Plot GIS Map

[Anonymous]

I have a printing/plotting question from a GIS communications network map.  Clients want to plot a large ARCH E map for their wall of this network map.  The issue is the network map isn't legible because of the geographical accuracy. Traditionally clients will redraw in AutoCAD so they can print the same size map and read it when printed.  For example, instead of the width of a street being 50 feet, they will redraw it as 500 or 1000 feet depending on size of the map.  I'm looking to see if their is a solution out there that will automatically adjust/scale the map so it is legible.  This would include the other network elements on the map and not just the streets.  Thank you for any information you can provide.

[ChicagoLooper]

Depending on what you are trying to achieve on your final output, you can try SCALE RANGES.

A scale range will create a certain behavior at one scale and a different behavior at another scale. In this example, the two scale ranges are shown in image 1 and 2. The ranges are 0 to 10000 and 10000 to infinity. At the first range, the road line work will be red while at the second range it will be green. A label will be displayed at the first range and no label  at the second.

In image 3 and 4, you can see the behavior when zooming in or out (simple mouse scrolling was used to zoom) on the line work at a range closer than 10000 the line work is red and the Street label is displayed. When zoomed out beyond 10000, the lines are green and no labels are shown.

1-Scale range 0-10000, Red with Label.2-Scale range 10000 -Infinity, Green without Label.3-Zoomed in scale <10000, Red with Label.4-Zoomed out scale >10000, Green without Label.

If your Network map is small scale (zoomed out) then you will likely have lots of feature objects and you may wish not to display any labels. If you make zoomed in versions, such as map tiles, then you will likely have enough 'free space' to label without overlapping text.

You can see in the Map Task Pane the line will change color and be consistent with your Range Style. Make sure your Style Ranges are consistent with your viewport scales, otherwise your VP may not display your labels. Scale ranges are totally under your control, you may have two or more scale ranges, different line colors, different line types and labels or no labels.  

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the idea.  I’ll give this a shot in the morning and let you know how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the idea.  I gave it a try.  It appears that I am able to style lines, but I also need to style points with scale ranges and I don't see a way to do that.  I've read the help files and tried a number of times without success.  I'm also afraid that this won't allow me to move items so they are visible at the full size of the map when printed.  I will just be able to adjust the size of the text, point, etc. and there will be a lot of overlaps.  Thoughts?

[ChicagoLooper]

If you can apply Scale Ranges to your LINES, then use the same concept and apply them to your POINTS. (To create more than 1 range, use the duplicate button for a second range, then edit or overwrite the 'From' and 'To' values.)Once you have successfully applied scale ranges to your points, you can create labels for one range, both ranges or choose no labels at all.

Try this:

1-Scale range for points, 0-12000, orange.2-Scale range for points, 12000-Infinity, blue3-Feature Label for Orange pnts, 0-12000.