Lesson 8 Lab Visual Guide

Lesson 8 Lab Visual Guide Index

Analyzing Your Design Inspiration
Introduction to Vector Tile Style Editor
Creating a New Style with a Blank Template
A Styling Example
Consider Your Layers
Style Label Layers
Adding Additional Features
Styling Across Scales
Working With Patterns and Icons
Sharing Your Work

Analyzing your design inspiration

Before we get into using the software, take a moment to choose a design inspiration for your map. It could be a TV show, movie, painting, comic book, video game, concert poster, food packaging, or some other media with a fairly diverse set of aesthetic elements. That is to say, if you choose Michelangelo’s David as your design inspiration, then you won’t have many style elements to work with aside from shades of white. However, if you choose the TV show Game of Thrones as your inspiration, then you can draw from a large number of the show’s colors, patterns, textures, and possibly symbols, and incorporate them into your design.

So, start by thinking about some piece of media that has appealing (or unappealing!) aesthetic elements, then make a list of what those elements are— again, pay special attention to colors, textures, patterns, and symbols. You will not be submitting this list to be graded, but it will serve as a helpful reference while working on this project. Do your best to make sure that your chosen design inspiration palette looks like the media that you’re drawing inspiration from. Returning to the Game of Thrones example: there are a large number of colors and patterns that can be found in the show, but a recognizably “Game of Thrones style” will prominently feature dark, earthy colors to reflect the costumes and environments featured in the show. Once you’ve identified a handful of elements, it will be time to start using the style editor.
Introduction to Vector Tile Style Editor

Unlike our other labs, we will not be using ArcGIS Pro for this lab, so there is no starting file! Instead, we will design an interactive basemap with the ArcGIS Vector Tile Style Editor (VTSE). If you followed the steps outlined above and were able to enter the AGOL environment, you should see the AGOL homepage environment screen shown in Figure 8.1. There are many applications within AGOL that are available for you to use. You can easily access these applications through the dot matrix to the left of your name in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. Figure 8.2 shows the first several applications available through the AGOL environment. One of the more common applications in the AGOL environment is the Living Atlas, which you may be familiar with in your professional work. To access VTSE, scroll down the list of applications to the bottom. There, you will see the VTSE icon (Figure 8.3). Click on the icon and you will be directed to the VTSE homepage (Figure 8.4).

Visual Guide Figure 8.1: Homepage- ArcGIS Online.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshot from ArcGIS Online

Visual Guide Figure 8.2: A listing of applications in the AGOL environment.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshot from ArcGIS Online

Visual Guide Figure 8.3: The VTSE icon (highlighted inside a blue box).

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshot from ArcGIS Online

Visual Guide Figure 8.4: The VTSE homepage with pre-designed basemaps.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshot from ArcGIS Online

As you scroll through the basemap gallery shown in Figure 8.4, you may notice that some of the most visually appealing basemaps are not what we would consider traditional basemaps. They take significant creative license with their color and pattern design, while still incorporating proper cartographic generalization and providing legible map symbols. Our goal is to do the same in Lab 8—you will be creating a new interactive basemap inspired by your favorite piece of art/media/design. Regardless, you should be creative and have fun with this lab!
Creating a New Style with a Blank Template

With VTSE, you work with styles instead of layers. Styles are templates that you can use to get you started with your basemap design. Note that styles are easily changed. Once you’ve accessed the VTSE (Figure 8.4), select the green New style button to begin with a preexisting map style as the basis for your own basemap. The preexisting map styles are shown in Figure 8.5. In the search box, type “light gray canvas”. You should see a few styles come up in the results area with similar names including the phrase “light gray canvas.” Moreover, these light gray canvas styles all have similar appearances. We’ll be working with the style that says exactly “Light Gray Canvas“ shown in Figure 8.6. If you choose one of the other styles, you’ll be missing important data.

Visual Guide Figure 8.5: The basemap styles available in VTSE.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Visual Guide Figure 8.6: The Light Gray Canvas style in VTSE.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

After selecting the Light Gray Canvas style option, the editor will load the map style in the top window as a web map. Below this window, you should see three smaller maps (Figure 8.7). While this map style is perfectly functional, we want to create one of our own devising by styling layers one-by-one according to our design inspiration. Before continuing, note that while the process we will use to build a map style in VSTL is different from when we designed basemaps in ArcGIS Pro in Lessons 1 and 2, keep in mind that many of the same principles apply (e.g., arranging the order of layers to match the visual order of the layers the reader sees).

