Basic GIS Tools - Changing Symbols

Concepts:
   changing symbol color
   changing symbol
   stylesets
   image contrast
   image brightness

The layers in G:\data_layers are set up to have symbols which should be useful to you most of the time.  These are standard symbols which should be used for MEDEP maps so that folks outside MEDEP may receive maps which are consistent.  However, there may be times when you want to change the symbols.

Changing symbol color
To change a symbol's color without changing any other properties of the symbol, just right-click the symbol in the Table of Contents, and choose a new color from the color palette.  Here is an example:



Changing symbols
To actually change the symbol, left-click the symbol in the Table of Contents and choose a new symbol from the Symbol Selector.  Here is an example:



Stylesets
A styleset is just a set of symbols in ArcMap.  There are many stylesets which can be turned on and off in the Symbol Selector (see above).  Here is the current list of stylesets:

It is wise to only turn on those stylesets that you are actually using at any given time.  Turning on excessive stylesets will just slow down the response of ArcMap when trying to change symbols - in some cases unbearably slow.

Changing image contrast and brightness
Aerial photos and satellite imagery can vary greatly in their quality, even within a single image.  ArcMap provides some simple tools to change the contrast and brightness of imagery in a map.  These tools are all found on the 'Effects' toolbar.  If this toolbar is not already available, you will have to turn it on.  Here is an example: