Using fixed extent for Data Driven Pages (GUI or ArcPy)

[MatthewBaker2]

All,

I see in the documentation that the fixed extent of a data frame is ignored when using DDP.

Is there a way to enforce a fixed extent using the GUI or ArcPy?

We'd like to plot students and schools at a fixed extent of the City limits.

Thanks!

-m

[JohnSobetzer]

Since I don't know what you are doing, I'll give you a couple of links.

If you want to show the same extent and turn layers on or off, or show different attributes of the same layer this link might give you guidance: http://www.faculty.sfasu.edu/zhangy2/download/Using%20ArcPy%20to%20Automate%20Making%20Thematic.pdf

Here's another link with python showing one how to make a thematic map.  It is part way down, and while it does include zooming to a location before turning layers off and on, that zoom section could be dropped.  http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2010/12/14/combining-data-driven-pages-with-python-and-arcpy-mappi...

A simple DDP approach to using the same extent is to have the index layer consist of multiple polygons that are spatial matches of each other, as in creating one and then copying and pasting in others.