6 replies to this topic

[Hans van der Maarel]

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to draw a box around an annotation (rotated point text) in ArcGIS (ArcEditor, version 10) and I can't seem to figure out how it's done. I can't even style by categories. Am I missing something?

 

It doesn't have to be fancy, just a box with a certain line and fill color behind the text (a simply rectangular road shield)

[joelschlager]

I do not work with annotation all too much but what I could find was this:

 

1. Access Layer Properties for annotation (right click annotation layer in table of contents > Properties)

2. Select Symbology tab

3. Under Symbol Substitution select "Substitute individual symbols in the symbol collection:"

4. Click "Properties" button

5. Click "Edit Symbol..." button

6.  Select Advanced Text tab

7. Tic the "Text Background" box and click "Properties" button

8. Click "Symbol" button for symbol options for text background

 

Granted, it may not be the best option for this particular situation but it was what i could find in a limited amount of time.

[mfarmer]

So, going through the Label Manager -> Text Symbol -> Symbol [button] -> Edit Symbol -> Advanced Text -> Text Background Properties -> and so on, didn't give you the proper results?

 

Did you convert labels to annotation, or did you get the annotation from an existing geodatabase? Come to think of it, either way it may be simplest to redo the labels with the symbology you want and then redo the conversion to annotation, too.

[pghardy]

I'm trying to draw a box around an annotation (rotated point text) in ArcGIS...

Do you mean a stored annotation (as in geodatabase annotation feature class), or is it a dynamic label of a point feature? Automatic generation of callout boxes is an option for dynamic labelling, as mfarmer noted above. If someone has converted labels without callouts to annotations, it is more usual to use the Feature Outline Masks tool  http://resources.arc...00000001r000000 to generate polygon mask features. This tool has a box option as well as more detailed geometries (like Convex Hull or Exact Simplified). These are often used for selective masking (supressing the drawing of other layers), but there is no reason why you shouldn't symbolize the mask with whatever fill and stroke you want.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Thanks for all your suggestions, but alas, no luck.

 

Joel: I went through all those steps and the only result was that they made my text a slightly different color. Also, it seems that that option will always make a callout, I just want a box.

 

MFarmer: Nope, that's for labelling features. I already have the text objects, just need to have a box around them. In fact... I already have the boxes (see below)

 

Paul: I can't find that option, I have ArcEditor 10.0, is it a new option, or on a higher license level?

 

So to give a bit of background, I've been asked to export data from this map (Illustrator/MAPublisher) back to Arc.

 Screen shot 2013-02-08 at 14.35.17.png   243.46K   28 downloads

 

Most of it is working just fine, except road numbers, junction and exit names etc. I've exported the text as mid/mif and converted them to Geodatabase annotations using FME, the boxes themselves are exported as shapefiles. But in order to make that work in Arc you need to have exactly the same font and settings as in Illustrator, and there's no way we can guarantee that for an external client. I've tried adding the text as an attribute to the box then use labelling in Arc, which actually works okay unless it's a multi-line label, the standard labelling engine doesn't seem to want to do that. I don't have Maplex unfortunately.

 

Oh, and we're talking about almost 1100 of these all across the map, so if we can avoid redoing all of them manually, that'd be super.

[joelschlager]

Ah, my apologies.  After step #7 it should read:

 

8. For the "Type" drop down menu select "Marker Text Background"

9. Tic "Scale marker to fit text" and click the "Symbol..." button

10. Select shape of preference, then "OK"

11. Select preferred color for said background

 

Within the "Symbol Selector" menu one can then change the font, font size and color of text within said background.

[wick]

Joel: I went through all those steps and the only result was that they made my text a slightly different color. Also, it seems that that option will always make a callout, I just want a box.

 

You can use the Balloon Callout Text Background (properties > advanced text > Text Background > Properties > Balloon Callout). Just change the Leader Tolerance to a high enough value so that the leader part doesn't appear and it will just be a rectangle. It shouldn't affect the text styling - that's done separately on the first properties page.

It's not ideal because when you move the annotation you also have to also move the anchor point to prevent the leader from appearing, but it works.