Creating borders and grids

Every chart has coordinate information displayed using borders, grids, and/or graticules, indicating to its users the coordinates of where it's located in the world. The grid is also important to navigation, assisting mariners in determining direction and distances traveled. Grids, graticules, (linear) scaled borders, and neatlines are created with grids and graticules tools.

The Nautical Solution comes with preconfigured grids based on the IHO's INT2 standard. These preconfigured grids are delivered as XML files located in the following location:

• For 32-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
• For 64-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files(x86)\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions

The following INT2 grids are provided:

Preconfigured Grids for the INT2 Standard

File Name	Limiting Scale	Content
INT2_C.xml	N/A	Inset panel border
INT2_D.xml	N/A	Inset panel border
INT2_E.xml	1:1 to 1:30,000	Scaled border, Gridlines
INT2_F.xml	1:30,000 to 1:100,000	Scaled border
INT2_G.xml	1:100,000 to 1:200,000	Scaled border
INT2_H.xml	1:200,000 to 1:500,000	Scaled border
INT2_J.xml	1:500,000 to 1:1,500,000	Scaled border
INT2_K.xml	1:1,500,000 to 1:2,250,000	Scaled border
INT2_L.xml	1:2,250,000 to 1: 4,750,000	Scaled border
INT2_M.xml	1: 4,750,000 and above	Scaled border
INT2_N.xml	N/A	Noncalibrated border (tickmarks only)
INT2_O.xml	1:1 to 1:12,500	Linear scales
INT2_P.xml	1:12,500 to 1:30,000	Linear scales
INT2_Q.xml	1:30,000 to 1:50,000	Linear scales
INT2_R.xml	1:50,000 to 1:80,000	Linear scales
INT2_S.xml	N/A	Secondary/Projected ticks
INT2_V.xml	N/A	UTM grid and border

Preconfigured grids for the INT2 Standard

All INT2 grid XMLs are designed to show information on WGS84 spheroid/datum. If you want to show information on a different geographic coordinate system to meet unique grid specifications, the XML file for the primary coordinate system of the grid must be modified using the Grids and Graticules Designer.

If grid information from a number of different geographic coordinate systems is required on the chart, additional grid XMLs must be created, one per unique geographic coordinate system. In turn, each grid is created independently using the Make Grids and Graticules Layer geoprocessing tool using a data frame that has the same geographic coordinate system (ensuring that any transformations that are required have been set before the grid is created). Once all the grids are created, they can be added to ArcMap, positioned, and ordered accordingly with the correct transformation applied to show any datum shifts.

The procedures below outline how to create grids from an area of interest and how to modify them using the Grids and Graticules Designer.

Creating grids based on an area of interest

This section covers how to make your chart's grid based on an area of interest represented by a preexisting polygon. This polygon may be stored in your product library; it may come from another source, such as a personal database, shapefile, or layer file; or it may be part of your data, already captured as metadata. In any case, you may need to edit this polygon. It is strongly recommended that you double-check that you have permission/privileges to perform edits on the area of interest (AOI) polygon used to make your chart's grid.

Note:

Before running any geoprocessing tools in ArcMap, it is strongly recommended that you do the following: from the main menu, click Geoprocessing > Geoprocessing Options. In the General area, check the Overwrite the outputs of geoprocessing operations and Log geoprocessing operations to a log file check boxes. Uncheck the Enable check box in the Background Processing area. In the Display/Temporary Data area, check the Add results of geoprocessing operations to the display check box. Click OK to close the dialog box and apply your options.

Steps:

1. Ensure that your Production Mapping extension is turned on:
   1. From the main menu, click Customize > Extensions and check the Production Mapping check box.
   2. Click Close.
2. If necessary, open the Product Library window by clicking Customize > Production > Product Library on the main menu.

   A tree view of the product library appears.
3. Expand the tree view to see the AOI for the product instance.
4. Check the check box next to the AOI.

   The AOI feature layer is added to the ArcMap data frame.

   Note:

   If you do not see the AOI feature, right-click the AOI feature in the Product Library tree view and click Zoom To.

5. Right-click the AOI feature in the Product Library tree view and click Select.
6. In the ArcToolbox window, click the plus sign (+) next to the Nautical Tools toolbox, click the plus sign (+) next to the Cartography toolset, then double-click the Make Grids and Graticules Layer geoprocessing tool.

