Learning about contextual tabs

Contextual tabs are smart tabs that appear when you select an item within ArcGIS Pro. This could be a layer, a map, a layout, a table and so on. When you select one of these items, a tab or tabs will appear on the ribbon that contains tools specific to working with that item.

These are often grouped into a contextual tab set. For example, if you select a layer from the Contents pane, the Feature Layer contextual tab set will appear, which contains three contextual tabs, namely, Appearance, Labeling, and Data. You will examine the Feature Layer contextual tab set and the tabs it contains next. You will explore other contextual tabs throughout other chapters in the book.

Understanding the Feature Layer contextual tab set

The Feature Layer contextual tab set appears when you select a layer within the Contents pane. It includes three contextual tabs, namely, Appearance, Labeling, and Data tabs. Each of these allows you to access various properties associated with the layer you have selected. The following screenshot illustrates this contextual tab set and its included contextual tabs:

We will now examine each of these contextual tabs in greater detail, starting with the Appearance tab.

Learning about the Appearance tab

The Appearance tab contains tools that control the display of the selected layer. Here, you can change the symbology, set visibility scales, apply transparency, and more:

You can see that there are five groups within the Appearance tab. These are Visibility Range, Effects, Drawing, Extrusion, and Faces. We will learn about these groups in the upcoming sections.

The Visibility Range, Effects, and Drawing groups will be available for all layers.

Visibility Range group

Visibility Range allows you to set scales at which the layer will be visible or not. This allows you to control the level of detail displayed in a map based on how close you are zoomed in or out:

This reduces clutter, improves readability, and increases the redraw performance of the map. You would want to apply a visible scale range to a layer if it contains a lot of detailed information that may overlap or start to merge together if you zoom out. This is also good to apply to any map you intend to publish as a web service via ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise.

Effects group

The Effects group, shown as follows, contains several interesting and useful tools if you have a map that contains overlapping layers that may hide one another:

The following is a description of the functions of the various tools you will find in the Effects group:

• Transparency: The Transparency tool includes the slider bar, which is used to apply transparency to the selected layer. By making a layer more transparent, you can see other layers that may be beneath it in the map.
• Swipe: Below the Transparency setting is the Swipe tool. This tool does exactly what the name implies. It allows you to swipe the selected layer out of the way with your mouse. You can swipe left to right, right to left, top to bottom, or bottom to top. This allows you to temporarily turn a portion of a layer on or off as you swipe. This tool is good for performing comparisons between two or more layers.
• Flicker: Below the Effects tool is the Flicker tool. This tool will cause a layer to automatically flick on and off based on the specified interval.

We will examine the Drawing group next.

Drawing group

The Drawing group controls various display properties for the selected layer, such as what symbology is used, using one layer to hide or mask another, and applying display filters so that only specific features within the selected layer appear at specified scales. The following screenshot shows you the various tools you will find in this group:

The following is a description of the function of the tools included in this group:

• Symbology: The Symbology tool allows you to control which type of symbology you wish to apply to the layer. This can be a single symbol, unique symbols, graduated color symbols, and more. You will learn more about the different types of symbol methods in Chapter 3, Creating 2D Maps.
• Masking: This tool allows you to mask or hide features in one layer based on features in another layer. This can reduce clutter in the map and make it easier to read.
• Display Filters: This tool allows you to control when specific groups of features within the layer become visible at specified scales. The groups are created based on a query or expression you create.
• Import: This tool allows you to import the symbology settings for a layer based on another existing layer or a layer file.

We will examine the Extrusion and Faces groups next.

Extrusion and Faces groups

Extrusion and Faces groups will only be available when working with a 3D scene. Extrusion allows you to extend 2D features above a 3D surface, such as building footprints or light poles. The following is a screenshot of these two groups:

The Extrusion layer must be in the 3D Layers category in the Contents pane. The Faces group contains tools to control transparency and lighting in a 3D scene. Face Culling allows you to see through parts of a 3D feature. Lighting allows you to create and control shadows. You will learn more about some of these tools and settings in Chapter 5, Creating and Working with Projects.

We will learn about the Labelling tab in the next section.

Learning about the Labeling tab

Labels are one method of adding text to a map or scene. They provide useful information about features shown in a map, such as a road name, parcel owner, or asset inventory number. Labels are dynamic. This means several things.

First, they are linked to values stored in the layer's attribute table. Second, the computer will place the labels based on the settings you configure. The labels will shift and change position as you pan or zoom within the map.

