Halo use background color

Question

As you see on the attached image, I labeled contour lines on the map (in meter). Which function will allow the "halo" to take the background color of the map? On the image, the halo is greenish which diminish the look of the map. I use ArcMAP 10.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You can only set the Halo Background color manually. If you know what the background should be, then set it manually to that particular color.

Here is how you can set the halo for a label.

In addition, If you have Maplex, you can use the contour placement algorithm.

Answer 2

It's possible but not dynamic.

I export labels to annotaions, buffer the annotations a little bit then use the resulting polygon feature class to mask the contour lines. Turn visibility of the buffer features class off and the line below the annotation will be masked so it doesn't matter what the backround is. (see example of on of my maps below)

Other solutions that I've seen break the line and remove a small portion of the elevation contour just below the annotation.

Answer 3

This issue is described in detail on the ESRI Mapping Center "Ask a Cartographer" question: "Labeling contours", which starts out:

The best solution would probably be variable-depth masking, unless you have a background that is only one color. If you do have a single color background, you can use a halo effect on the text – make the halo the same color as the background.

Answer 4

Yeah, the problem with that situation is that your halo will occupy varying colorspace. The above user is correct for the actual mechanism, however. Are you using any other application for post processing like AI or Photoshop? Unfortunately, I know of no way to have a transparent halo in arcgis....that would be cool though.