Introduction to control points

Control points are special vertices used to apply symbol effects to line or polygon features. By default, they appear as diamonds when you edit them. They can also be used to migrate representations from ArcMap to features in ArcGIS Pro.

For example, the suppress effect can give the appearance of gaps between pairs of control points to what is essentially a continuous line feature.

The example shows the suppress effect constrained by control points.

Control points can also be used to constrain the pattern of a symbol effect. For example, you can use them to constrain the middle of a dash effect to display at every control point.

The example shows the dash symbol effect without control points.

In this example, the disruption in the dash pattern phasing is spread evenly along the length of the feature, minimizing the cartographic impact of the pattern that might otherwise occur where the line feature changes direction.

The example shows the dash symbol effect constrained by control points.