Visual Guide Figure 8.7: The unedited Light Gray Canvas basemap in VTSE.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Before starting with your design, we’ll first need to orient ourselves on how web map design works. We outline the basic process in five steps.
1. Navigate around the large map. Leave the three small maps alone as these smaller maps serve as helpful references. Zoom in and out, pan around to locations of interest, and so on. Make mental notes of what you do and do not see at each zoom level. For reference, the zoom level is reported below the + and - icons on the main map. For example, you’ll notice that buildings only appear when you’re zoomed in fairly close on the map (e.g., zoom level 15). Also note the visual hierarchy of various elements and how they relate to individual zoom levels.
2. Examine the data layers that already exist on the map by choosing the Edit layer styles button on the contents toolbar, which is at the left of the main map’s window (Figure 8.8). The icon is a pencil in front of some horizontal lines. If you would rather see the names of the icons listed in the contents toolbar, click the expand button, which is the two arrows icon located at the bottom-left of the content toolbar.
  
  Visual Guide Figure 8.8: The Edit layer styles option along the VTSE contents toolbar.
  
  Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
  Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
  
  The Edit layer styles environment will present a list of data layer categories like “Natural,” “Populated Places,” and “Water.” Expand the “Water” and “Other” layers. Figure 8.9 shows the individual style layers that are associated with the “Other” “Water” layer. Note that certain layer symbol “outlines” were created by duplicating a layer, then placing the duplicated layer underneath the original layer and changing its symbol to be slightly different. In the Light Gray Canvas template, these duplicated layers are designated with “/0” at the end of their name, while the top layer has “/1” at the end (Figure 8.9). You may not necessarily need to do this in your own basemap, but it’s a useful design trick to keep in mind rather than develop a layer style from scratch.
  
  Visual Guide Figure 8.9: The Edit layer styles option for “Other” types of “Water” layers.
  
  Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
  Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
3. We are going to erase everything. Well, sort of. We’re going to use the JSON editor to delete certain layers and make the remaining layers temporarily invisible. It’s certainly helpful to emulate designs that you see elsewhere, but we’re interested in what you can do on your own first. We’ll be accomplishing this by editing the basemap style’s JSON. JSON is a way of storing text-based data in a format that’s easily readable by humans as well as computers. Editing your basemap’s JSON can allow you to easily make global changes without having to navigate through a GUI. Feel free to look at the existing Light Gray Canvas JSON by navigating to Edit JSON in the contents toolbar. We won’t get into specifics about how they work, but you’ll certainly see them come up again in the geospatial world if you haven’t already.
  At this point, we haven’t yet made any changes to the map, so if needed, you can close the window without saving any changes. If you want to return to this project later, simply search for Light Gray Canvas again. After the next step, however, you’ll need to get into the habit of saving your progress regularly.
  
  Rather than go through the light gray canvas JSON file to make changes, we’ve prepared a modified JSON for this part of the lab, so follow these steps:
  
  Visual Guide Figure 8.10: VTSE blank map style canvas.
  
  Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
  Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
  1. Download the file titled “blank_style.json”.
  2. Open the JSON file on your computer using a plain text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac), or an IDE such as Visual Studio Code. Do not use a rich text editor like Word, because it will introduce formatting data that can damage functionality.
  3. Select all of the text in the document. You can do this by placing your cursor anywhere in the text, then hitting Ctrl+A (Windows), or ⌘+A (Mac). Next, copy the document text by hitting Ctrl+C or ⌘ +C.
  4. Go back to the VTSE window if you don’t have it open already and click Edit JSON on the contents toolbar. You should see a pane appear that looks pretty similar to the JSON file you just downloaded.
  5. Highlight the entire document the same way that you highlighted your downloaded JSON. Next, hit Crtl+V or ⌘+V. This will paste the downloaded JSON text over the existing JSON text.
  6. Click Update in the top-right of the JSON pane.
  7. If you’re successful, all of the features in your maps should disappear, and you should see something similar to Figure 8.10 – a blank canvas!
  8. What you have accomplished so far is not a typical workflow, but we’re trying to accomplish something fairly specific for this lab with a minimal investment in time, as well as introduce you to certain concepts.
4. Let’s get started with our design. Begin with a design for the background for your map. You can alter your background's color, opacity, and a couple other parameters. To edit the background, simply click Edit layer styles, then click on the “background” layer which should be listed at the top of the other style layers (Figure 8.11). In the contents pane that appears, make sure the layer’s Visible toggle switch (at the top of the pane) is set to on. Since the JSON background style is set to black, you probably will want to change this default background design to something that is more in line with your own design inspiration. For example, in Figure 8.12, I've selected a dark-ish blue hue for my background color to align with the style of the album cover for The Road to You by the Pat Metheny Group. To change the background color, click on the background layer, then click on the colored rectangle underneath where it says Color (if you have a hex code for your chosen color, there is an option to use that as well).
  
