Unlock your map-making potential with the latest updates to ArcGIS Pro 3.1

October 4, 2023

Maggie Samson

With the updates to ArcGIS Pro 3.1, we have more control over layouts than ever before. Join me as I use these tools to create a map of Bon Echo Provincial Park.

As the summer season slowly fades and cooler days approach, I've seized every opportunity to embrace the remaining sunny weekends with camping adventures. While exploring Ontario's parks, I was inspired to create a personalized map of a cherished childhood campsite – Bon Echo Provincial Park. Thanks to the latest enhancements in ArcGIS Pro 3.1, I can craft a map that perfectly suits my vision.

Feature Drawing Order

I have begun working on a map of the park, highlighting the camp area along with various points of interest and individual campsites. However, I encountered a notable issue – while labels for different camp areas are visible, the corresponding polygons fail to appear on the map; they seem to be rendering beneath the Bon Echo Camp polygon.

A map showing Bon Echo provinical park. Yellow boxes highlight three areas where labels are showing for different campsite areas but the polygons outlining those areas are not showing on the map.

The labels for the different campsite areas are visible on the map but the polygons are being drawn under another polygon from that same feature.

While addressing this challenge could have been a time-consuming task in the past, the updates to ArcGIS Pro 3.1 bring a swift solution. This software release includes the innovative 'Symbol Layer Drawing Order' feature, which allows users to adjust the default symbol drawing order on maps effortlessly. To implement this, I select the campsite areas layer within my table of contents and access the symbology pane. Within the symbology settings, I navigate to the 'Advanced Symbology Options' section.

A screenshot of a the symbology propetries pane highlighing the icon that opens the Advanced Symbology settings.

The setting for feature drawing order can be found in the advanced symbology options.

Within the advanced symbology options, I find the 'Feature Drawing Order' section, allowing me to specify a field that dictates how the polygons are displayed. I configure the order based on the area names, ensuring that the highest name appears on top. In this context, 'highest' refers to the area with the last name alphabetically, such as Sawmill Bay, while Bon Echo occupies the bottom layer. As a result, all the areas now appear clearly on the map.

Screen recording showing the advanced symbology settings, expand the feature drawing order option, and reordering the feature by name so that all polygons are visible on the map.

Changing the feature drawing order to sort the polygons by name brings the hidden features to the top.

Disperse Markers

Now that the polygons are displayed as intended, a new challenge has emerged in my map. Many of the points of interest I've added to the map overlap, causing visual clutter or hiding important features.

A screenshot of a map with a point feature selected. The attrible table is opened for that layer showing that there are four points in that location selected despite only one being visible on the map.

Four points of interest are drawn atop one another, allowing only one to be visible on the map.

Fortunately, ArcGIS Pro 3.1 offers a solution through its cartography tools. 'Disperse Markers,' found in the cartography toolbox, identifies overlapping or closely positioned points of interest and arranges them in a dispersal pattern. This tool provides a choice of ten patterns for dispersing point markers, including two new options introduced in ArcGIS Pro 3.1: 'Row' and 'Column.'

Points clustered within a specified distance are dispersed in the pattern selected.

However, it's crucial to set a map reference scale, before utilizing this tool. Establishing a reference scale ensures that symbols and text maintain the desired size in both height and width as you zoom in and out of the map, preventing distortion. Without a reference scale, symbols and text sizes remain constant, regardless of the zoom level. I've set my reference scale to 1:3000 and am now prepared to disperse my markers into rows, with a minimum spacing of 1 meter, by executing the tool.
A video showing highlighted points in a map being moved next to one another in a single row using the Dispers Markers geoprocessing tool.

Dispersing the overlapping points into rows allows for them all to be visible in the map area.

Scale-based Labeling

With all the key features now visible, I'm nearly satisfied with my map. However, one aspect that leaves room for improvement is the labelling. While the labels are easily readable when zoomed in, some become too small to discern as I zoom out, particularly the lake names:

A map of Bon Echo proincial park campgrounds. In the top right of the map is Upper Mazinaw Lake but the label is difficult to read due to the small font size.

The labels for the lakes appear difficult to read at this scale, however are easily read when zoomed into the map.

Once again, ArcGIS Pro 3.1 offers a solution through the introduction of a new setting in the label options – 'scale-based label sizing.' This feature grants you precise control over label visibility and placement on a map by specifying the map scales at which labels should appear or disappear. It ensures that labels are appropriately sized and positioned as you zoom in or out. In the label properties of the Lakes feature, within the 'Appearance' section, I activated 'scale-based label sizing.' I defined four scale levels on the map at 1:1000, 1:10,000, 1:100,000, and 1:100,000,000, gradually increasing the font size from an initial 12 pt to 72 pt, resolving all legibility concerns.

A screen recording showing the advanced label properties pane in ArcGIS Pro. Scale based labeling is applied to the lake feature and the font size is increased from 12 pt at lowest level to 72 pt at the largest level.

Applying scale-based labels allows the name of the lakes to be legible as the zoom level is changed

Duplicate Layouts

Now that all my map features and labels are in place, my layout is set, and I'm ready to bring my creation to life in print.

A layout of Bon Echo Provincial Park Campgrounds showing the camp area with site numbers and amenities on the right, an inset map of the entire provincial park area highlighting the campsite on the bottom left, and the legend on the top left.

Completed layout with an ANSI D page size

I initially configured the layout to match the ANSI D size page, creating a sizable poster for my wall. However, I also want a smaller copy of the map that I can print and carry with me on my upcoming camping trips. In the past, altering the page size might have entailed reconstructing the entire layout. Thankfully, ArcGIS Pro 3.1 introduces an efficient solution – the ability to duplicate and resize layouts. This feature, conveniently accessible through the layout ribbon, enables the creation of a new version of a layout at a different size, all without affecting the original layout.

A screenshot of the Layout ribbon in ArcGIS Pro with a yellow box highlighting the "Page Setup" tools.

The duplicate and resize layout options are found in the page setup section of the layout ribbon.

Using the duplicate layout option, I can select the new page size of Letter and instantly generate my new layout. Within moments, I have a copy of my layout at a considerably different size, with all elements, including text and map frames, automatically resized and maintaining their relative positions. Only minor adjustments, such as the legend to accommodate text within text boxes, were necessary, taking just a few minutes compared to the time-consuming process of rebuilding the entire layout.

A screen recording showing the duplicate layout tool being used in ArcGIS Pro changing the layout from a large ANSI D poster to a letter size. The new layout is produced instantly andsome minor adjustments are made to the size of the legend items so they can fit on the decreased page size.

In only a few seconds, a new copy of a resized layout is created with all the existing elements.

With the enhancements introduced in ArcGIS Pro 3.1, we gain the ability to elevate our layouts, crafting them precisely to our specifications with ease.

To see more of the features that are new to ArcGIS Pro 3.1, check out the recording of our webinar Esri Canada Summer School: Intro to ArcGIS Pro 3.1. This webinar will show you these layout tools and several other features to help with your GIS projects.