Custom scalebar units in ArcMap

Question

Is it possible to create a scalebar in ArcMap that shows distances in custom units? I understand how to do this manually, but it would be great if I could define a custom unit of measurement (let's say "1 swimming pool") and use that to dynamically generate a scalebar.

Answer 1

You could do it by defining your own projection;

1. Copy your current projection file
2. Open the copied file
3. Under Linear Unit select custom
4. Enter the number of metres per unit (eg, 10m for a pool)
5. Save this projection
6. Change the projection of your data frame to this new projection
7. Add your scale bar to the layout - it will have Unknown Units, but you should be able to change that in the scale bar properties - and the length will be there

Answer 2

There is no way to do this using the default scale bars that I am aware of.

However, you could create a new point layer, add the number of points you want to measure in a row, use symbology to scale them according to a field which you will set to the size of swimming pool.