   The Make Grids and Graticules Layer dialog box appears.
7. Click the Browse button next to the Grid Template (XML file) text box.
8. Navigate to the following location <Install directory>\ESRI Nautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions.
   • For 32-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
   • For 64-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files(x86)\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
9. Choose the grid XML that best suits your chart based on purpose and scale.

   For example, a chart that has a scale of 1:25,000 would use the INT2_E, since the E scale range is 1:30,000 or larger.

10. Click Open.
11. For the Input Area of Interest [feature or extent] parameter, use the Feature Layer option and choose the AOI polygon layer from the drop-down list.
12. For the Input Feature Dataset parameter, click the Browse button .
13. Navigate to the Grids feature dataset for your chart product database.
14. Click Add.

    You have the option of removing or modifying this grid name or keeping the default.

    The Output Layer parameter will auto-fill with an abbreviation of the grid XML you choose, and the Name [value or field] (optional) parameter is also auto-populated. In this instance, it will take the last letter of the grid .xml selected.

15. Expand the Advanced Settings.

    If there is a warning next to the Mask Size (optional). You can ignore this, since it is optional to change the mask size and units.

    The Advanced Settings parameters appear.

    
16. Change value in the Reference Scale (optional) text box to that of your chart.
17. Next to Primary Coordinate system (optional), click the browse button.

    This will already be populated with World_Mercator.

    The Spatial Reference Properties dialog box opens.

    
18. Click the Modify button.
19. Enter the decimal degree values for the Central Meridian and Standard Parallel for your chart.

    You can obtain this information from the previous paper edition of the chart.

    
20. Click OK to close the Projected Coordinate System Properties dialog box.
21. Ensure that the values you entered are now listed in the Spatial Properties dialog box.
22. Click OK to close the Spatial Properties dialog box.
23. Leave all other advanced settings.

    It is optional to change the Ancillary Coordinate Systems 1 and 2; however, the grids will be generated without changing these parameters.

24. Click OK.
25. Once the tool has finished running, click Close to close the Results dialog box.

    Grids are added to the top of the Table of Contents window; be sure to keep them there. After later steps in the guide book, it will be necessary to move the grids back to the top of the list of layers in the Table of Contents window.

26. Examine the grids after they have been added to the Table of Contents window.
27. Save the map document by clicking the Save button.

Registering the grids feature dataset

Now that the grid feature classes have been created, they must be registered as versioned and enabled for archiving, except when working with a file geodatabase product.

Note:

Only the owner of the data can register or unregister it as versioned.

Steps:

1. Start ArcCatalog.
2. In the Catalog tree, right-click the Grids feature dataset and click Register As Versioned.

   The Register As Versioned dialog box opens.

3. Do not check the Register the selected objects with the option to move edits to base check box.

   See Deciding how to register data for more information on the move edits to base option.

4. Click OK.
5. Right-click the versioned dataset in the Catalog tree and click Enable Archiving.

Reconciling

When you reconcile, the version you are editing is updated with changes from the target version.

Note:

Reconciling only updates the edit version so that ArcGIS can check for conflicts; it does not merge changes into the target version. Once you finish reconciling and reviewing any conflicts, you complete the merging process by posting your changes to the target version with Nautical Post.

The following reconcile instructions assume you are working in ArcMap and in an edit session connected to the version you want to reconcile with an ancestor version.

Steps:

1. Click the Reconcile button on the Nautical toolbar.
2. Click the target version.
3. Specify to define conflicts By attribute (by column).
4. Choose to resolve conflicts In favor of the Target Version.

   When you choose to resolve in favor of the target version, all conflicting features in the current edit session are replaced by their representations in the target version. If multiple users are editing the same version and conflicts are detected, the feature that was first saved replaces the edit session's representation.

5. Click OK.

Posting nautical data

Once you've finished reconciling and have reviewed conflicts, you complete the merge process by posting your changes to the target version. The Nautical Post tool acts as the standard ArcGIS Post command for all nautical databases, except for Digital Nautical Charts (DNC).

Steps:

1. Click the Nautical Post button on the Nautical toolbar.
   Note:

   If you have unverified features in your edit version, a message will appear notifying you that there are unverified features found in your version. You must verify all features before Nautical Post will run successfully.