The following screenshot shows you the visual for the Labeling tab:

The Labeling tab contains six groups. These are as follows:

• Layer
• Label Class
• Visibility Range
• Text Symbol
• Label Placement
• Map

The contextual tab allows you to access tools for adding and configuring text labels to the features within the selected layer. The tools presented on this table will vary depending on what type of layer you have selected. Points, lines, and polygons will have different options.

For example, when labeling a line layer, you can place the label above, below, or on the line and oriented parallel, perpendicular or curved along the line, whereas with a polygon layer, you can choose to place the label within the polygon onlyor you can allow them outside the polygon. You can also select whether the label will be horizontal only or allowed along a diagonal in the polygon. This is called straight in ArcGIS Pro.

We will look at the aforementioned six groups in the upcoming sections.

Layer group

This group contains a single tool – Label. The Label tool turns labeling on or off for the selected layer. This is just one of several ways in which labels for a layer can be turned on or off.

Label Class group

The Label Class group contains tools that allow you to determine what features you wish to label and what field or fields from the attribute table you wish to label them with. The following screenshot shows the tools you will find in this group:

The following list provides descriptions of the tool functions in this group:

• Class drop-down selection: This allows you to select which label class you want to make setting changes to. Each label class can have its own unique label settings. For example, you could create a label class based on the type for each road so that highways could be labeled using a different setting than a local city road. This can greatly expand the flexibility of labels. A layer will have at least one label class, called Class 1. Unless you create a Label Class query, this default class will include all features in the layer.
• Label Class Query: This tool allows you to create a query, which, in turn, creates a new label class. The new class will contain features that meet the conditions called for by the query you build. For example, you might want to label all commercial properties differently to residential properties. So, you would want to create a label class for the commercial properties using a query that filters just those properties.
• Label Features In This Class: This turns the labels on or off for the class that is displayed in the Class drop-down selection. If the layer has only a single label class, this will turn the labels on or off for the entire layer.
• Field drop-down selection: This drop-down option allows you to select the field from the layer's attribute table that you want to label the features of on the map. This dropdown will automatically populate with the fields found in the selected layers attribute table.
• Label Expression: This tool will open the Label Class pane and allow you to build a custom labeling expression. Labeling expressions allow you to label using multiple fields, add more information to the label, split a label across multiple lines, and more. You can create expressions using the VBScript, JScript, Python, or Arcade languages.

Text Symbol group

The Text Symbol group tab contains tools and settings that control how a label is visualized:

Here, you can change the font, size, and color. You can also choose to make the label bold, italicized or underlined. ArcGIS Pro also includes several predefined label styles that you can also choose to use from this group tab.

Label Placement group

The Label Placement group tab controls the general placement of the label in relation to the feature being labeled:

The options here will vary depending on whether you are working with points, lines, or polygons. For example, for a line layer, you will have the options to place the label above, below, or on the line. The options for a point or a polygon layer will be different.

Map group

The last group tab is Map. The tools located here control the drawing of the labels within the map:

Let's look at these options in more detail:

• Pause: Pauses the redraw of labels on the map for faster performance.
• View Unplaced: Displays the location of labels that have not been placed on the map because of a conflict with other features or labels based on your configuration settings.
• More: This provides a drop-down menu to other options or settings, as shown in the following screenshot:

The tools located under the More menu provide more advanced settings for your labels and how they interact with other labels and features. You can also select what label engine you wish to use in your map. By default, ArcGIS Pro uses the Maplex Label Engine. This is one of two engines you can use. The other is the Esri Standard Label Engine. Maplex is the more advanced of the two and provides greater configuration options for your labels.

Learning about the Data tab

The Data tab contains tools that interact with the attribute table for the selected layer. It contains eight groups:

Those groups are as follows:

• Definition Query
• Table
• Selection
• Design
• Archiving
• Relationship
• Export
• Visualize

We will only explore some of the most commonly used groups and tools found on this tab.

Definition Query group

This group only contains a single drop-down list option. The dropdown will populate with any definition queries you have created for the selected layer and apply the query you select. Definition queries allow you to apply a filter to the features displayed in a layer so you only see those features that meet the criteria called for by the query. This helps reduce clutter in the map and improve performance.

Table group

This group contains two tools that will open the attribute table for the selected layer. One opens the entire table and the other only opens the table to show selected features. Let's explore these:

• Attribute Table: This option opens the attribute table for the selected layer. The attribute table contains additional information about the features displayed on the map.
• Table from Selection: This option opens the attribute table for the selected layer, but only displays records in the table for the features that have been selected. If no features are selected, then this icon will be grayed out.

