Printing and exporting temporal maps
When you use the Time Slider window to change time options, any visual change you see on screen will also be reflected when the map is printed via File > Print or exported via File > Export Map. Because the exported or printed image will always match what you see on screen, you can consider the time slider to be just another way of controlling the appearance of your printed map.
Learn more about printing maps in ArcMap
Learn more about exporting maps in ArcMap
Producing a time series output
In many cases, you may wish to output a time series instead of a single map image. A time series can be represented by printing multiple pages or by exporting multiple image files. Each printed page or exported file displays a different point in time.
It is possible to produce a time series export via manual interaction by repetitively setting the time via the Time Slider Control on the Time Slider window and performing a print or export for each time period. Learn more about using the time slider.
However, a better approach is to use a simple python script to achieve the same result. The arcpy.mapping module provides a number of simple functions for interacting with the time properties of a map. It also includes functions for printing and exporting. By creating a python script that combines the printing and exporting functions together with those that control time in your map, it becomes quite easy to produce a variety of time series output products, such as
- A single PDF document with multiple pages inside, each page representing a different point in time
- A series of image files that can be inserted into other documents such as a PowerPoint presentation
- A series of printed, large-format posters, each representing a different time period
Learn more about using arcpy.mapping python scripts to produce time series output