   Tip:

   At this point, you may proceed to the Setting projection, scale, and page size topic, unless your grid falls into any of the following special cases:

   • Charts with more than four sides
   • Charts in which north is not at the top of the chart
   • Charts that span the 180 meridian
   • Charts with directional characters other than North and West
   • Charts requiring a different datum and projection than WGS84 and World Mercator

Modifying grids for charts with more than four sides

You can modify grids with manual edits to match the chart extents that have "knock outs," "doglegs," or more than four sides.

Steps:

1. In ArcMap, select the AOI polygon if it's not already selected.

   Make sure the AOI polygon stays selected throughout the following steps.

2. Open the Grids and Graticules Designer window from the Grids menu on the Nautical Cartography toolbar.
3. Right-click in the Grids and Graticules Designer window and click Refresh.

   This will add the grids from the Table of Contents to the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

   

Grid segments created by the Grid Manager need to start (ideally) in the lower left, and the segments count up in a clockwise direction. All XML files provided with Nautical Solution are assumed to have only four sides. Once this is reached, the last XML segment is repeated until all AOI segments are covered. In the case of an AOI having more than four sides, segments that have the same orientation need to be copied and pasted. See the image below.



The blue numbers represent the actual number of segments. The red numbers represent the order in which the segments need to be copied and pasted, starting from the lower left and rotating clockwise around the extent.

4. Start from the lower left corner and number the segments on a piece of paper similarly to the image above. In this example, segments 1, 2, and 3 need to be copied and reordered.
The final order for this example will be Left, Top, Left, Top, Right, Top, Right, Bottom. It is expected that your chart with more than four sides will most likely not match this example, and will need to be adjusted accordingly.
5. In the Grids and Graticules Designer window, right-click the first segment and click Copy.

   

6. Right-click Graticule and click Paste.

   Left 2 is added to the bottom of the list (below "bottom"). It may be necessary to collapse the segment by clicking the minus sign (-) sign next to it.

7. Move the new segment to its proper order.
   • Right-click Left 2 and click Order > Move Up.
   • Click and drag the new segment to its proper order.

8. Repeat the copy-and-paste and drag steps so that the segments are now in the pattern from step 4.

9. Click the Create button at the top of the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

   The program will ask you if you want to override what was already created.

10. Click OK.
11. Zoom in and pan/scan (use tools from the Tools toolbar) the newly updated grid to ensure that the corrections were successful.

    If any discrepancies are noted, open the Grids and Graticules Designer window again to make corrections. If necessary, plot out a paper version of the grid for verification of its accuracy.

12. Save the product map document by clicking the Save button.

Modifying grids for non-north up panels

All INT2 Grid XML files are designed for panels that have north at the top of the chart. If the panel you are producing is not "north up," you may want to adjust the annotation so that it is parallel to the page and not the gridlines. Annotation rotation can be controlled using the Grids and Graticules Designer or edited interactively after the grid is created. If you want to modify your grid's annotation so that it is parallel to the page, follow the steps below

If you are following the steps below, it is assumed that you have already created a non-north up grid and you are attempting to rotate the grid annotation so that it is parallel to the page, and not rotated to the gridlines.

Steps:

1. Open the product map document in ArcMap.
2. Select the polygon that represents the chart's AOI and make sure it stays selected throughout the following process.
3. Open the Grids and Graticules Designer window from the Grids menu on the Nautical Cartography toolbar.
4. Right-click in the Grids and Graticules Designer window and click Refresh to add the grid to the window.

5. In the tree view, double-click the annotation component you want to change.
   Tip:

   You can dock this new window below the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

6. Click the Direction tab.
7. Choose the Rotate to Data Frame option in the Rotation area.
8. Repeat steps 5–7 as necessary for all the annotation you want to change.
9. When you have finished updating the annotation components, click the top node of the tree view (the grid name).

   By selecting the top node, this will batch create the entire grid. You can keep individual annotation nodes selected and generate them one at a time by stepping through them and clicking the Create button in turn.

10. Click the Create button .

    The grid annotation is rotated so that it is parallel to the page.

Modifying grids for panels that cross the 180° meridian

Typically, features are split when crossing the 180th meridian. However, to create grids that span the 180th meridian, a single area of interest feature with a single (part) geometry is required. Before creating your grids using the standard set of steps, you will need to change your data frame properties so that the central meridian value is not equal to 0 (<> 0). It is recommended that the central meridian value be changed to 180 or a value close to it.

Note:

To set the coordinate system of a data frame, you must not currently be editing. To end your editing session, click the Stop Editing button on the Production Editing toolbar.

