{"id":121331,"date":"2011-05-07T02:15:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-07T02:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/product\/uncategorized\/symbolizing-point-features-using-ground-units-single-symbol\/"},"modified":"2011-05-07T02:15:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-07T02:15:00","slug":"symbolizing-point-features-using-ground-units-single-symbol","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/product\/mapping\/symbolizing-point-features-using-ground-units-single-symbol","title":{"rendered":"Symbolizing point features using ground units: Single symbol"},"author":4331,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[38211,31301],"industry":[],"product":[],"class_list":["post-121331","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-arcgis-methods","tag-symbology"],"acf":{"short_description":"By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead\n\n\n\nWe got an interesting question on Ask a Cartographer this week: Can I symbolize points in map u...","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><strong>By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/downloads2.esri.com\/MappingCenter2007\/blog\/May11Images\/SP_thumb.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Symbolizing points thumbnail\" hspace=\"5\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We got an interesting question on <a title=\"Mapping Center: Ask a Cartographer\" href=\"http:\/\/mappingcenter.esri.com\/index.cfm?fa=ask.gateway\">Ask a Cartographer<\/a> this week: <a title=\"Mapping Center: Ask a Cartographer\" href=\"http:\/\/mappingcenter.esri.com\/index.cfm?fa=ask.answers&amp;q=1907\">Can I symbolize points in map units?<\/a> Greg wrote &#8220;I want to show point features with a specific size expressed in [ground] units (e.g., 660 ft), but I do not want to create a buffer layer to achieve the same effect. Is it possible symbolize points in [ground] units?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you are using only one symbol, you can do this using our Proportional Symbol renderer. If you have more than one symbol, you have to take a slightly different approach, which we will talk about in our next blog entry. For the proportional symbol approach, here\u2019s how you do it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Make sure that you have a size field in the attribute table of the features you want to symbolize. It should either represent the area or the radius of the feature.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/downloads2.esri.com\/MappingCenter2007\/blog\/May11Images\/SP_Attributes.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"SP thumbnail\" hspace=\"5\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then, using the Quantities -&gt; <a title=\"ArcGIS Online Help: Using proportional symbols\" href=\"http:\/\/help.arcgis.com\/en\/arcgisdesktop\/10.0\/help\/index.html#\/\/00s500000005000000.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Proportional Symbol renderer<\/a>, set the Value field to be your size attribute.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/downloads2.esri.com\/MappingCenter2007\/blog\/May11Images\/SP_SymbologyTab.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"SP Symbology Tab\" hspace=\"5\" width=\"600\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the drop down for Unit, select the units used to represent your size attribute.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/downloads2.esri.com\/MappingCenter2007\/blog\/May11Images\/SP_Units.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"SP Units\" hspace=\"5\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click OK to accept the changes and your data will be shown using a symbol that represents real world units.<\/p>\n<p>To test the results, I used the <a title=\"ArcGIS Online Help: Measuring distances and areas\" href=\"http:\/\/help.arcgis.com\/en\/arcgisdesktop\/10.0\/help\/index.html#\/\/00s500000022000000.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Measure tool<\/a> to determine that the diameter of the symbol was actually twice the value in the size field (i.e., the radius).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/downloads2.esri.com\/MappingCenter2007\/blog\/May11Images\/SP_ArcMapWindow.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"SP ArcMap Window\" hspace=\"5\" width=\"600\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks to Charlie Frye, Mapping Center Team Lead, for help with this blog entry.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4331,"user_firstname":"Aileen","user_lastname":"Buckley","nickname":"Aileen Buckley","user_nicename":"abuckley","display_name":"Aileen Buckley","user_email":"abuckley@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:15:57","user_description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. 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