Map Grid Generator

A map grid is a set of map sheets. The ArcFM Map Grid Generator allows you to create a customized map grid for a set of selected features. In the example below, the map grid is the entire area shaded yellow. The map sheets are polygons outlined in red. Each map sheet is an individual feature that you can select and edit. The map sheet outlined in blue in the image below is selected and will appear on the Selection tab of the Attribute Editor.

To access the Map Grid Generator, click on the ArcFM toolbar.

IMPORTANT: Map Grids may only be created during an Edit session. If the user ends the session without saving edits, the map grids created during that session will be lost. This also applies if the user creates map grids, then adds them to a map book and saves the map book. The user must save edits to ensure these map grids still exist in the map as well as in the map book.

Create Map Grid

Map Grid Generator allows you to generate customized map grids for use with Map Production. You may determine the area covered by the map grid as well as the size, orientation, and scale of the map sheets that compose the grid.

Ensure you have clicked Start Editing on the Editor toolbar. The Map Grid Generator button will not be activated unless you have selected Start Editing from the Editor toolbar.
Click the Map Grid Generator button on the ArcFM toolbar. This will display the ArcFM Map Grid Generator window.
Use the Select tool to select a set of features to be covered by your map grid. This step is required as it designates the portion of the map that requires map grids.
Map Grid Generator populates the map grid feature class you select from the Feature Class dropdown menu.
Enter a name for your map grid in the Map Grid Name field.
Determine the Map Sheet Size options as described by the following:
- Page Template: Sets your map sheet size to match the settings in the selected page template. To view the settings, open the page template, right-click the data frame in the Layout view, and select Properties. Size properties are displayed on the Size and Position tab. Map Grid Generator will use the page template's fixed scale. If there isn't a fixed scale, it will use your current scale.
- Document: Sets your map sheet size to match the settings in the selected Document. To view the settings, open the document, right-click the active data frame in the Layout view, and select Properties. Size properties are displayed on the Size and Position tab. Map Grid Generator will use the document's fixed scale. If the document does not have a fixed scale, Map Grid Generator will use your current scale.
- Use Current Settings: Sets the map sheet size to the current page setup settings. To view your current settings, right-click the data frame in the Layout view and select Properties. Size properties are displayed on the Size and Position tab.
- Manual Settings: Allows you to determine the settings manually. Choose page units or map units. Indicate a height, width, and scale.
Select a Page Orientation. This setting reflects the orientation of your current setting, page template, document, or manual setting. You can change it to override the orientation of the selection in the Map Sheet Size field. For example, if you select a document with a landscape orientation, but choose portrait in the Orientation field, the map sheet will display as portrait.
Indicate a map sheet overlap distance in map units. This determines how much map sheets will overlap. Enter 0 to eliminate any overlap. If you use a fill color in your map grids, some of the lines may be hidden when using overlap. To ensure the overlap is visible, do not use a map grid fill color.
To include blank map sheets, select the "Generate sheets that do not contain selected features" checkbox. This will generate map grids to cover the entire selected area, including any areas that have no features.
Click Generate to create the map grid. The Generate button will be enabled only if you have filled out the form completely and have features selected on the map.

The following figure is an example of a map grid generated for selected features. The "Manual settings" option was used to determine map sheet size.
If you are generating a map grid with the same name as another grid, you will be given the option to replace the existing map grid or append the new one to the map.

Add Sheet

The Add Sheet button will add a single map sheet in the middle of your display. It will be highlighted on your screen (the map sheet will flash red three times). The map sheet will be the size and orientation indicated in the Map Grid Generator. You do not need to have features selected on the map to enable the Add Sheet button.

With an editing session started, click the Map Grid Generator button on the ArcFM toolbar. This will display the ArcFM Map Grid Generator window.
Enter a name for your map grid in the Map Grid Name field.
Determine the Map Sheet Size.
Select a Page Orientation.
Click the Add Sheet button.
If the map sheet has the same name as another map sheet or grid, you will be given the option to replace the existing map grid or append the new one to the map.

See Create Map Grid for more information on setting the options such as map sheet size, orientation, overlap distance etc.

Edit Map Grid

Map Grids consist of individual features called map sheets (depicted as polygons on your map). You may edit map sheets using standard ArcGIS editing tools.

Page Units vs Map Units

Use Page Units when you want to ensure a map sheet will fit within a specific data frame. The Map Grid Generator automatically converts the page units to map units when generating the map sheets. For example:

Width: 10 in.

Height: 10 in.

Scale: 1:1,200

The resulting map sheets will fit in a 10 in. x 10 in. data frame at a scale of 1:1,200. But its dimensions on the map will be 12,000 in. x 12,000 in. (1,000 ft. x 1,000 ft.).

Use Map Units when you want to be sure to include a specific area on the map. For example, you may want each map sheet to encompass 2,500 square feet. You would use map units and set the width and height each to 50. There is no need to convert to map units, therefore the scale isn't necessary and the field is disabled.

ArcFM Map Sheet Naming Convention

ArcFM names map sheets numerically left to right beginning in the bottom left corner. You may add map sheets to an existing grid by using the same Map Grid Name. As map sheets are added, ArcFM assigns numerical values to the Map Sheet Name field.

If you choose to append map sheets to an existing grid, ArcFM will locate all map sheets with the same value in the Map Grid Name field. From that set it will find the highest value in the Map Sheet Name field and add one to begin numbering the new sheets. For example, map sheets added to the grid below would begin their numbering with 10.

However, if you delete a map sheet in the middle of the sequence, they will not be renumbered to reflect the change. For example, if a user were to delete map sheet #5, numbering would look like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9. Map sheets added to this grid would begin with 10.