North arrow not pointing to True North

[HeathBishop]

Hello, 

I am making a simple map of Canada using Canada Lambert Conformal Conic as the coordinate system.  I placed a north arrow on the layout and no matter where I place it it maintains the same angle.  I have even placed two north arrows on the map for comparison and in my head they should both be angled inward (see image below).  Am I overlooking something or is this a bug?  I know I can manually modify the angle but I just want to see if I am missing something here.

Thanks in advance, 

Heath

[AubriKinghorn · Accepted solution]

Hi! 

North can get a little tricky. Your map covers a lot of area, and because of the projection different locations in that area have different angles to North. There isn't a way for one north arrow to cover all the locations, so one point on the map is used. I believe it is the center point which in this map is probably somewhere near the Hudson Bay in Nunavut. So the north arrow is correct for that point, but because the area is so large it isn't correct for all other points.

Don't worry, there are several options for what to do. You can remove the north arrow altogether, replace it with a graticule, adjust the angle manually, move the center of your map. I recommend this delightful blog post by John Nelson that talks about when to use north arrows and what other options are available. https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/put-a-north-arrow-on-it/

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Aubri

[HeathBishop]

Thanks Aubri, 

The point you made stating 'one point on the map is used' to establish the angle of the North arrow, I wasn't aware of..but explains what I have been finding.  Thanks for the explanation!

Heath