Open and explore the map package

First, you'll download a project package and open it in ArcGIS Pro.

  1. Download and save the Portland_thematic_symbology project package.
  2. Browse to the folder where you downloaded the project package and double-click the project package.
  3. If prompted, sign in using your licensed ArcGIS account.
    Note:

    If you don't have access to ArcGIS Pro or an ArcGIS organizational account, see options for software access.

    The project package opens in ArcGIS Pro.

    3D scene of Portland, Oregon

    The data covers a few parts of the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. The data has been obtained from the City of Portland, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

  4. Explore the scene. Use your mouse wheel button to zoom in and out. Press V and drag the scene to tilt and press C and drag to pan the scene view.

    Next, you'll review the contents of the scene. The Buildings layer is a scene service layer. It was published from multipatch features and made available by the City of Portland. The building features are displayed using a unique-value renderer, in which the colors represent the land-use type of each building.

  5. In the Contents pane, in the 3D Layers section, expand the Buildings layer.

    Buildings pane

  6. On the ribbon, on the Map tab, in the Navigate group, click Bookmarks and choose Landuse.

    Landuse bookmark

    The map centers on a set of buildings near the river.

    Landuse bookmark location

  7. Click a red building in the scene to open a pop-up window showing its attributes.

    Pop-up with building attributes

    In this example, the Use value in the pop-up is a commercial land use type, Commercial Hotel.

  8. Click a yellow building and a purple building in the scene and observe the Use value in the pop-up window for each of the buildings.

    Purple buildings represent Industrial land use buildings and yellow buildings represent Residential land use buildings.

    Pop-up for a purple building

    The use of this style of symbology helps us quickly understand where the commercial, residential, and industrial sectors of the City of Portland are located.

  9. Close the pop-up.
  10. On the ribbon, on the Map tab, click Bookmarks and choose the Start bookmark.

    The map zooms out to show the entire city.

  11. In the Contents pane, turn on and expand the FireStations layer.

    Five fire stations appear across the city.

    Fire stations in the city

    The FireStations layer is a file geodatabase point feature class and contains the name and address of fire stations in the central region of the City of Portland. It is currently being rendered as a single-symbol icon point.

  12. Navigate to the River bookmark.

    Location of the River bookmark on the scene

    The symbols for FireStation are currently difficult to see from certain viewing angles and can be obscured by the buildings. Next, you'll use vertical offsets to improve the visibility of the FireStation layer.

  13. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save to save your project.

    Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar

    Tip:

    You can also save your project by pressing Ctrl+S.

Use elevation to reveal 3D points

To make the fire stations easier to identify, you'll use vertical offsets to lift the points from their hidden locations inside the urban canyons.

  1. In the Contents pane, right-click the FireStations layer and choose Properties.
  2. In the Layer Properties window, click the Elevation tab. For Cartographic offset, type 200 and press Enter.

    Window for Layer Properties: FireStations with Cartographic offset with 200 meters selected

  3. Click OK.

    The FireStation symbols now display at a 200-meter offset from the ground, making them more visible among the 3D buildings.

    Symbols with the cartographic offset

    The FireStation symbols are not visibly linked to any point on the ground. Next, you'll add a duplicate layer to create a connection point between the symbols and the ground level.

  4. In the Contents pane, right-click the FireStations layer and choose Copy.
  5. In the Contents pane, right-click Portland, Oregon and choose Paste.

    A copy of the FireStation layer appears in the 3D Layers section of the Contents pane.

  6. Click the name of the duplicated layer two times. Rename the duplicated layer as FireStations RW and press Enter.
  7. Double-click FireStations RW to open its Layer Properties window.
  8. In the Layer Properties window, click the Display tab. Under Display symbols in scene, check the Real-world units box.

    Display tab in Layer Properties window

  9. Click OK.
  10. In the Contents pane, uncheck FireStations.

    The symbols for the FireStation layer have updated to draw in real-world units (meters) instead of screen units (points). As you zoom in and out, their size will remain fixed relative to the earth, rather than to your screen.

    FireStation symbol in real-world units

    However, the symbols are now too small and difficult to locate.

  11. Save the project.

Edit 3D symbology and visibility

Next, you'll add a leader line to the FireStation RW symbology and configure visibility range so the fire station symbols are clear at any extent in the scene.

  1. In the Contents pane, click the symbol for FireStations RW layer.

    Symbol for the FireStations RW layer

    The Symbology pane appears.

