7

I have a series of maps that require me to rotate my data frame within my layout screen (north "rarely" points up in these maps). I ONLY want to show east coordinates on the top/bottom and ONLY north coordinates on the sides (see image below). How do I do this? I would expect to see such an option when I go inside of properties menu under "grids", but I'm not having any luck. I'm using ArcView 10. Can anyone help? If I haven't articulated what I'm trying to accomplish very well, feel free to edit my question. Thanks in advance

enter image description here

Improve this question
3
  • @ everyone - the only means I've found to get past this problem is to convert my grid to a graphic, select & ungroup it, and then to manually delete the tics & coordinates I want removed. NOT very efficient!! A better suggestion would be much appreciated.
    – Dano
    Jan 25 '12 at 21:18
  • any chance you do not have service pack 3 for arcgis10 installed? I had similar grid issues and once service pack 3 was installed it seemed to correct it.
    – sirgeo
    Jan 26 '12 at 21:02
  • No .... I have SP2. If ESRI has rolled out SP3 I imagine we'll be updating our software very soon though. I've just been converting to a graphic & deleting the UTM coordinates I want removed. There should be an option to only display X on the X-axis & Y on the Y-axis. It could see it being confusing to the average "non-GIS savvy" map reader (even though it's quite clear to us GIS-folk).
    – Dano
    Jan 27 '12 at 16:53
4

I don't think a new release or service pack will resolve the issue, though you could always add it to ideas.arcgis.com and see what happens. Perhaps an alternative approach might work for you though: Add two grids, one with north-south only lines/labels and the other with east-west only and make each in a different style/font/colour.

This will address the concern of reader confusion without having to take data away (because a different sort of confusion arises when one traces a line to the neatline and there is no corresponding number).

close up of grids and labels intersecting neatline, each axis in a different colour

Caution: I crashed arcmap a couple of times by entering 0 into the axis interval field during the initial grid creation when using the wizard. No troubles editing the number to 0 afterwards though.

Improve this answer
2
  • +1 Matt - A feasible solution, and we actually discussed a similar approach at one point. There are no grid lines on these maps (far too busy with information) but we did discuss the possibility of using 2 different text colours as a means of differentating the Eastings from the Northings. I suspect (judging by the lack of feedback on my question) that this is the closest I'm going to get to the answer I wanted. That said, I've awarded this one to you. Cheers
    – Dano
    Feb 7 '12 at 15:40
  • @Dano, glad to help! I lean towards different styling (typeface/bold/italic) than differing colours, so as to keep more colour choices available for map items. I used colours in the graphic to exaggerate the point.
    – matt wilkie
    Feb 9 '12 at 5:21

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.