  Visual Guide Figure 8.11: Editing the background map style layer.
  
  Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
  Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
  
  Visual Guide Figure 8.12: Changing the color of the background map style layer.
  
  Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
  Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
  
  You can also change the name of the background layer to something else by clicking on the Actions hamburger menu at the top-right corner of the background pane, then selecting Edit JSON.
  
  The JSON script appears as follows:
```
  {
    "id": "background",
    "type": "background",
    "paint": {
      "background-opacity": 1,
      "background-color": "#187bcc"
    },
    "layout": {
      "visibility": "visible"
    }
  },
```
  A line of text near the top should be highlighted; it will say the following: "id": "background"
  
  Change the text within the second set of quotes (currently background) to whatever you want the layer to be called (e.g., “BG_fill”). Remember to keep the new name enclosed in quotes, and don’t remove the comma!
  
  So, for example, an updated name would look like this:
```
  {
    "id": "BG_fill",
    "type": "background",
    "paint": {
      "background-opacity": 1,
      "background-color": "#187bcc"
    },
    "layout": {
      "visibility": "visible"
    }
  },
```
  As the goal of this lab is to draw inspiration from a favorite piece of art/media for your basemap design, you will probably come back to alter the background layer more than once. I strongly encourage you to experiment with the many style options available first and then go back later to make changes to your design at a later time.
5. Think of an appropriate filename and click Update at the top-right of the JSON pane. Click on Edit layer styles to see your layer with its new name. Once you have finished editing the background, save your progress by clicking the Save as button on the content toolbar. Be sure to use a name that you’ll remember. Don’t worry about the other save options for now. Click Save style at the bottom of the screen.

A Styling Example

Before you continue, please get into the habit of saving frequently. You never know when an application will suddenly decide to quit leaving to lost work. To save a VTSE basemap style, think of an appropriate file name that describes the overall style. For example, if you used Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night as inspriation for your basemap design, and appropriate filename could be vanGoghStaryNight. Keep this file name in your memory as you will need to submit the filename as part of your reflection statement.

As you work through your design implementation, keeping track of the individual layers, their visibility at different zoom levels, styles applied, labels, etc. can be overwhelming. To address this issue, I suggest that you create a style guide (in a spreadsheet) that looks something like what is shown in Table 8.1.

Table 8.1. A sample style guide to keep track of your styles and zoom levels in VTSE.
Layer	Color Name	HEX equivalent	Zoom (Scale) Level	Breaks
Country Boundary	blue scale	#649d3	7 - 22	10 - 13
Buildings	bright orange	#d76216	16 - 22	NA

In Table 8.1, note that each layer that will appear in the basemap is listed. The color name that is applied to the layer is specified. The color name can either be a conventional name or the hex code equivalent. The zoom level or scale represent the level at which the layer is visible to the reader. If there are breaks associated with the layer, that information is also inclued.

Table 8.2 shows a similiar style guide for the labels. In this case, note that mega cities have different styling according to the specific zoom levels. For zoom levels between 6 and 15, the city label appears but an icon is applied to cities (mega) between zoom levels of 15 - 18. While you are not required to create such a style guide or hand one in, this kind of organizational strategy can help your design workflow and minimize possible confusion while working with VTSE.

Table 8.2. A sample style guide for the labels in VTSE.
Label Name	Font	Style	Zoom (Scale) Level	Breaks and other Comments
Country	Aptos	Bold	2 - 4	—
State	Aptos	Bold	4 - 6	—
Cities (Mega)	Georgia	Regular	6 - 15, 15 - 18 (icon)	cities labeled with text at scales between 6 and 15 then labeled with an icon from scales of 15 - 18

Once you have decided on an appropriate filename and saved your work, VTSE allows you to add or change a style according to, among other things, different zoom levels. In Figure 8.13, I have set up a simple example where the background color changes according to the zoom range.

To view the current zoom stops in your basemap, expand the Appearance heading. Next, look under the gear icon and change the selection from ”Use a single value” to “Set value by zoom level.” Then, add zoom stops to your basemap by selecting the Add stop link. For each zoom stop, set the desired zoom level. While Figure 8.13 shows three zoom levels, you can include more than three zoom levels.

