Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS: A Workbook Approach to Learning GIS, 3rd Edition

Styles

Styles basically let you draw maps using colors, symbols, and patterns developed by other people and organizations. When you have drawn maps before, you have been using a style developed by ESRI. In fact, it is difficult to separate the software, which basically lets you draw points, lines, and polygons—admittedly in myriad colors—from the ESRI predeveloped symbols. Let’s start your understanding of styles by eliminating all of them.

____ 18. In ArcMap, enter Data View and click the New Map File icon on the Standard toolbar to start with a Blank Map. Add the polygon component of the coverage SOME_POLYGONS, which you will find in the

___IGIS-Arc_YourInitials\Trivial_GIS_Datasets.

folder. Set the T/C tab to List By Drawing Order.

____ 19. Set the software so that it uses no styles at all, by clicking Customize > Style Manager to bring up the Style Manager window. Click the Styles button to bring up the Styles References window. Clear all the boxes you can. Which one can’t you clear? _______________________. Click OK. Click Close.

____ 20. In the T/C, right-click the polygon symbol. You may recall that that usually that brings up an array of distinct colors (e.g., Medium Apple, Sodalite Blue, Mars Red, and so on). However, those are part of the ESRI style. At the bottom of the box, click More Colors. Now what you have is the Color Selector window, which you met in Chapter 2. It lets you select any color the computer is capable of producing—millions of them15—but without ...