Esri Mapping Center - Ask a Cartographer

Vertical labeling

September 02 2010 | 2 comments
Categories: Labeling

Hi,

How would you go about creating vertical labels? I need to recreate the road numbering system for Forest Service roads. The arterial and collector classification is horizontal (and thereby easy), but the local class is three digits displayed vertical.

Thank you.

Mapping Center Answer:

I was able to do this using a VB script function to read the draw the first number in the name, then add a new line, draw the second number, add a new line, and draw the third number. In my test, I drew the names in a highway shield type of label. You can see my results below. Maybe something like this will work for you. If you think it will, you can use the label expression I created (it's attached here) as a starting point. If you load it and change [HWY_NUM] to your field name, then you will be at least part of the way there.

Example of vertical labels

Attachment: vertical labels label expression

Change Text Background posted by Aaron Greiner on Sep 13 2010 11:55AM

I had this same issue and created the same expression for a vertical sign map I'm working on. Now, I'd like the Marker Text Backgound to be a box, but when I use the Scale Market to fit text, I get a huge box around my narrow numbers. Is there a way to make a custom, more narrow box to set as the background?

Follow the instructions in the blog entry posted by Aileen Buckley on Sep 13 2010 4:36PM

There is a way to do this but it is best if you do not use the "Scale Marker to fit text" option -- especially with these vertical labels. Instead, follow the instructions in Mamata's blog entry titled "Using Highway Shields of Varying Widths":

http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2009/07/23/Using-highway-shields-of-varying-widths.aspx

This should work for you!

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