North arrow frames
in Layouts are frames that contain a North arrow shape. They are
created entirely within the layout and show a North arrow shape that can
be picked in their North Arrow dialog from a variety of North arrow shapes.
By default, the bearing of the North arrow will automatically
be guided by whatever is the topmost map frame below the North arrow frame
in the Layers
pane display stack. The bearing can be set manually, if desired.
This topic discusses the use of North
arrow frames in Layouts.
For info on adding a North arrow virtual layer to a map, see the North Arrows topic.
To create a North arrow frame, open a layout, choose the Create North Arrow tool from the drop-down menu for the cursor mode button in the main toolbar, and then click the approximate center of the North arrow frame you would like to create.
A small North arrow frame appears at that location with the default North arrow shape, a compass shape with four points, in the frame. The Info pane pops open to the Style tab so we can edit the North arrow and change colors, shape, and size as desired. When we would like to apply any changes, we press the Update Frame button. We can resize and reposition the North arrow frame as desired, or click again to create another North arrow frame.
When we are finished creating North arrow frames we can choose
the Default + cursor tool in the
main toolbar to exit Create North Arrow
mode.
Keyboard shortcut: Press Shift-Esc to get back to Default navigation mode.
We open the layout and click on the
Create North Arrow tool in the
cursor mode button in the main toolbar.
In the layout we click approximately where we would like the North arrow frame to appear.
A small North arrow frame of default size appears at the clicked spot, using the default North arrow style, a four pointed compass rose. The North arrow is oriented correctly, taking its orientation from the topmost map frame below the North arrow frame in the Layers pane display stack. In this case, the topmost map frame below the North arrow frame is a map frame where the projection of the map is "North up," so the North point of the compass rose points straight up. If the map had used some rotated projection, the North arrow would point in whatever direction was North given the projection of the map and the location of the North arrow frame.
The North arrow frame is already enabled for editing, as if we had Alt-clicked an existing frame.
In the Layers pane, a new North Arrow frame appears as well:
The Info pane pops open with the default North arrow and styling for the North arrow frame as seen in the illustration at left below.
The Info pane launches with a light blue background by default in the preview pane for the grid. The default light blue background makes it easy to see North arrows that use white or other light colors. We can change the background color as desired by clicking the square color well box in the upper right corner of the preview pane.
We can change the style of the North arrow by clicking the [...] browse button, and then in the North Arrow dialog choosing a different style. See the North Arrows topic for examples using the North Arrow dialog.
If we like we can manually change the X and Y extents of the frame by clicking on the Position tab and then entering whatever extents in millimeters we desire. Except for special purposes, doing that is inefficient as it is easier to simply drag the borders of the frame to resize it and reposition it as we like. Press the Update Frame button to apply the changes.
Immediately, the new North arrow style appears.
We will resize the North arrow frame.
To do that, we click on the Default
cursor button in the main toolbar, to exit Create
North Arrow mode. This allows us to click into the Layout
without creating a new North arrow frame with each click.
We drag the corner handles to resize the North arrow frame as seen above. We now have room to add an N caption, so that the resulting arrow and caption will fit into the size frame we have indicated without being too small.
Back in the Info pane we click the [...] browse button to launch the North Arrow dialog.
In the North Arrow dialog, we check the Text box and add an N character in the S position of the NESW boxes. That will cause an N character to appear at the base of the North arrow. It is OK to put the N at the base of the arrow, because the arrow style we are using makes it clear what the direction is. We increase the size of the font to 20 points as well. The large size of the resulting N caption makes it too large to appear in the preview pane.
Press OK.
Back in the Info pane, we press the Update Frame button to apply the changes.
The North arrow in the North arrow frame immediately changes to the new style properties specified, adding an N caption at the base of the arrow. The size of the arrow plus caption has been reduced so that both can fit inside the frame size we have drawn. Note that there is an extra margin of space at the top of the arrow: since we have specified the use of text in the North Arrow dialog, that extra space is there in case we want to add a text caption at the top of the arrow, using the NESW boxes in the North Arrow dialog.
Resizing a frame for a North
arrow from the default size will try to guess at what we want to do by
resizing the North arrow to fit the arrow as well as any text, overriding
the size of the arrow specified in the style dialog. However, by
reducing the size of the frame it is possible to convince the system that
we do not want room for text and then the system will try to maintain
the size of the arrow without leaving room for text in the frame. We
can avoid forcing the system to guess by using layout frames for North
arrows that are large enough for both the arrow at the specified size
as well as any text at the specified font size.
