Labeling priority

[JoshWhite]

I have kind of adopted the Local Government Data model and one of the things I am using is FacilitySitePoint for labelling.  Using the template General Purpose map it works great at the larger scales but starting at 1:72000 I start having issues with labels not appearing.  This of course is due to my maplex settings, so I what I thought I would do is set up a Label Priority field where I could tell the labelling engine which labels should actually be used at the smaller scales.  I can't figure out how to do multiple levels though.  I can get it to label based on a SQL statement for one but I can't get a second tier figured out.  I thought I would mess with the numbering until the right labels appeared at the right times, but I can't figure out an easy way to do this without having to have multiple copies of the layers in the data frame set up differently.  Is there a way to select which labels are more important than others based on a priority field?  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I set up two labelling classes Priority 1 and Priority 2.  I told them both to label.  Trouble is there is no way to tell the engine that Priority 1 should take precedence over Priority 2.  I tried changing the feature weight and that had no affect, I'm assuming because it is the same feature class.

I'm using the SQL statement to select what is in the class: "LabelPriority" = '1' and "LabelPriority" <> '1'  I've also tried to use "LabelPriority" = '2' but that didn't change anything.  I have in the feature class a field called LabelPriority where I enter 1 or 2 or leave it null.

In one case I had a feature with 2 and it labelled over another label with priority 1.

[JoshWhite]

This issue was fixed by using the Local Government Basemap Templates along with Attribute Assistant.  Definition queries were used based on the shape area and this has been resolved using that method.  Still leaves some to be desired as size doesn't necessarily dictate importance of labelling but in general, it works for my needs.

[JonMorris]

Hi Josh,

Label priorities are used when deciding which of two conflicting labels to delete - the label with lower priority will be deleted. Unfortunately, there are many other reasons for a label not to be placed. It may be too large for the feature, there could be conflict with other features, etc.

You could also try Never Remove on the 'Priority 1' label class, although you may get some overlapping labels. They should all be placed, though.