For this example, I have created color stops for three zoom levels. Recall that a zoom range for most web maps runs from 0 (world view) to 22 (completely zoomed in view). To identify the current zoom level, look underneath the + and – zoom buttons that appear on all the maps. There is a box that reports a number, the current zoom level. Notice in my Background layer editor panel under the Appearance header that there are three "stops" that exist.

Note that in Figure 8.13, I have set each map window to show a different zoom level. This is purposeful so that as you experiment with your design choices, those choices can be visualized. The result being that as the user zooms across the different ranges, the color changes in a linear fashion (note that I’ve also turned on the Land layer for rough visual reference. Land can be found under the Natural layer category. Once you have selected your zoom levels and the color assignments for each zoom level, go through the zoom levels on the main window to see the results of your design work. If you need to change any of the specifications, you can return and alter them. The alterations are automatically updated.

Screen showing different colors selected for different zoom levels.

Visual Guide Figure 8.3: Setting a color change across zoom levels in VTSE.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Zoom 0 is assigned a very dark blue background fill
Zoom 7 is assigned a light blue fill
Zoom 13 has an even lighter blue fill assigned

Consider Your Layers

One by one, we will now add additional layers to our map. We'll start by adding the Boundaries layer group. Note that this is a group of layers rather than a layer itself. To add all the layers in this group, simply click on Boundaries text rather than the arrow next to the name, and the pane that appears will list all the layers (Figure 8.14). Here, you can see at a glance which layers are in a group (there are many), what their visibility ranges are (the blue/gray bars to the right of the layer names), and a few global parameters for the group. Go ahead and toggle the Visible switch on.

If you kept your Land layer colored black, then you will need to choose a new color for the Boundaries layers, because their default line colors are also black, and you won’t be able to see it. This is a good reason to get further styling practice so that you can ensure that you have addressed all of the style layers that you wish to include on your map and the style decisions that are associated with each layer. You have two options here:

Note that inside each boundary group (Country, State Province, Country, etc.) the individual boundaries are identified according to their administrative level. For example, Admin0 represents country boundaries.

Visual Guide Figure 8.14: The numerous boundary layers available.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Figure 8.15 shows the black Land features overprinted by country boundaries cast in white. Note that as the Country Boundary line layer only consists of lines (you can tell that this is the case because the color swatch next to the layer name has a diagonal line in the bottom-right corner), we cannot fill in the boundaries - the fill for the Country boundaries will be the color of your Land layer (or the color of your Background layer, if borders extend over water). Of course, you can return and change the color of the background layer if you choose.

Notice that I have also adjusted the thickness of the country’s borders according to the zoom level.

Visual Guide Figure 8.15: Editing the Country (Admin0) boundary line layer style in VTSE.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
1. Change the color of all boundary lines by changing their color in the Boundaries layer editor pane (this is a global change where a design style is applied to all boundaries of a particular type)
2. Change the colors of individual boundary layers by clicking on each layer’s name in the Boundaries layer editor pane by group (Country, State Province, Country, etc.). We can only change boundary line colors globally, but if you edit an individual layer, then we can edit the color, opacity, line width, and other properties
- Zoom 0 is assigned a line thickness of 1.0
- Zoom 7 is assigned a line thickness of 2.0
- Zoom 13 has assigned line thickness of 3.0
Style Label Layers

Your map should be starting to look like a more complete map. What is missing is the presence of labels. Labels are also data layers that are styles and will be identifiable by a capital “T” in the bottom-right of each style layer’s color swatch.

Click the arrows next to Boundaries > Country, and you will see a number of layers with the names Smallest, Small, Medium, Large, etc. These labels refer to the sizes of features that the labels correspond to. As we did earlier, you can either change a couple of properties for the Label layers by clicking on the layer group name, or you can change many more properties of individual Label layers—such as font, label position, text justification, letter case, etc.—by clicking on their names. Remember to work with the zoom across range option to maximize the visibility of your labels at different zoom ranges. Don’t forget to save your progress!

Here are a few points to remember about changing label styles. The qualitative description of smallest, small, medium, etc. refers to the labels that are associated with each administrative unit. For example, the labels that are associated with the Very Large layer are few in number. For example, in Europe, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Ukraine labels (Figure 8.16) are placed in this layer category. Changing the label style parameters in the Very Large layer style only changes the labels associated in this style. If you make visible labels in the Large layer, those labels will appear but will not style according to whatever styling you have set in the Very Large style layer. Keeping track of individual label layer styles can be tricky. So, I recommend keeping a separate listing of styles that you have applied for each label category. Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep track of all of the label styles and the changes that should take place across the zoom levels.