We can see how the North arrow will look by Alt-clicking outside the frame, to eliminate the edit handles.
We click the Margins
button to turn off margins, to see what the layout will look like when
printed.
If we like, we can Alt-click the North arrow frame and then in the Info pane go into the North Arrow dialog to change the text caption to North at the N position in the NESW boxes. We also change the font used to be the same Segoe UI Bold font used in the text box at the bottom of the layout. The result is seen above.
The small size of the illustration does not allow the 1 point white halo used around the North arrow style to be rendered precisely.
We can zoom into the layout to see that the North arrow and text caption will be rendered precisely accurately when the layout is printed.
The North Arrow dialog used for Layouts is slightly different from the dialog used for North arrow virtual layers in maps, for example, it does not have an Apply button. In layouts, the position, margins and size of the North arrow frame are set by interactively positioning the frame and by dragging edit handles on the frame. In maps, the position, margins, and size of the North arrow are set with additional controls in the North Arrow dialog. See the North Arrows topic for the dialog used for virtual North arrow layers in maps.
The North Arrow dialog allows setting the following parameters:
(Preview pane) |
Shows a preview of the current settings used in the dialog. The background color is light blue by default, to allow either very light or dark shapes to be visible. Change the background color of the preview pane by clicking the square box in the upper right corner of the preview pane. |
(Shapes gallery) |
Choose a North arrow shape from a gallery of popular shapes. Hovering the mouse over a shape will show the name of that shape in a tooltip. |
|
Foreground and stroke color for shapes and text. |
|
Fill color and the color for halos. Some north arrow shapes may use colors that are mixes of foreground and background colors. |
|
Buttons that show a small "box" sub-icon indicate that color has been changed from the default. |
Stroke |
Stroke width for the shape |
Text |
Check to show text captions near north arrow shapes for NESW directions. Some shapes can show captions in all four directions, some only two directions or one direction. |
|
Font for text. Fully configurable for typeface, effects, bold, etc. |
|
Font size for text. |
NESW |
Four boxes for text to use for each of the four directions. Enabled when the Text box is checked. Empty strings by default. |
Halo |
Width of background color halo for shape and text. Default: 1pt. Setting Halo to 0 turns off the halo. |
Bearing |
The direction of the North arrow, if the Auto box is not checked. |
Auto |
When checked (the default), compute the North arrow's bearing automatically using the topmost map frame that is below the North arrow frame in the Layers pane display stack. Bearings are first computed using the center of the north arrow shape, and then, if that fails because the north arrow is outside of the coordinate system domain of the map frame, based on the center of the map frame. |
North arrow frames orient their North arrow based on the topmost map frame below the North arrow frame in the Layers pane display stack.
If the North arrow frame in the Layers pane display stack is below all map frames in the layout, the North arrow frame will orient the North arrow it contains based on whatever is the topmost map frame in the Layers pane display stack.
Many projections used in cartography can have widely varying bearings to North depending on where in the map the North arrow is located. When a North arrow frame has auto bearing turned on, the North arrow frame checks whether the center of the North arrow shape is inside the map frame used by the North arrow frame. If the center of the North arrow shape is inside the map frame, the bearing of the North arrow will be computed based on the center of the North arrow shape. If the center of North arrow shape falls outside the map frame being used by the North arrow frame, the bearing will be computed based on the center of the map frame.
We can see how that works using a layout that contains one component layer, a map that shows the countries of the world using Mollweide projection.
The layout has a latitude / longitude Grid turned on for the world map frame, with grid step set to 30 degrees, so we can see from the meridian lines the bearing to North at various locations in the map.
Positioning the North arrow frame to the East of Japan causes the North arrow it contains to be oriented to the bearing to North at the center of the North arrow shape.
Moving the North arrow frame to a position in the Indian Ocean causes the North arrow to assume the bearing to North at that position.
Moving the North arrow frame to a position over South America likewise adjusts the bearing of the North arrow for that position.
Like many things in cartography, using North arrows in layouts should be approached with common sense. It does not make sense to use North arrows with some projections, like Mollweide, in displays that are so zoomed out that the bearings shown by North arrows will greatly vary based on position within the view that is shown.
Zoomed in, as in the view above centered on Thailand, even with Mollweide projection it may still make sense to use a North arrow as part of the display, since the bearings do not vary that much over the portion of the map that is shown. In the illustration above, we have decreased the grid step from 30 degrees to 10 degrees.
