Creating symbol with size and color based on two variables in ArcMap?

Question

In ArcMap 10.2, I have a layer that has two attributes: depth and magnitude.

Depth should be represented by color: deeper points being lighter and shallower being darker.

Magnitude represented by symbol's size: points with a higher magnitude have a bigger symbol and points with a lower magnitude have a smaller one.

How do i do that?

So, many people has told me to use "multiple attributes" in the symbology dialog. I wish i could upload a screenshot but my firewall seems to have the image service blocked. Let's try with words.

1. "Multiple attributes" offer these input boxes: "value fields" and "variation by".
2. in "value fields" i select "depth" and "magnitude"
3. in "variation by" we have two buttons: "color ramp" and "symbol size"
4. in "color ramp" i choose "depth"
5. i open "symbol size". There, "depth" is selected. I change it to be "magnitude".
6. open "color ramp" again. No longer "depth" is selected. Now "magnitude" is.

Basically, whenever i select something on "symbol size" or "color ramp", the same selection is duplicated on the other button.

Answer 1

I am also having the same problem and there is an official answer at How To: Symbolize points based on multiple attribute values in ArcMap.

In short, in the 'value fields' choose only ONE variable, in the 'variation by-symbol size' choose another variable

Full procedure:

1. In Table Of Contents, right-click the layer and click Properties.

2. In the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Symbology tab. On the left side (the Show: box), click Multiple Attributes.

3. In the Value Fields section, select the field containing the attribute to base the color symbology on. Leave the other two fields blank.

4. Click the Add All Values button at the bottom and uncheck .

5. Click the Symbol Size button. The Draw quantities using symbol size to show relative values dialog box is displayed.

6. Select the Value field and set it to the field that has quantities. Leave the Normalization as none. Click OK.

Answer 2

Go into the symbology tab and select multiple attributes.

From the main screen you can select the colours for your depth (click the drop down menu and select your depth attribute).

If you look in the top right of the same window, you'll see a symbol size menu from which you can select the symbol size scale based on your magnitude attribute.

Using multiple attributes feature for symbology in ArcMap? has some useful information for you to go on, the answer from sgrieve should help you along.

If you have many depth values, you may want to group them before adding them in as you'll end up with too many unique values to plot in a legend

Answer 3

In multiple attributes and quantity by category, add Depth as the first input in Value Fields. Do not place Magnitude as the second. Instead, click Variation by Symbol Size and input magnitude there. This should give all depths with varying gradients and the size of the circles only representing magnitude.

Answer 4

Symbolize based on "Quantity", using "Graduated colors". Choose your symbol, color ramp and ranges for depth. Under "Advanced", select "size". Use the calculator button to create an expression with your magnitude field. You may have to use a multiplying factor to get the max symbol size correct.

Answer 5

Have you looked at the custom renderer examples, in particular the multi|bi-variate renderers:
Custom Feature Renders

They provide VB code for the bivariate render:
Bivariate Renderers

... in particular the ColorSizeBivariateRender:
ColorSizeBivariateRender.cls
It uses the core renderers to get two symbols: one for the size, one for the color. It then applies the color from the color symbol to the size symbol and uses that to render the feature.