Add the Elevation Guide Bar

Available with Defense Mapping license.

The Elevation Guide Bar surround element is a legend that defines the elevation bands displayed in the Elevation Guide map frame of a Topographic Map (TM) product. The Elevation Guide Bar accentuates the highest and lowest shape and elevation of the terrain and is a quick reference for general landforms.

Note:

The Elevation Guide map frame can be found in the layouts for TM products in the following Defense Mapping product files folders:

• <Installation Directory>\Defense Mapping\Product Files\<Version>\Mgcp\Cartography\Layouts
• <Installation Directory>\Defense Mapping\Product Files\<Version>\Tds\Cartography\Layouts

The number of hypsometric bands displayed in the Elevation Guide Bar depends on the differences in elevation in the map. Bands are created based on an elevation bands feature class that was created by the Generate Elevation Guide Features geoprocessing tool. The number of bands in the Elevation Guide Bar is dependent on the number of bands identified in the feature class. There can be two, three, or four bands with the following labels:

• Two bands—Low and High
• Three bands—Low, Medium, and High
• Four bands—Low, Medium, High, and Highest

Note:

The Elevation Guide Bar element is not displayed when there is only one elevation band.

You can manually set the number of bands displayed in the Elevation Guide Bar in the Format Elevation Guide Bar pane. If your data is from a source that does not have the Number of Bands field defined, you will need to manually define the number of bands in the Format Elevation Guide Bar pane.

Insert an Elevation Guide Bar

Before inserting an Elevation Guide Bar, verify that the associated Elevation Guide map frame is active.

1. Verify that the map is in layout view.

   If you don't have a layout set up for your project, see Add a layout to your project.

2. Click the Insert tab.
3. Click Additional Surrounds and click Elevation Guide Bar in the Topographic group.

   The Elevation Guide Bar is added to the layout.

Modify the Elevation Guide Bar

You can modify the properties and appearance of the Elevation Guide Bar using the Format tab and the Format Elevation Guide Bar pane. The following properties can be found on either the Format tab or the Options tab in the Format Elevation Guide Bar pane.

The map frame, map, and layer source associated with the Elevation Guide Bar can be changed in the drop-down lists in the Source group.

You can automatically update the Elevation Guide Bar on map frame events, such as pan and zoom—based on the map frame, map, and layer source—by checking the Update Dynamically check box in the Elevation Guide Bar group. The Update Dynamically check box is unchecked by default.

You can manually set the number of bands displayed in the Elevation Guide Bar by choosing one of the following options in the Number of Bands drop-down list in the Elevation Guide Bar group:

• 1—The Elevation Guide Bar is not displayed.
• 2—Low and high bands appear in the Elevation Guide Bar.
• 3—Low, Medium, and High bands appear in the Elevation Guide Bar.
• 4—Low, Medium, High, and Highest bands appear in the Elevation Guide Bar. This is the default value.