What's new in cartography for Esri Production Mapping (Production Mapping)

With this latest release of Esri Production Mapping, several new features and enhancements have been included, as well as significant improvements in stability and performance. One of the major changes is that MPS-Atlas (map book functionality) is now an optional part of the Esri Mapping and Charting solutions installation. In addition, there are a number of general improvements that have been made to the Production Mapping geoprocessing experience. One significant area of new functionality is the introduction of a new PDF map exporter that allows for the creation of press-ready PDF files which support spot color, tinting, and overprinting directly from ArcGIS for Desktop.

New at 10.1 Service Pack 1 Patch 3

With Patch 3 for Service Pack 1, a new object has been added to the arcpyproduction site package, as well as several new functions.

• Grid object—Provides access to properties for grids and graticules layers
• ClipDataFrameToGeometry function—Clips the drawing of the data frame to a polygon geometry
• DisableDataFrameClipping function—Removes any existing clipping setting on the data frame
• ListGrids function—Returns a list of grid objects in a specified feature dataset

New at 10.1 Service Pack 1

With 10.1 Service Pack 1, there is a new Python site package, arcpyproduction. This site package contains a mapping module that allows you to automate map export. The functions included in the site package are as follows:

• ExportToLayoutGeoTIFF—Exports the page layout of a map document (.mxd) to the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) with spatial reference information, which is also known as a GeoTIFF.
• ExportToProductionPDF—Exports the page layout or data frame of a map document to a Production Portable Document Format (PDF) file.
• ExportToSeparatedTIFF—Exports the page layout or data frame of a map document to separate Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files based on color mapping settings.

MPS-Atlas

In the current release, as was the case in version 10.0, MPS-Atlas functionality is available within Production Mapping. MPS-Atlas (map book functionality) is an optional part of the Esri Mapping and Charting solutions installation. By default, this feature will not be installed. However, if users have not migrated their map book management workflows to using Data Driven Pages and are still creating and managing their map books with MPS-Atlas, they should consider doing so or install this feature before opening existing map documents.

Cartographic data

Several changes have been made to a number of the Production Mapping tools used to create cartographic data:

• Addition of a new Nearest Neighbor UTM zone coordinate zone calculator for the Grids and Graticules Designer. This feature allows XML files consumed by the Make Grids and Graticules Layer geoprocessing tool to automatically set a UTM zone that is closest to, but not the zone of, the specified extent.
• Ability to associate specific grid segments to specific AOI sides based on angle range using the Grids and Graticules Designer. This allows XML files consumed by the Make Grids and Graticules Layer geoprocessing tool to automatically adjust and create grids for map extents with more than four sides.
• You are no longer required to use the ImportToolbox statement when running Production Mapping geoprocessing tools in Python.
• The Magnetic Calculator geoprocessing tool parameter list and user experience has been standardized, which will require any existing models or scripts using this tool to be updated.
• The Magnetic Isolines geoprocessing tool has been removed from Production Mapping and replaced with a geoprocessing model tool that is accessible from the ArcGIS Resources website.
• The Create Generalized Bands geoprocessing tool has been removed from Production Mapping to be included in the Esri Defense Mapping extension.

Cartographic editing

The Production Cartographic Editing toolbar has been added, allowing for easy access to a number of new or existing editing tools focused primarily on utilizing feature class representations. The new tools allow you to change the visibility of features (using feature class representations) and annotation without having to remove features from the database or set definition queries on the layer.

Symbology

Visual specifications has a number of improvements, which include an up to 30 percent decrease in calculation times of specifications over previous versions. Other changes to managing symbology include:

• More than one table can be added at a time in the SQL Query Builder dialog box when designing specifications.
• Standardized geoprocessing tools parameter list and user experience for the three tools in the Symbology toolset: Calculate Specifications, Drop Visual Specifications, and Select Features by Specifications Difference. Changes to these tools require existing models or scripts using these tools to be updated.
• The visual specifications edit extension has been removed; when features are updated, the geoprocessing tools must be used to update the field values.
• The Apply Views geoprocessing tool has been removed. Layer and data frame management should be managed using ArcPy or standard ArcGIS for Desktop tools. This will require existing models or scripts using this tool to be updated.

• Production Mapping feature class representations marker placement styles and geometric effects have been added to ArcGIS for Desktop, allowing these effects to be displayed in map services. If you use the following effects, you should update the databases.

  • The On Rotation marker placement style is equivalent to using the Clockwise property which is part of all ArcGIS for Desktop marker symbols.
  • The Line Extension geometric effect is equivalent to the ArcGIS for Desktop Extension effect.
  • The Offset Tangent geometric effect is equivalent to the ArcGIS for Desktop Offset Tangent effect.
  • The Suppress Outline geometric effect is equivalent to the ArcGIS for Desktop Suppress effect.

Page layout and elements

Enhancements were made for a more intuitive, consistent, and explicit experience for grouping and ungrouping elements in the Layout window, such as:

• The Group command now creates a new subgroup element when you have selected elements within an existing group.
• When a grouped element is ungrouped, the elements are not placed at the top of the Layout window but set to the group element order.
• The Group and Ungroup commands honor undo/redo operations.

Production PDF map exporter

The addition of the Production PDF map exporter allows the creation of printer press-ready PDF files directly from ArcGIS for Desktop without the need to leave the system or use a third-party application. This new map exporter replaces all the existing workflows supported by the See Spot Color command, improves experience, and adds new features not supported before. The Production PDF map exporter supports the following workflows:

• Ability to define and set spot colors, including tint value.
• Overprinting, allowing colors to blend with another for both CMYK and spot colors.
• Color separation support with the ability to set screen angles and frequency values.
• Replacement of colors, map one color to another during map export without affecting the colors defined in the map document.
• Save and share all PDF file settings as an external .xml file. This includes not just the print production settings but all standard ArcGIS for Desktop PDF file settings and values.