Arc GIS 10 and Map Book DS

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07-14-2010 11:25 AM
DarenTatham
New Contributor
The company I work for is possibly upgrading the version of ArcGIS from 9.3 to 10.  I have a few tools that I use on a daily basis for my map generation.  One of which is MapBook DS, which I use to create map books.  If I upgrade this systems' ArcGIS will the mapbook grids be compatible with the built-in mapabook generation tool?  Would that tool also create the mapbook pages in a similar graphical format?  I am really accustomed to using this tool to create our mapbooks and would like to continue using it if possible.

Thanks for the help

Daren Tatham

GIS Analyst
Environmental Resource Solutions Inc.
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20 Replies
GaryBarden
New Contributor III
ArcGIS 10 has a tool bar named Data Driven pages, that allows you to produce maps similar to the functionality in the Map Book.
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JohnSobetzer
Frequent Contributor
I was lucky enough to be able to install 10 on my second computer for testing since mapbooks (and the zoom and export to georeferenced tifs tool) are so important for my work.  The DDP has some wonderful capabilities and is similar to mapbook in many ways, I've also found some limits including: 1. you lose the map series tab which I found to be very useful for moving between pages to see how they look or as a super bookmark, and for exporting single maps, 2. you lose the ability to tag a text box with a field attribute using 1-2 clicks, instead you have to insert one of the default provided dynamic texts, then open it up, then edit the html tag to point to the field you do want, and then save that all of which requires many clicks and switching to the keyboard and back, and if you make a mistake repeating it, and 3. I think you lose the option to suppress tiles and as noted in 1 to easily select only certain maps for export in a series, in favor of using a selection but selection queries require quite a few clicks and switches to the keyboard and back.  I would add it cannot export to a georeferenced tif which mapbook never did but the zoom and export tool could for Views.  If you convert an existing mapbook you will of course lose your map series and tags, and if you had chosen the clip with cross hatch option you will have to manually select one of the hatched areas and delete it.  On the plus side there are some wonderful additions.  I do have two enhancement requests in to add something like the map series tab (NIM059032) and the export to tif (NIM059031, I hope it includes georeferencing within it) but they didn't give me one for tagging text.
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NickNolte
New Contributor II
So, is there a way, with the new Data Driven Pages to:


  1. Hatch outside the tile

  2. Double click on a particular page to bring it up without scrolling through them all

  3. Label neighboring tiles that are not in a rectangular grid

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NickNolte
New Contributor II
Well I figured out how to emulate the hatch outside the tile.

This assumes your layers are transparent to the page, i.e. the layers I load are all linework, so there are no polyfills.  Below all my layers I have two additional layers, one that is a white fill with no outline, and one beneath that with the hatch.  You can then clip the white fill layer to the data driven layer using the new Clip Option in the Data Frame Properties window to "Clip to current data driven page extent"

This clips just the white background layer to your current tile and lays it over the hatch layer giving the illusion that the hatch is cut around the tile.
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TimSpivey
Occasional Contributor III

1. you lose the map series tab which I found to be very useful for moving between pages to see how they look or as a super bookmark, and for exporting single maps,

3. I think you lose the option to suppress tiles and as noted in 1 to easily select only certain maps for export in a series, in favor of using a selection but selection queries require quite a few clicks and switches to the keyboard and back.  I would add it cannot export to a georeferenced tif which mapbook never did but the zoom and export tool could for Views.  If you convert an existing mapbook you will of course lose your map series and tags


John - have you found any work-around for issues 1 & 3? To me, they are core issues. In fact, I may not upgrade to 10 if it means having to re-create all my 9.3.1 mxds that contain DSMapbook sets. The tools in 10 may be great for NEW work, but ...........

Regards
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JohnSobetzer
Frequent Contributor
The suggested workaround for the missing map series is for your brain to remember what each map's name is, and then you can type it in that little window to get the page to display.  I don't like having to remember each page name, and I don't like having to switch to the keyboard.

As for suppressing pages, in addition to the clumsy query process, if your brain can remember what page numbers you want or don't want, you can type them in at the export page dialog box, as you could in mapbook.  Eg. 1-7,9-12.  I suppose you could use the snippet tool to clip an image of your map series and save it for future reference.

I had hoped I could use my index layer's table as a kind of map series by resizing it to approximate the old tab after limiting the fields it would display.  It kind of works.  You can right click on a record and pan or zoom; you can select records for printing with a mouse, etc.

But if you are using a clip or page definition query or dynamic text, however, the pages don't update so it's useless in that situation.  While you can use it to select pages for export that doesn't suppress pages on a persistent basis and it gets messed up with other tables that you may want to open.  (If you haven't seen how ArcGIS 10 displays tables you are in for a surprise.  If you resize your index table to tall and narrow to use as a map series tab of sorts, then all the other tables open in that same window with only a tab to switch between them.  I don't think I like this approach in general and it kind of screws up this workaround.)

I have no workaround for the loss of exporting georeferenced tifs in batch.

For all these reasons, there will have to be a 9.3.1 install here to run mapbooks and the zoom/export tool.  But then I still use 3x for some things.  Keep those old computers running.

I wish you better luck.
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CarlGordon
New Contributor
Does anyone know how to override the automatic rotation in a strip map???

Accordin to ESRI Help, "In order to keep within cartographic conventions, these angles are calculated to keep North oriented toward the top of the page as much as possible. Angles are calculated against the default orientation of a map where 0 degrees is due North, 90 degrees is due East, 180 degrees is due South and -90 degrees is due West. " While I completely understand why this is done, I find it to be a complete P.I.T.A. when dealing with a winding corridor.

I've been changing the field value in the attribute table to correct this but when creating a map book for 20 miles of raod at 1:1200, it becomes very tedious.

Thanks!
Carl
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BrianGraves
New Contributor
Is there a way to change an item (e.g., a text element) on a single page of the series without having that change propagate across the whole series?
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JimDahl
Occasional Contributor
...1. you lose the map series tab..., 2. you lose the ability to tag a text box with a field attribute using 1-2 clicks, instead you have to insert one of the default provided dynamic texts, then open it up, then edit the html tag to point to the field you do want, and then save that all of which requires many clicks and switching to the keyboard and back, and if you make a mistake repeating it, and...


This sounds like someone who shares my thoughts and frustrations.  I surely miss the map series tab for very quick export selection, so let me know if there is a good way.  Also trying to edit the html tag to a field in the table but it doesn't work.  How do you do it?

jim
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