Selection group

This group contains tools that allow you to select or deselect records from within the table. Records are the rows you see in the table. If you are looking at an attribute table, each record in the table corresponds to a feature within the layer on the map. Hence, selecting a record in the table will also select a feature on the map. Let's look at these in more depth:

• All: This tool selects all records within the active table.
• Switch: This tool reverses your selection. All records that were not selected originally become selected, and all those that were selected are deselected.
• Clear: This tool clears your selection. This means it deselects all selected records, leaving you with nothing selected.
• Layer from Selection: This tool creates a new layer that contains the features that were selected. This new layer will reference the same data source, but will only display the features that were selected originally.

Export group

This group contains tools that allow you to export features or records to a new data source. This can be a new feature class or standalone table, depending on what tool you choose.

• Export Features: This tool will export features in the selected layer to a new shapefile or geodatabase feature class, creating a copy of the layer at the time of export.
• Export Table: This tool will export the records from the selected layers attribute table to a new standalone table. The new table can be saved to a geodatabase or a .dbf file.

The remaining groups on this tab will not be covered as they are too advanced for the level of this book. Some are discussed in the ArcGIS Pro 2.x Cookbook by Packt if you want to learn more about them. Now it is time for you to put some of this new-found knowledge to the test.

We will now move on to the next section about working with 2D and 3D layers as we are now familiar with contextual tabs and all of their components.

Exercise 2B – Working with 2D and 3D layers

It is now time to see how the tools contained in the Feature Layer contextual tab set work. In this exercise, you will use tools on the contextual tabs found in the tab set to make changes to layers within an existing project. You will change a layer's symbology, labels, and more.

Step 1 – Opening the project and adding layers

In this step, you will open a project that has already been created. You will then add some additional layers to a map:

1. Using the skills you have already learned, start ArcGIS Pro and open the Ex 2B project. This project is located in C:\Student\IntroArcPro\Chapter2 or the location where you installed the course data.
2. Activate the Map tab and then click on the Add Data tool located in the Layer group.

1. Expand the Project folder in the panel located on the right-hand side of the Add Data window by clicking on the small arrowhead. Then, select the Databases folder so you see two geodatabases, IntroArcGISPro Exercise 2A and Trippville_GIS.
2. Double-click on the IntroArcGISPro Exercise 2A geodatabase so that you can see its contents.
3. While holding down your Ctrl key, click on the bldg._footprints, RR_Tracks, and Street_Centerlines feature classes to select them, as shown in the following screenshot. Then, click the OK button to add the selected feature classes to your map:

You have now added three new layers to a map from a geodatabase. They should appear in your map once you press the OK button. Take a moment to notice where the new layers were placed in the Contents pane within the layer list. The bldg_footprints layer should appear below the other two layers you added because it is a polygon layer. Street_Centerlines and RR_Tracks are added to the top of the list because they are line layers.

Now that you have added the new layers, you need to configure some of their properties, such as symbology.

Step 2 – Changing symbology

You have just added three new layers to the map. Now you need to adjust the symbology for the layers you added. You will change the railroad layer you added to use a common railroad symbol. You will similarly change the building footprints. Lastly, you will adjust the road centerlines so that they are symbolized based on their condition:

1. Right-click on the bldg_footprints layer in the Contents pane and select Properties from the menu that appears. The layer may also be named Buildings.

1. Click on General located in the pane on the left side of the Properties window.
2. Change the name to Building Footprints and click OK. Notice what happens to the layer in the Contents pane.

When you right-clicked on thebldg_footprintslayer, did you notice what happened to the ribbon? The Feature Layer context tab automatically appeared, providing access to the tools it contains. You will now use those tools to make adjustments to the Building layer you just renamed.

1. Ensure that you still have the Building Footprints layer selected in the Contents pane. Then, select the Appearance contextual tab in the Feature Layer contextual tab set.
2. Click on the Symbology tool to open the Symbology pane on the right side of the ArcGIS Pro interface. The Symbology pane allows you to make changes to the symbology settings for a layer.
3. In the Symbology pane, verify that Primary Symbology is set to Single Symbol, as shown in the following screenshot. If it is not, use the drop-down arrow to set it to Single Symbol, like so:

The color for your current symbol may differ from what is shown in the preceding example. ArcGIS Pro randomly assigns colors to new layers as they are added to a map.