Also, remember that as you consider changing the type sizes, realize that there may be combinations of type size and zoom level in which the label that cannot be displayed (setting the very large type sizes to display a 10-point size at zoom level 0 may not be visually not possible).

Visual Guide Figure 8.16: Styling the Very Large label layer, with design exaggerated to emphasize changes made to the styles.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online
Adding Additional Features

By now, you should have a pretty solid, albeit fairly simple map. The only data that should be visible are the background (essentially ocean fill), administrative boundaries at the country level, and their labels. Add some additional features that you think would be helpful for your basemap – not every layer may be appropriate for your design. Start by choosing at least 5 additional data layers to add to the map. You can explore what’s available by navigating through the data categories. At minimum, I would recommend adding the Water area small scale layer located under Water > Lake, as there will be a handful of awkward blank spots in your map without it. But it’s up to you! One more tip: if there is a feature layer that has already been added to your map and you want to change its style, you can click directly on a feature in that layer, and the layer editor will appear. It can be a bit faster than navigating the contents pane

Finally, don’t forget to save regularly!
Styling Across Scales

Once you've made some progress on designing your basic basemap style, you should make some more detailed edits. Remember that we are creating a multiscale map. You may, for example, want your place labels to appear at a different point size based on the map's zoom level.

In ArcGIS Online, certain layers have a minimum zoom level. For example, the Land layer is seen at all zoom levels (so, this layer has a minimum zoom level of 0), County boundary lines have a minimum zoom level of 10, and buildings have a minimum zoom level of 15. Thus, when you are working with a style layer and the features ae not appearing, check to make sure that you are within the min-max zoom level ranges. Also, make sure that the Visible option for each style layer is toggled “on.”

Importantly, not only can you change the visibility of a layer according to zoom level, but you can also change its style. You can set “stops” for many style parameters in the same way that we added stops for the background. To create these stops, open the layer editor for a particular layer, then find the property that you want to style across a zoom range, and click the gear icon next to that property name. Figure 8.17 shows an example of this, where I have set the opacity of the Admin1 forest or park layer to start as fully transparent at zoom levels less than or equal to 7, then fade into 50% opacity at zoom level 17 and beyond. Notice that I also styled the fill color to change according to the same zoom levels as were set for the opacity.

Visual Guide Figure 8.17: Changing the opacity of the Land Admin1 Forst or park style based on zoom range.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Styling across zoom range permits you to alter the look and feel of a map symbol dynamically as the user zooms in and out of your map. Thinking about how each layer interacts with each other layer at every zoom level gets very complicated very quickly, so you don't have to do anything overly ambitious– the goal is just to map your map look nice at small, medium, and large scales.

Tip! Look at other online interactive basemaps (e.g., Mapbox, Google Maps), as well as the ArcGIS Online examples listed at the top of this guide for ideas about what symbols should appear at which scales, and how they might look best.
Working With Patterns and Icons

A great feature of vector data in maps is that you have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to changing how features are represented on the map. We’ll be talking about two options: patterns and icons.

There might be some features on your map that are a bit visually “heavy” in the sense that they are large and visually prominent in your map’s visual hierarchy. These could be park or forest areas, bodies of water, industrial areas, and so on. If you do in fact want to de-emphasize these features so that they blend in with your surrounding features, your first course of action should be to examine your color and transparency options. Choosing a color that is closer to the feature’s background color, or the color of surrounding features, is a good option, as well as increasing transparency/decreasing opacity (it’s the same thing). But if you’re unsatisfied with either of those approaches, you may consider visualizing these features using patterns.

In the contents toolbar, you’ll see an icon that’s a group of shapes titled Edit icons and patterns. Click on it, and you’ll see a handful of pattern swatch thumbnails. Notice that they have some simple geometric shapes in front of a faint checkerboard pattern. What this means is that each pattern has a transparent background. This allows for a great deal more flexibility in design, because you can apply one of these patterns to a feature and it won’t obscure any features that it overlaps. Another characteristic of patterns with transparency is that they reduce the visual hierarchy of features while still maintaining general shape and color. VTSE allows you to adjust the “tint” of patterns, which basically applies a color to them. In Figure 8.18, I have applied a green tint to the “Water are/inundated” pattern and then applied the pattern to my “Admin1 forest or park” layer. Note that the feature being focused on in the screenshot is very large but blends into the Land layer quite well.

