Same legend scale accross data frames

6526
3
01-28-2012 08:14 AM
BeatrizMogollon
New Contributor
Hi,

I have 12 data frames representing a IDW interpolation of rainfall, one for each month.  I want to show the differences in mm of rain between the different years using the same color ramp scale.  For example, a very rainy month can be 50-130 mm of rain, but then another month can be very dry going from 0-10mm of rain.  With the same color ramp, I want to account for this variety.  As I have it now, I have the same "blue" representing either 130mm or 10mm of rain, and 50mm or 0 mm represented by red.  I want for 130mm to be represented in blue, and 0mm to be represented in red, and have 10mm and 50mm be somewhat in the middle.

I'm attaching a screen shot of the maps I've created in case this helps explain what I've mentioned above.

thanks
0 Kudos
3 Replies
EricKrause
Esri Regular Contributor
Are those images of rasters or geostatistical layers?

Either way, you can right-click the layer and choose "Properties" then go to the Symbology tab.  You can manually set the classification range in this tab.  Once you get one of the layers how you want, you can import the Symbology to other layers.  To do this, again, open Properties on a second layer and go to the Symbology tab.  There will be an Import button where you can carry over the symbology from the first layer.  Do this for all 12 layers.

The interface is a little different for rasters and geostatistical layers, but the idea is the same: manually set the symbology on one layer, then import that symbology to all the other layers.

If you have any difficulties, let me know and I'll try to help.

Also, you might find this blog helpful; it explains the difference between a raster and a geostatistical layer:
http://blogs.esri.com/dev/blogs/geoprocessing/archive/2008/09/29/understanding-geostatistical-analys...
0 Kudos
BeatrizMogollon
New Contributor
Hi Eric,

I  have imported symbology before, but this doesn't seem to help because there is no layer that has all the range of values (e.g. minimum is 0, and maximum is 130), and the color ramp doesn't seem to change either when I import the symbology of another layer with a different scale.  So for example, the range of a year with low rainfall might range from 0-5mm, and in a color ramp that goes from yellow (low) to red (high), it shows the 5mm as red, when it should actually be yellow - given that the symbology imported had a high value of 130.

Any other ideas?
thanks
0 Kudos
EricKrause
Esri Regular Contributor
You'll have to set up a classified manual renderer on the first layer.  You can specify the break points between colors. 

On the Symbology tab, click "Classified" on the left, then click the "Classify..." button.  Decide how many classes you want, then set the classification method to Manual.  You can then manually change the Break Values on the right to define the intervals.  Click OK.  You can then change the color ramp, or define your own colors for each classification interval.

Once you get all this manually set up on one raster, import the symbology to the rest.
0 Kudos