Creating Multiple images and PDFs with Mapbook
| Pros/Cons | Free download for ArcMap that is easy to use. |
| Required in order to Create | Download from the Developers Samples |
| Know-how Necessary | Standard GIS knowledge |
| Cost | Free |
| Requires to Use (besides the internet and a browser) | Nothing |
| CT Example: | Town of Enfield. This is a web link to all the tax maps that were created and are updated using Mapbook. |
Mapbook was designed for making books of maps, like atlases. In that way, it was designed to take a large map and create tiles for publishing on different pages. It works great for this, but can be used for many other applications too. After installation, a new tab appears in ArcMap.
Before you start:
Get your data together. At a minimum, you need the index layer which is polygon shapefile. The file needs to have an attribute that is unique for each polygon AND that attribute needs to be a text field. Hint: the layer doesn't need to be visible.
Get your layout together. If outputing more than the map, such as a layout with a title, legend, etc., get it all set up. You can use Mapbook to change layout text based on the index layer's attributes.
General Steps:
Visit the exercise for details. 
- Click on the new Mapbook tab and right-click over Map Series and select Add Map Series.
- You then have a number of options like:
* choosing the index layer (the one that will be used as the output boundaries)
* if the output shapes should be clipped at the boundaries or be a rectangle
*
if you want a constant output size and variable scales (choose Variable) or a constant scale and variable output sizes (choose Fixed)
*
if you want the neighboring tiles labeled
When the Add Series is finished, it creates a "page" for each of the polygon shapes in the index. Click on one to take a look. Notice that there are options to "tag" attributes. This means you could add text to your layout and have it change based on an attribute. This is useful for the title.
Export the Mapbook Output
Right-click over the series and select Export Series. Choose the file type, such as .gif or .pdf. An output file will be created for each member of the series.
Activity
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The Mapbook activity takes you through setting up your data to create a mapbook series and then export the series as an image or a pdf with a map layout. |