Soils of the Panoche Hills

Why we love it

Most people probably don’t give much thought to soils, or know very much about the geography of soil types. But soil data is very important to those who work as engineers, hydrologists, farmers, foresters, and planners. We love how this map shows the power of transparent overlays. It brings that data into an organized landscape showing the way major soil types follow ridges, rivers, and valleys.

Why it works

This map works because it’s interesting and beautiful. Beyond the great use of transparency and vibrant colors, it contains gorgeous labeling. Case and spacing is used very deliberately to both denote and differentiate features. The text curves to mimic the shape of geographic features, giving a level of professional polish rarely seen in online maps. Labels sit above the other content, making for better legibility. Text boxes provide even more detailed information.

Important steps

Place labels above content

In ArcGIS Online, place your labels above other content using Esri’s World Reference Overlay.

Go to World Reference Overlay
Your basemap may not need labels

To get a basemap with no labels, skip the regular basemap pull-down list in the ArcGIS Online map viewer and search for "World Light Gray Base" in the Add > Search for Layers option. Click the name and select “use as a basemap.”

Go to World Light Gray Base
Use multidirectional hillshade relief

Use Esri’s highly detailed, multidirectional hillshade relief.

Go to Multi-Directional Hillshade
US Soil Data

The US Soil Map Units is a fantastically rich dataset ready to use, though any data of polygons (not just soils data) will work using this same styling approach.

Go to US Soil Map Units

Data and software

This map combines four ready-made data layers: The label-less World Light Gray Base as your basemap, multi-directional hill shading, and the World Reference Overlay for the geographic labels. Software used: ArcGIS Online.
Analysis

Underlying source data soils units were compiled and then produced by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Explore USDA database
Time

It should take 10 to 15 minutes to explore basemaps and add the hillshade and US soils data.

Leave room for your labels

Use the label-less World Light Gray Base to leave room for custom map labels.
Start with bold vibrant colors

Since the soil layers become more muted once semitransparent, start with bold vibrant colors for the different areas.
Choose a view

Decide on an appropriate visible range for your content.