Exercise 4: Labeling the streets with their names

Complexity: Beginner Data Requirement: ArcGIS Tutorial Data Setup Data Path: C:\arcgis\ArcTutor\Maplex Goal: To label the streets with their names using the Maplex Label Engine line placement parameters

The streets are currently labeled with their street names. A common problem with street labels is that there are too many labels, because each street is represented by multiple features. You'll improve the street labeling by identifying these line features as streets for the Maplex Label Engine, which will then consider all street segments of the same name to be one feature for labeling purposes. Another common issue with street labeling is that the names of streets are often longer than the street features themselves. You will apply an abbreviation dictionary to the street feature labels to shorten the placed label when necessary.

Applying the Street Placement style

Steps:

1. Click Label Manager on the Labeling toolbar to open the Label Manager dialog box.
2. Click the default label class under the Streets layer.
3. Click the Placement Style drop-down arrow and choose Street Placement.

   Selecting Street Placement makes the ESRI Maplex Label Engine merge connected features with the same label for purposes of labeling.

4. Click OK.

   The map is redrawn, and street labels are placed spread along their features.

Abbreviating the street names

Several of the street features have names that are longer than their feature and result in a stacked label. Using an abbreviation dictionary will abbreviate the label if it will help the name fit along the length of the street.

Steps:

1. On the Labeling toolbar, click Labeling > Abbreviation dictionaries to open the Abbreviation Dictionaries dialog box.
2. Click Options > Open From File. The Open Abbreviation Dictionary dialog box appears.
3. Navigate to the Streets_Dictionary.dic dictionary in the Maplex directory where you installed the tutorial data. (C:\ArcGIS\ArcTutor is the default location.)
4. Click Open.

   The dictionary opens in the Abbreviation Dictionaries dialog box.

There are three types of abbreviation dictionary entries: keywords, endings, and translations. Two of these types, keywords and endings, are only applied to words when the original string can't be placed because of space or label-to-label or label-to-feature conflicts. Translation entries are always applied to all matching words.

• Keywords can be applied to all words in a string except the last word. Use keywords to replace common words, such as Mount and International, with abbreviations such as Mt and Intl.
• Endings can be applied to only the last word of a string. Use this type of abbreviation to shorten street endings, such as Street to St, Road to Rd, and Avenue to Ave.
• Translations always apply to all words of a string. Translation entries may be useful when you translate a map into another language, when you want to remove words from a label string, or when you want all occurrences of a word to be abbreviated. Use this type of abbreviation to shorten long street names, such as Martin Luther King Boulevard to MLK Blvd.

5. Click OK.
6. Click Label Manager on the Labeling toolbar to open the Label Manager dialog box.
7. Click the default label class under the Streets layer.
8. Click Properties.
9. Click the Fitting Strategy tab.
10. Check Abbreviate label.
11. Click Options.

    The Abbreviation dialog box opens.

    The current abbreviation dictionary is displayed in the Dictionary Name drop-down list. In this case, there is no dictionary being used.

12. Click the Dictionary Name drop-down arrow and click Streets_Dictionary.

    This applies the abbreviation dictionary to the label class.

13. Click OK.
14. Click OK.
15. Click OK.

    The labels are redrawn, and the abbreviation dictionary is applied. Areas where the full street label was unable to fit before now have the label abbreviated.

Change the label placement quality for the map

On the Labeling toolbar, there are two placement quality options: Fast and Best. Fast presents a quicker preview of the placed labels and is the default option. The Best option uses more complex placement calculations and places the labels in their final position.

Steps:

1. Click the Placement Quality drop-down arrow and click Best.

   The map is redrawn, and the labels for the map are placed in their final positions.

   The final map satisfies the assessor's requirements.

You've succeeded in using Maplex for ArcGIS to make the map labels conform to the assessor's requirements. At this point, you could switch to layout view; add map elements such as a scale bar, north arrow, and legend; and print the map for the assessor.

When you save this map with ESRI Maplex labels, it can be shared with others who have Maplex for ArcGIS installed on their computers, and the same parameters will be used to place the labels. People who have ArcMap but not Maplex for ArcGIS can also open your map and see the labels created using Maplex for ArcGIS. When Maplex for ArcGIS is not present, the map will open with the labeling parameters in a read-only state.