{"id":2951876,"date":"2025-12-16T11:12:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2951876"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:12:35","slug":"how-to-make-a-depressed-area-of-interest-effect-in-arcgis-pro","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-depressed-area-of-interest-effect-in-arcgis-pro","title":{"rendered":"How to make a depressed area of interest effect in ArcGIS Pro"},"author":6971,"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":[513362,26451,27361,80952,31201],"industry":[],"product":[36561],"class_list":["post-2951876","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-area-of-interest","tag-cartography","tag-design","tag-effects","tag-print","product-arcgis-pro"],"acf":{"short_description":"How to use gradient hacks and invisibility cloaks to make in inner shadow for your map's area of interest.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Here&#8217;s how you can create an inner shadow effect for your area of interest in ArcGIS Pro. Push the area down into the landscape with realistic lighting, using some gradient stroke hacks and an invisibility cloak. And, for giggles, the world&#8217;s fasted demo showing how to invert the effect to make the area of interest elevated from the map. Give either a whirl!<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","start_time":"0","end_time":"","youtube_video_url":"<iframe title=\"How to Make Your Map Depressed\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_BPULmbt4zo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>0:00 Demystifying a cartographic invisibility cloak<br \/>\n0:30 Creating a crispy edge and hacking an inner shadow<br \/>\n1:00 Nudging the shadow over in the name of realism<br \/>\n1:24 Our friend Global Background arrives on the scene<br \/>\n1:42 Masking, blending, and invisibility<br \/>\n2:24 Reversing the stream for an elevated effect<\/p>\n<p>There are lots of ways to make your area of interest visually prominent without interfering with data symbology. These are just two. Have fun styling your area of interest so it appears visually prominent while still allowing for the context of outside areas. And think deviously about blend modes, they&#8217;re a fast and friendly tool to create visual effects that give life to your cartographic imagination! See you on the next one!<\/p>\n<p>Love, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@JohnNelsonMaps\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John<\/a><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":6971,"user_firstname":"John","user_lastname":"Nelson","nickname":"John Nelson","user_nicename":"j_nelson","display_name":"John Nelson","user_email":"John_Nelson@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/www.adventuresinmapping.com","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:19:05","user_description":"I have far too much fun looking for ways to understand and present data visually, hopefully driving product strategy and engaging users. I work in the ArcGIS Living Atlas team at Esri, pushing and pulling data in all sorts of absurd ways and then sharing the process. I also design user experiences for maps and apps.\r\nWhen I'm not doing those things, I'm chasing around toddlers and wrangling chickens, and generally getting into other ad-hoc adventures. Life is good.\r\nYou might also like these Styles for ArcGIS Pro: esriurl.com\/nelsonstyles","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":"","show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/InnerShadow_Card.jpg","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to make a depressed area of interest effect in ArcGIS Pro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-depressed-area-of-interest-effect-in-arcgis-pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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