1. Click on the small sample symbol located to the right of the word Symbol. This will open the Symbology pane to the Symbol Gallery, as shown in the following screenshot:

1. In the search box located near the top of the Symbology pane, type Building Footprint to filter the gallery to only symbology associated with building footprints.

You have just changed the symbology for the building footprints layer. Symbology is important because it allows you to differentiate between different layers so that you can identify features in one layer from those in another.

1. Select any of the symbology samples that you see in the gallery that are associated with building footprints.

1. Now, select the RR_Tracks layer in the Contents pane and watch what happens in the Symbology pane.
2. Click on the sample symbol located to the right of the word Symbol to once again open the gallery.
3. Using the same process from before, change the symbology to the Railroad symbol in Gallery, shown in the Symbology pane, as shown in the following screenshot:

1. In the search box located at the top of the Symbology pane, type Railroad to filter the gallery to symbology for railroads.
2. Select any of the presented sample symbols you prefer. Close the Symbology pane when you are done by clicking on the small X in the upper-right corner.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click on the RR_Tracks layer and select Properties from the menu that appears.
2. On the General tab in the Layer Properties window, change the name of the layer to Railroad and click OK.
3. Click on the Project tab and select Save As.
4. Navigate to C:\Student\IntroArcPro\My Projects and name your project <your name> Ex2B.

Now you will change the symbology for the road centerlines to reflect their condition. This will be a bit more challenging than changing a single symbol.

1. Using the skills you have already learned, rename the Street_Centerline layer to Streets.
2. Ensure that the Streets layer is still selected in the Contents pane. Then, click on the Appearance tab in the ribbon.

1. Next, click on the small arrow located below the Symbology tool. Choose Unique Values from the drop-down options, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

The Symbology pane will once again be opened on the right side of ArcGIS Pro. It will look different than what it did when you were working with Single Symbol. It contains many more options and settings. These allow you to configure your symbology based on the attributes found in one or more fields.

1. In the drop-down box located next to Field 1, select Condition as shown in the following screenshot. Notice that ArcGIS Pro automatically adds all values found in this field and assigns them a symbol:

1. Click on the symbol located next to Fair in the grid located in the middle of the Symbology pane to open the symbol gallery.

1. Click on the Properties tab located at the top of the pane, as indicated in the following screenshot:

1. From the Color drop-down selection, set the color to an orange tone or another you prefer and set the width to 1 pt. Then, click Apply.
2. Click on the return arrow located at the top of the Symbology pane to return to the symbology settings for the entire Streets layer.
3. Using the same method from before, make the following adjustments shown in the following list to the symbols for Good and Poor values:
   • Good: A bright green color and width of 1.5 pt.
   • Poor: A bright red color and width of 3 pt.

When you are done, your map should look similar to this:

1. Close the Symbology pane when you are done changing the symbology. Feel free to make changes to other layers in the map.
2. Save your project by clicking on the Save button located on the Quick Access Toolbar located at the very top left-hand side of the ArcGIS Pro interface.

You have just adjusted symbology using the Feature Layer contextual tab. Initially, you simply changed the symbol for all the features in a layer. Then you changed the symbology for the Streets layer so that you could see the condition of each street within that layer. That ability makes your maps more informative and useful. It also shows the power of GIS, where spatial data is linked to attribute information. Now, let's add some labels to the maps.

Step 3 – Labeling

In this step, you will use the Labeling tab in the Feature Layer contextual tab set to add street names to the map. You will configure the labeling for the Streets layer to accomplish this task:

1. Select the Streets layer in the Contents pane.
2. Click on the Labeling tab in the Feature Layer contextual tab set.
3. Click on the Label button located on the far left of the ribbon in the Layer group, as shown in the following screenshot, to turn on labels for the Streets layer. You should see labels appear in the map once you click on the tool:

1. Within the Label Placement group on the Labeling tab, select the North American Streets option, as illustrated in the following screenshot. ArcGIS Pro will then use the placement properties defined by this placement style, including the road name appearing above the centerline and being curved to follow the road:

When you enabled labeling for the Streets layer, the Label Class pane also opened in the right side of ArcGIS Pro in the same place as the symbology pane. This pane allows you to refine various label settings.

1. Right-click on the Streets layer in the Contents pane. Select Labeling Properties from the menu that appears to open the Label Class pane.

