Products of a GIS: Maps and Other Information - Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS - page 190

FIGURE 3-4
15. The image of Colorado looks crooked on the page. The Albers projection does this for areas
not near its central meridian—in this case, 96 degrees west. On about what meridian does Denver
lie? _________ degrees. (Hint: check the Status bar). The boundaries of the state are in fact parallels
and meridians of the latitude and longitude coordinate system, so it would be nice if they ran east-
west and north-south. Fix the crooked image by clicking Customize > Toolbars and make sure that
Data Frame Tools is checked. Then, type the desired number of degrees of counterclockwise rotation
into the text box in the Data Frame Tools window that appears. Try 3 degrees and press Enter. Not
enough? Clear Rotation and try 6 degrees. (If you wanted a clockwise rotation, you would use a
negative number.) Still not satisfied? Try the Rotate Data Frame interactively tool. Finish up by using
a rotation of 6 degrees. Dismiss the Data Frame Tools tool bar window.
16. Since you have changed the scope of the data, the title on the map is now incorrect, so
change it: In Layout View, press the Select Elements button on the Tools toolbar. Click various
places on the map proper and on the other parts of the page. Notice the blue rectangles and
“handles” that appear. Note that multiple clicks in the same location sometimes result in
different selections. You could resize these elements and move them around—but don't. Zoom
in on the area of the title of the map, using the Layout toolbar zoom. With Select Elements
active, click the title of the map. A faint blue line should appear around the text of the title; no
handles should be seen. (If this doesn't happen the first time you try, keep trying.) Right-click
and select Properties. Under the Text tab, type Colorado. Press Apply, then OK.
17. Pan and zoom (using the Layout toolbar) to the left end of the title box. Check out the Legend.
18. Pan to the right end of the title box. Check out the ESRI logo (in version 10.0), scale bar,
and the Coordinate System. See Figure 3-4. Verify the Central Meridian and the Latitude
of Origin. _______________________________________.
Adding Other Map Elements
The layout has no north arrow. Let's put one in. We'll erase the Coordinate System information and put the
north arrow there.
19. With the Select Elements tool, click the Coordinate System text so that it gets a selected
border. Tap Delete on the keyboard.
20. Hmmm . . . on second thought maybe erasing that information isn't such a good idea. An
“undo” command is in the Edit menu, but let's try the universal undo: Ctrl-Z. Bingo! (You will
put that in your Fast Fact File, won't you?)