Knowledge Base - Technical Articles
HowTo: Symbolize polygon features so that boundary lines between polygons with like attribute values are dissolved
| Article ID: | 34083 |
|---|---|
| Software: | ArcGIS - ArcEditor 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcInfo 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcView 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 |
| Platforms: | N/A |
Summary
Procedure
- Add the layer in table of contents in ArcMap.
- Right-click the layer and click Properties (layer properties window opens up).
- Select the Symbology tab.
- Click Categories in the Show list and click unique values.
- Click the Value Field drop-down list and select field containing same attribute value.
- Click the tab Add All Values.
- Click the Symbol column heading and click Properties for all Symbols from the pop-up menu. The Symbol Selector window opens up.
Click Properties in the Symbol Property Editor window and click the + button in layer to add an empty symbol layer.
Click the top symbol level and specify an outline width of zero.
Click the small padlock symbol next to the top symbol level to unlock this level. Click the bottom symbol level.
In Simple Fill, click the Color drop-down menu and select No Color. Click the Outline Color drop-down menu and select a color.
Specify an outline width to be zero.
In Layers, click the small padlock symbol next to the bottom level to lock second level.
Click OK to close the Symbol Property Editor.
Click OK to close the Symbol Selector. - Click the Color Ramp drop-down menu and select a color scheme in Layer Properties window.
- Click Advanced and click Symbol Levels in Layer Properties window. The Symbol Levels window opens up.
Check Draw this layer using the symbol levels specified below. Check Join for all symbols. Uncheck Merge for all symbols. Click OK. Click Apply and OK in Layer Property window.
Related Information
Created: 11/28/2007
Last Modified: 10/6/2011
(5)
Comments
By gisMelissa - 07/28/2011 6:55 AM
The article needs to be updated.
You can have outlines, however you have to have some color for fill as what it does is draws each individual polygon and then uses the fill to cover them up. You can set transparency on it and it works fine (I tested 90% successfully). Just specify an outline width for the bottom symbol where the instructions provided (sixth line of #7) tell you to specify it to zero. This is probably best when using data that changes frequently behind the scenes. For most applications I think dissolving is simpler and the drawing time makes up for storing an extra file.
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By JoannaWood - 07/18/2011 8:07 AM
The article needs to be updated.
I see that this article is still not updated as suggested by other reviewers so I will assume that this is an exercise in futility. Please remove this article and/or rewrite it to be correct and/or more clear as to the expected results and use of this process. I was hoping for a "virtual" way to have outlines of the "joined" polygon(s) instead of having the fills represent these boundaries. That can be done in far fewer steps than described, as another reviewer noted. I can only figure that you have to save a "Dissolve" as another dataset to achieve the desired results of oulines only.
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By Anonymous - 04/27/2010 1:59 PM
The article contains a typographical or grammatical error.
How do you Symbolize polygon features so that boundary lines between polygons with like attribute values are dissolved and the fill colour is set to \"no colour\"? The only work around I have found is to dissolve based on the particular attribute and have a separate feature class.
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By Anonymous - 03/31/2010 1:44 PM
I would like to see a new article that discusses the topic outlined below.
This is an enormous workaround for something that can be done with a R-Click. Maybe I misunderstood what these steps are intending to do. I was hoping for a "virtual dissolve", with just the outlines where the attribute changes and no fill. I have memories of doing something like this in 7.x The steps in this article seem to produce the same result as R-clicking any symbol (after categories, unique), properties for all symbols, and making the outline 0-width. But the R-click is much faster & easier.
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By maphew - 10/06/2011 3:15 PM
The article needs to be updated.
The online help for v10 gives a much better description of what this tool does and how to use it. Even though it's written for 10, enough of it applies to v9 that it is still a better resource than this KB article. http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Dissolving_polygon_boundaries_using_symbol_level_drawing/00s500000025000000/
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