1. Click on the Position tab located at the top of the Label Class pane, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

1. In the Label Class pane, click on the Fitting Strategy button. This is the one that looks like a knight piece in chess, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

1. Click on the small arrow next to Reduce size to expand the options for that strategy.

1. Click on the checkbox next to the Reduce font size to enable this fitting strategy.
2. Set the Lower Limit to 5.0 pts and the Step interval to 1.0 pt.

This will allow ArcGIS Pro to automatically adjust the font size in order to get a road name to fit on the map. This will allow more road names to be displayed.

1. Zoom in and out to see how well your labels appear. Turn off the Reduce font size option and then zoom in and out again to see the impact that this option has.
2. Save your project and close the Label Class pane.

You have now added text to your map showing the street names. An automatic label was added to this text. Labels are dynamic text that is tied back to an attribute of the feature. As you have now seen, you can configure some options, but ultimately, the software decides what features are labeled and where the label will appear.

So far, you have worked solely on a 2D map. Now it is time to dip your toe into 3D with the next step.

Step 4 – Working with a 3D layer

One of the things that sets ArcGIS Pro apart from other GIS software is the ability to work and visualize data in 3D without needing additional software or extensions such as 3D Analyst. The ability to view, edit, and query data in 3D is part of the core functionality found in ArcGIS Pro.

In this step, you will add a layer containing building footprints to a 3D scene and then extrude that layer so that you can see the heights of the building. Working with 3D data will tax your computer more than 2D data. So, do not be surprised if this step performs slower. If your computer barely meets the minimum requirements for running ArcGIS Pro, then you may encounter issues and crashes trying to complete this step:

1. In the Catalog pane normally located on the right side of the interface, click on the little arrow next to Maps located at the top of the pane to expand its contents.

1. Once you expand the Maps folder, you should see two maps, namely, Map and Scene. Right-click on Scene and select Open Local View, as shown in the following screenshot. This opens the 3D scene:

1. Activate the Map tab in the ribbon and select the Explore tool.
2. Press the scroll wheel on your mouse down and push your mouse away from you slightly to rotate the map view on the 3D plane until it looks similar to the following screenshot. It does not need to be exact, just close to the example:

1. Place your mouse pointer near the center of the parcels layer and roll your wheel away from you to zoom in. Continue to work with the scroll wheel until you get comfortable with how it allows you to navigate within a 3D scene.
2. Click on the Add Data tool and navigate to IntroArcGISPro Exercise 2A.gdb located under Projects and the Databases folder. Click on the bldg_footprints feature class and click Select.
3. Rename the bldg_footprints layer to Building Footprints using the same process you learned in previous steps.
4. Select the Building Footprints layer in the Contents pane and drag it up to 3D Layers, as depicted in the following screenshot. This will allow you to apply 3D symbology to this layer:

If you are unable to move the Building Footprints layer to 3D Layers, you may need to ensure that you are looking at the List by Drawing Order option in the Contents pane. This is the first button located at the top of the pane.

1. Save your project.

1. If needed, activate the Map tab in the ribbon. Then, click on the Bookmarks tool and select Buildings bookmark. This will zoom the scene, meaning you can see the building as they overlay the ground elevation.
2. Select the Buildings layer once again and click on the Appearance tab. Notice it looks quite a bit different from what you saw when working with a 2D map.
3. In the Extrusion group, click on the small arrowhead below Type and select Base Height. This will allow you to extrude the building based on their estimated height, meaning you can see the differing heights of each building in a 3D view.
4. In the Field drop-down option next to Type, select Estimated Height from the list that appears, as shown in the following screenshot. This is the estimated height of each building:

Your map should now look similar to the following screenshot. The colors of your buildings may be different, but that is to be expected. Remember that ArcGIS Pro assigns colors randomly to layers as they are added to a map or scene:

You have just added and symbolized a 3D layer in ArcGIS Pro. You can now see the 3D relationships between the different buildings within the city. The ability to visualize data in 3D opens up a whole new way to look at data. It can allow you to see relationships between features in one or more layers that you might not see in a 2D view. Any layer can be visualized in 3D. This capability is not limited to just layers dealing with infrastructure. You will learn more about creating 3D scenes in Chapter 4, Creating 3D Scenes.

Challenge

Using the knowledge you have gained in this exercise, try to change the symbols for the buildings in the scene to one of the gray building footprint symbols found in the symbol gallery you saw in the previous step. Changing symbology for a 3D layer is very similar to the method you used to change the symbology for the railroad and building footprints layers in the 2D map.