View linking is a navigation experience and can be used for multiple maps, scenes, or a mix of these 2D and 3D views.
Arrange your views
To improve the link experience, it is helpful to arrange the layout of your views so that you can see them all. Although not required to use linking, if you move the views around the display and dock them side by side vertically, stacked horizontally, or some combination if you have more than two views linked, you can optimize the visual experience. For example, if you frequently do presentations or compare analysis and editing results, it can be common to have one view used as a reference map and another view used for active exploring and editing.
Choose a primary view
The primary, or active, view is the view that drives and coordinates all the other views linked with it. When you select a view and turn on linking, all other views will link to that view by updating their extents to match. This also depends on the link mode you define. The primary view is the one you are using to drive the navigation from. If you click another view while linking is turned on, it will become the new active view, causing the other views to switch and link with it.
Steps to link multiple views
- Activate the view you want to use as the primary view for all others to link with.
- On the View tab, in the Link group, click the Link Views drop-down menu to select a mode. The link button icon updates to reflect the chosen link mode and the button is now highlighted.
- Center
—Works best when it is not important to maintain the scale or rotation
orientation,
for example, when looking at the same location or feature from different perspectives. - Center and Scale
—Works best when showing different layers of the same data.
When linking multiple 2D views and using the Center and Scale option, you may notice at times that the geographical extents of the views do not match. This occurs when the aspect ratio of the view windows are not the same. The map's center, scale, and rotation will still match for all 2D views when this extent option is used. - Center
- Click the Link button again to turn the link off. The button has split functionality. The bottom drop-down menu allows you selection for the mode. The upper part controls turning the link on and off.
Verify that linking is enabled
There are two things you can look for to verify if view linking is enabled. The first is to check for a chain-link icon, which appears as an overlay on each view tab. This is the most obvious way, since you can quickly glance at the views in the display. The second option is to select the View tab; the Link Views button will be highlighted.
The link state of a view is persisted when saving your project. If you close your project and linking was still enabled, it will be on when you reopen to continue working in that same project. In new, blank projects, linking is off by default.