Symbolizing two categories with different colors and graduated colors

Question

Beginner user. I'm trying to symbolize a layer using different colors, then also use graduated colors in ArcGIS Desktop.

I have two fields for point lightning data. One field is whether the lightning was cloud-to-ground (G) or cloud-to-cloud (C). The other field is the time it struck. I want cloud or ground to be different colors, then use graduated colors to demonstrate the time it struck. I have a lot of layers and I want to avoid turning them all into two different layers if I can.

Answer 1

I think that perhaps you may want to look at trying the symbology method called "Unique values, many fields" from the layer properties in ArcMap. I believe it will take some time to set this up considering all the combinations of lightning type and time intervals that you could potentially have. But, once you have your symbology set for one of these lightning point feature classes you can then use a python script to apply that symbology to all your other lightning feature classes in your current map. I have attached a screenshot of a mockup I made, and then a python script that I use to apply symbology. The trick to getting the python script to run is to have your symbology layer named "symbology" and to place all the other feature classes in a second dataframe called "df2." Second screenshot attached to hopefully illustrate how to run the python.

import arcpy
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")

df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]
df2 = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "df2")[0]
sourceLayer = arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "symbology", df)[0]

for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "", df2):
    lyr.visible = True
    lyr.transparency = 50
    arcpy.mapping.UpdateLayer(df2, lyr, sourceLayer, True)