Visual Guide Figure 8.18: Adding a pattern and tint style layer to the Admin 1 forest or park layer.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

The reason that these patterns have a transparent background is that they are formatted as PNG files. You’ve probably worked with PNGs in the past as they’re a very common image file type, along with JPEG and GIF. But what you might not know is that a JPEG or GIF with a resolution of, say, 200x200 pixels, will have 100% of its pixels set to an opaque color value. However, if you are making a PNG image, then you can designate certain areas of your image to be transparent. You can make PNGs yourself pretty easily in an image design software like Photoshop or something similar, and you’re welcome to do so for this part of the lab, if you’re comfortable with the process. But if you’d prefer, we have two PNGs with transparent backgrounds ready for you that were included in this lesson’s .zip file, titled tree_icon.png and tree_icon2.png. Go ahead and download those.

Back to VTSE, let’s pretend that you want your basemap to emphasize the locations of parks, so you decide to add a tree icon to park labels. One of our tree icons should do the trick. If you’ve already opened the icons to see what they look like, you’ll notice that one is a solid icon, and the other is an outline. You’re welcome to use either one for this process, or you can use your own PNG.

In VTSE, click on Edit icons and patterns, then click + Add at the top of the screen. Browse to select the file. Choose to add one of the PNG files that you downloaded. Next, navigate to Land Use > Park Or Farming > Park or farming/label/Default in the contents toolbar, or zoom in to a park feature on your map. Remember! We’re adding an icon to park labels, so double check that your layer editor is showing the correct layer. Under the header titled Icon appearance, click on the box under Image and choose the tree icon. Your map should then look similar to Figure 8.19.

Visual Guide Figure 8.19: Adding a tree icon to a label layer.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Our problem now is that the label text obscures the icon. Fortunately, VTSE offers some label positioning tools.

The final icon and label placement are shown in Figure 8.20.

Visual Guide Figure 8.20: Adjusting label icon and text placement.

Credit: © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0(link is external)
Screenshots and data from ArcGIS Online

Now you’ve got some nice-looking labels! At this point, you’re welcome to make any changes you’d like, including using your own PNGs for other icons or patterns. Map design is an iterative process, and it may take time for you to get a design you are happy with - be patient with yourself and remember to draw ideas from other maps, your media/art inspiration, and course content.
- Adjust the icon’s size.
  - I made my icon’ size 1.0px.
- Change the icon’s position.
  - In the layer editor pane, scroll down until you see the Icon position section. Under Icon anchor, you’ll see a 9-cell grid of options for positioning icons. If we want to make sure that the icon and label text never overlap, then what we can do is set their anchors to opposite sides– if the icon anchor is on its right (the right-hand edge of the icon), and the text anchor is on its left (the left edge of the text), then that should solve the overlapping problem. So set the Icon anchor to the center-right side.
- Laterally move the icon’s position.
  - We do not want the icon and label text to be too close together, so we can offset the icon a bit. Under Icon translate, set it to about -4px (it uses a cartesian grid system, so this is -4 pixels away from 0,0).
- Set the alignment of the icon.
  - Scroll down farther and under Text anchor, set the option to the left edge. Also set Text justification to Left to give it a somewhat cleaner look.

Sharing Your Work

When you’re finally finished with your art-inspired basemap, you’ll need to share it. To generate a URL link to your basemap, return to your AGOL homepage (Figure 8.1). Click on Content. If your basemap is the last ArcGIS Online project that you saved, then you should see the name of your basemap at the top of the list. Towards the right of the filename listing, you’ll may see an icon. This is the Sharing icon. If you see a globe instead (Figure 8.21), then you’re all set. If the icon is in the shape of a person, then you will need to change the sharing permissions. To change the sharing permissions, click on the icon. On the window that appears, Set sharing level to Everyone (public), then click Save.

Screen showing the file sharing level set to global.

Visual Guide Figure 8.21: The information related to the file (including the sharing level – globe icon).

Next, click on the name of your basemap, a new page appears. On this page, you should see details about the map. Take the following steps before you share your basemap design:

Please retitle the design something logical. In most cases, the default basemap design is "untitled" which is not very descriptive. Consider a basemap design that relates to your inspiration
At the top of the page is a link to Add a brief summary about the item. Here, add two or three sentences that summarizes your basemap design (give credit to your design inspiration) and save

Remember to include the URL link to your basemap style in your PDF deliverable.

Lesson 8 Lab Visual Guide