Cannot see colors of short line segments

[FaithJohnson]

Hi!

We have short linear samples of roads that field crews collect information on. They edit the data using forms and update some fields - inculding a status field. The statuses are Not Assessed (red), Assessment Complete (green) and Skipped (black). We symbolize on the status field.

The problem is that the segments are so short (around 500 feet) that they all appear the same color (actually they are really hard to see) when zoomed out to an entire county.

I have been able to find lots of ways to fix the same problem in ArcMap - using round line ends, buffering the line and increasing the width of the outline. None of the solutions I come up with work in ArcPad. The lines just appear like tiny gray lines. 

We don't have this problem with the point features that we inventory. We've considered using points but the lines represent the location of the sample so we must maintain the lines.

Please give suggestions.

Thanks,
Faith

[GarethWalters]

Hi Faith,

I am just wondering if you could post the .apl and shapefiles up to have look at? I am wondering if query filters would help. It kind of sounds like the black features are being rendered on top and I wonder if changing their order in the APL/legend might do anything for you.

Cheers,

Gareth

[FaithJohnson]

Hi Gareth,

Good idea on uploading the data. It's not an issue of overlapping features though. When you zoom in close you can see the colors just fine. But we're trying to be able to look at the entire county and get a 'big picture' view of what areas are done, what areas need work. Over time the map should change from red to green because as the field crews are collecting data on each sample, they change the value of the field that is being symbolized on.

In the attached data, I've removed most of the fields and I'm symbolizing on the TierCode field, as an example. The point is to be able to view the colors of the line, even when zoomed out to 1:300,000.

This particular symbology shows the colors in ArcMap when zoomed out but not in ArcPad.

I appreciate you responding and looking into this.

Thanks,
Faith