Steps:

1. Right-click the data frame name and click Properties to display the Data Frame Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Coordinate System tab and navigate to the desired coordinate system for your chart.
   Note:

   You can modify parameters of the data frame coordinate system by clicking Modify.

3. Click Modify.
4. Click in the Central_Meridian value field and change the value to 180.
5. Click OK to close the Projected Coordinate System Properties dialog box.
6. Click OK to close the Data Frame Properties dialog box.
7. Select the AOI feature and create the grid based on the area of interest.

Changing directional characters in grid XML files

The INT2 grid XML files are configured to display all directional characters with an "N" for latitudes and a "W" for longitudes. Although grid annotation can be edited after the grid is created, you may want to create several grids that use characters other than "N" and "W." To do this, you can use the Grids and Graticules Designer to edit the existing grid XML files and save them to a new file that is configured to use other characters, like an "S" or an "E;" custom national characters; or no characters at all. This has to be done only once for each grid XML file you want to modify. Once you have modified the XML file, all new grids will display the characters you defined.

Steps:

1. If necessary, start ArcMap.
2. Open the Grids and Graticules Designer window from the Grids menu on the Nautical Cartography toolbar.
3. Click the Open button .

   The Open dialog box appears.

4. Browse to the location of the grid XML file you want to edit.
   • For 32-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
   • For 64-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files(x86)\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
5. Click the appropriate XML file to select it.
6. Click Open.

   The grid is loaded into the Grids and Graticules Designer window .

   
7. From the tree view, double-click the annotation component you want to change.
8. If necessary, scroll down on the Anno General tab to the Groupings and Properties areas.
   
9. Click the Group Suffix text box, delete the current character, then type the character you want.

   Note:

   You can copy and paste a character from All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map to create degree symbols or to use specific font glyphs.

10. Repeat steps 7–9 as needed.
11. Click the top component of the grid tree view.
12. Click the Save As button at the top of the tree view and save as a new grid XML to preserve your changes.

    You now have a new grid XML that will generate grids with the new Group Suffix values you have defined.

Modifying the coordinate system of a grid XML

All INT2 grid XMLs are configured to use World Mercator as the primary coordinate system and WGS84 as the ancillary. However, you may want to use a different datum and projections. To do this, you can use the Grids and Graticules Designer to change the primary and ancillary coordinate systems of any of the existing grid XMLs and save it as a new XML file.

Steps:

1. If necessary, start ArcMap.
2. Open the Grids and Graticules Designer window from the Grids menu on the Nautical Cartography toolbar.
3. Click the Open button at the top of the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

   The Open dialog box appears.

4. Browse to the location of your existing grid XML files. \GridDefinitions.
   • For 32-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
   • For 64-bit machines—<Installation location>\Program Files(x86)\ESRINautical\Desktop10.0\Charting\Cartography\GridDefinitions
5. Click the grid you want to edit to select it.
6. Click Open.

   The grid is loaded into the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

   
7. Right-click the top component in the tree view and click Properties.

   The Grid Properties window opens.

8. From the Grid General tab, click the Properties button in the Primary Coordinate System area.

   The Spatial Reference Properties dialog box appears.

   
9. Click Select.

   The Browse for Coordinate System dialog box appears.

   
10. Browse in the Projected Coordinate Systems folder and click the appropriate projected coordinate system.
11. Click Add.
12. Click OK to close the Spatial Reference Properties dialog box.

    Now that you have updated the primary coordinate system, you may need to update the Ancillary coordinate system if it does not support the chosen primary coordinate system.

13. Click a component, such as Gridlines, that requires or uses an ancillary coordinate system.

    Components properties appear in the Tick properties dialog box .

    
14. In the properties window, click the Properties button in the Ancillary Coordinate System area.

    The Spatial Reference Properties dialog box appears.

    
15. Click Select.

    The Browse for Coordinate System dialog box appears.

    
16. Browse in the Geographic Coordinate Systems folder and click the appropriate ancillary coordinate system.
17. Click Add.
18. Click OK to close the Spatial Reference Properties dialog box.
19. Repeat steps 13–18 for every component that uses an ancillary coordinate system.
20. Click on the top component in the tree view.
21. Click the Save As button at the top of the Grids and Graticules Designer window.

    The Save as dialog box appears.

22. Browse to an output location to save the file and rename the file appropriately.
23. Click Save.

    You now have a new grid XML that will generate grids with a primary and ancillary coordinate system of your choice.