Creating a map book with maps and layouts of different sizes in one mxd

Question

I'm looking for a way to create a map book containing maps of different sizes using Data Driven Pages. Differently sized index features (1, 2, 3 and 4 in the sketch) should run along a line (in this case a railway). The result should be a series of maps with different sized layouts, for example:

• page 1 (height/length): 30 cm x 50 cm / 12" x 20 "
• page 2: 30 cm x 70 cm / 12" x 28 "
• ...

If it were only two pages, I would create two mxd files, but for 40 different sized maps it would take too long.

I'm using ArcGIS Desktop Basic, Version 10.6

Answer 1

I am confident that this cannot be done using an MXD that has simply been enabled for Data Driven Pages, and I do not think that it can be done using a single MXD within an ArcPy application that has been written to emulate Data Driven Pages.

The limiting factor in both cases is that page size and orientation for the single layout of ArcMap can only be changed manually or by using ArcObjects.

Likewise, I am confident that this cannot be done using an ArcGIS Pro layout that has simply been enabled for Map Series.

However, I know that it can be done using ArcPy with ArcGIS Pro to emulate a Map Series. This is because page size (and hence orientation) is easily altered using ArcPy on an ArcGIS Pro Layout object. I have done this in a large application that I wrote to automate a geological map series where the page sizes were variable, depending on map sheet, and could be anything up to 200 inches in length (which was the plotter limitation).