  2. In the Symbology pane, click the Properties tab. Click the Structure tab.

    Structure tab

  3. Under Layers, click Add symbol layer and choose Marker layer.

    Marker layer option

    A new marker layer represented by a solid black dot symbol is added to the current shield symbol. Next, you will update and modify this marker layer.

  4. Click the Layers tab and click the new marker layer to select it.

    Shape marker properties

  5. Under the Appearance section, click the Form gallery and choose the vertical, rectangular shape.

    Change marker form to stick shape.

    The Shape line symbol updates.

  6. Under Appearance, set the following parameters:
    • UnderForm, for Color, choose Gray 50%.
    • For Size, type 200 and press Enter.
    • Under Size, uncheck Scale proportionally.

    Configuration for Appearance section

  7. Under Depth, click Presets and choose Signpost anchor at top.

    Presets button

    Next, you'll edit the shield shape marker.

  8. At the top of the Symbology pane, click the red shield symbol layer.

    Modify shield shape marker properties.

  9. Under Appearance, for Size, type 30 and press Enter.
  10. Click the third Shape marker symbol and set Size to 30 m.

    Modify outline marker size.

  11. Click Apply.

    The fire stations are now symbolized with 30-meter-high icons and 200-meter-high posts that tie the icons to locations on the ground.

    Fire station symbols with posts

    Now you have one layer defined for close viewing, and one defined for viewing at a distance. An important 3D cartographic technique is combining symbology together to create a smooth user experience across scale. You'll edit the FireStations RW symbology to blend seamlessly with the FireStations symbology.

  12. In the Contents pane, click the FireStations symbol.

    Symbol for the layer FireStations

  13. In the Symbology pane, if necessary, click the red shield symbol layer.
  14. In the Appearance section, for Depth, type 2 and press Enter.

    Alter the shield depth setting.

    This will make the symbol more visible compared to the symbol for the FireStations RW layer.

  15. Click the white circle Shape marker layer and set Depth to 2.
  16. Click Apply and close the Symbology pane.

    Next, you'll configure the visibility range of the FireStations layer.

  17. In the Contents pane, turn on the FireStations layer and ensure that it is selected.
  18. On the ribbon, click the Appearance tab. In the Visibility Range group, for In Beyond, type 5,000 ft and press Enter.

    Make appearance tab settings

  19. Navigate and explore the map. Zoom in and out to observe the visibility of the two fire station layers.

    Fire station symbols viewed from far away

    The two layers work well together to show fire station locations from all viewing distances.

    Fire station symbols viewed from a closer distance

  20. Save the project.

Add surface shading and exaggeration

The ground surface of a scene has many roles. It provides a canvas upon which draped content, such as aerial imagery or basemaps, can be placed. It provides an elevation source for 2D features, such as tree points or fire station locations. It can also provide significant context for the data around it.

Surfaces can be difficult to visualize well in the view, especially in flat locations (such as Florida or the Netherlands) or from high viewing positions (such as several thousand feet above the earth). In these cases, both surface shading and vertical exaggeration can be helpful.

  1. On the Map tab, in the Navigate group, click Bookmark and choose Exaggeration.

    The scene zooms to a view that shows where the terrain should have some higher elevation relative to the area by the river.

  2. In the Contents pane, uncheck the Buildings layer.

    Review scene without exaggeration applied.

    It is difficult to visualize the surface terrain. The current basemap does not contain any terrain details, such as shading. From the current extent and viewpoint, around 5,000 feet, the scene is visually flattened, and you cannot discern any terrain morphology.

    You can improve this by adding shading and exaggeration of the ground surface.

  3. In the Contents pane, in the Elevation Surfaces group, click Ground.
  4. On the ribbon, click the Elevation Surface Layer tab. In the Drawing group, for Vertical Exaggeration, type 3.00 and press Enter.
  5. In the Surface group, check the box for Shade Relative To Light Position.

    Update elevation layer exaggeration and surface shading properties.

    The shading and exaggeration of the ground surface updates in the scene and is more visible.

    Explore and review shading and exaggeration updates.

  6. Save the project.

The options for thematic representations of GIS content in a 3D view are endless and moving away from reality and into the cartographic realm, which can allow you to describe your GIS content in a clearer and more concise way.

In this tutorial, you learned to use 3D features to elevate a ground level location to be more visible. You also learned that 3D views have a continuous range of scales, or levels of detail, throughout the view, and that symbols can be configured to work well across a wide range of distances. Surface data can play a supporting role for other content, or it can be highlighted as the primary element in the view.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.