autauga911 Feb 14, 2018 5:10 PM
This is a great tool. Although I must be missing a step somewhere in the workflow if anyone would like to comment. The problem with the output is that even though a file is created with a field that joins street names to a page grid based on the grid square number, or page number, that field is populated with only one page number. Some streets cover multiple pages. What I need is that field to contain the page numbers covered by each street, whether it be one page number or several page numbers. In the join output field properties there is a dropdown list called merge rule with several options (First, Last, Sum, Mean, Median, Mode, Count, etc) I have tried each one and none seem to create the output file with a field in the attribute table where the page number will display more than one page associated with the grid .. example. Main Street will be on pages 34, 35, 36, 37 the output file will only display 34. Even if you run mean, median, mode and then merge fields together that does not work. Also, doing that will not work for all of the features in the table where lines cover four or more pages, there would still be need for a significant amount of manual entry to correct remaining records, kind of would defeat the purpose of the tool. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
- mrobinson @ ryan@autauga911 on Feb 15, 2018 5:19 AM
  Ryan,
  One thing to try is on the "Field Map of Join Features" on the "PageNumber" field (or whatever your particular field name is. make sure you set the output field properties. Right click on the PageNumber, select type "text" on on properties make sure you set length large enough to encompass your potential range of values. I typically use 100 and set the "Allow NULL Values" to "Yes". Set the "Merge Rule" to "Join" and I use a comma "," as the delimiter to separate the page number value results.
  I typically open the resulting dbf up in Excel and clean up a little, usually with the concatenate function and then do the actual index page layout in Powerpoint and export to PDF to insert into my mapbooks.
  
  Hope I understood your question and that this helps.
  Mike
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
  - hogarc @ mrobinson on Feb 15, 2018 6:16 AM
    Please see below..
    
    Sincerely,
    
    Scott Jackson –Dir. of Geospatial Services
    
    Heart of Georgia Altamaha RC
    
    5405 Oak Street, Eastman, GA 31023
    
    (478) 374-4771 | (478) 374-0703 fax
    
    <mailto:jackson@hogarc.org> jackson@hogarc.org
    
    <http://www.hogarc.org/> www.hogarc.org / <http://www.hogarc.org/> www.hogarcmaps.org
    Attachments
    image001.png109.7 KB
    Like • Show 0 Likes0
    Actions
ryan@autauga911 Feb 15, 2018 4:05 PM
Michael and Scott, thank you both. Scott, thank you for such a great tool. I followed the work flow and it worked perfectly! ESRI is definitely missing out not having this in toolbox. Michael, I usually run the same clean up with my indexes also in excel before placing them in adobe, great on this one though, no duplicates in the output.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions