arcgis desktop - Labeling points with numbers and adding text label to legend as list in ArcMap?

I am developing a series of maps in ArcGIS 10 and don't have a lot of space to label the features on the map. This is why I thought I would number each feature in the dataframe through and then export the labels as a list and put them in the map legend.

So a list in the following way is created and added to the legend

SO
1 Label
2 Label
3 Label

My current workflow to do this is the following: I am adding an attribute 'number' manually for example for all the orange SO points, then I label them with the number. I then export it as a table into Excel and then into Illustrator to generate a nice looking table and copy it back into ArcMap as an image.

Is there an easier way to do this in ArcGIS, I have a lot of maps to do and doing this manually takes a lot of time? Can you think of a better solution to do this?

Answer

There are 2 scripts at work.

First creates attachment – text file - in data driven pages polygon stored in FGDB, name in TOC = Pages.

Data sourced into attachment table from layer called ‘pnts’, it has to have page definition query active. To control appearance of future table you’ll need text element in your layout called TABLE. This is what tool expects as parameters:

The values in field list are field names from ‘pnts’ that you want to show:

Yes you have to change list to suit you needs.

Script iterates through pages and does:

• Remove existing attachment



• 
  

  Create attachment from values taken from pnts table within current DDP.

  
  

  (I usually create a small buffer around pages, intersect it with pnts. This create 2 pnts where buffers overlaps)

  
  

I use is Calibri Light font for text in the TABLE.

Script:

import arcpy, traceback, os, sys, numpy
from arcpy import env
env.overwriteoutput=True


folder=arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
allNames=arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
fldNames=allNames.split(';')
table=r'in_memory\attach'


#Reference MXD and layers
try:
  def showPyMessage():

    arcpy.AddMessage(str(time.ctime()) + " - " + message)
  def isLayerExist (mxd,lName):
    layers = arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd,lName)
    if len(layers)==0:
            raise NameError,'\n'+lName + " layer not found. Exiting.."+'\n'
    result=layers[0]
    return result

  mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")
  thePagesLayer = isLayerExist(mxd,"Pages")

  thePointsLayer = isLayerExist(mxd,"pnts")
  ddp = mxd.dataDrivenPages
  fld = ddp.pageNameField.name
  Page_Names=arcpy.da.TableToNumPyArray(thePagesLayer, fld)
  for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd):
    if elm.name == "TABLE":
      tableTxt = elm
      x=elm.elementPositionX
      y=elm.elementPositionY



##   THING TO CHANGE !!!!!    
  formatS="{:5d}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}{:8.2f}"

  for pageID in range(1, ddp.pageCount+1):
    arcpy.AddMessage(pageID)
    ddp.currentPageID = pageID
    arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
    fOut=folder+os.sep+Page_Names[pageID-1][0]+".txt"
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(thePointsLayer)

    linkValue=Page_Names[pageID-1][0]
    attachName=Page_Names[pageID-1][0]+".txt"
    arcpy.CreateTable_management('in_memory', 'attach')
    arcpy.AddField_management(table, "Page", "TEXT", "", "", 25)
    arcpy.AddField_management(table, "Page2", "TEXT", "", "", 250)
    curT = arcpy.da.InsertCursor(table,("Page","Page2"))
    theRow=(linkValue,fOut)
    curT.insertRow(theRow)
    arcpy.RemoveAttachments_management(thePagesLayer,
                                       fld, table,

                                       "Page")
    textB=""
    tbl=arcpy.da.TableToNumPyArray(thePointsLayer,fldNames)
    tbl=numpy.sort(tbl)
    if len(tbl)>0:
      m=0
      for rec in tbl:
  ##   THING TO CHANGE !!!!!    
        bit=formatS.format(rec[0],rec[1],rec[2],rec[4],rec[6],rec[3],rec[5],rec[7])
        textB+=bit+'\n'

        m+=1
        if m>54: break
      tableTxt.text = textB
      arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(thePointsLayer, "CLEAR_SELECTION")
      tableTxt.elementPositionX=x
      tableTxt.elementPositionY=y
      arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
    fileO = open(fOut, 'w')
    fileO.write(textB)
    fileO.close()

    arcpy.AddAttachments_management(thePagesLayer, fld,
                                    table, "Page", "Page2")
    arcpy.Delete_management(fOut)

except:
    message = "\n*** PYTHON ERRORS *** "; showPyMessage()
    message = "Python Traceback Info: " + traceback.format_tb(sys.exc_info()[2])[0]; showPyMessage()
    message = "Python Error Info: " +  str(sys.exc_type)+ ": " + str(sys.exc_value) + "\n"; showPyMessage()

Output example I am using to control how prints will look like:

Note grey part is separate element here. You also have to change text format line in above script.

Second script does printing (export to pdf, using DDP name), assumes DDP layer name = Pages (the one with attachmet) and there is text element called TABLE in the layout

import arcpy, traceback, os, sys
from arcpy import env
env.overwriteoutput=True

folder=arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
aTable=arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)



#Reference MXD and layers
try:
    def showPyMessage():
        arcpy.AddMessage(str(time.ctime()) + " - " + message)
    def isLayerExist (mxd,lName):
        layers = arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd,lName)
        if len(layers)==0:
            raise NameError,'\n'+lName + " layer not found. Exiting.."+'\n'
        result=layers[0]

        return result

    mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")
    thePagesLayer = isLayerExist(mxd,"Pages")
    ddp = mxd.dataDrivenPages
    fld = ddp.pageNameField.name
    diction={}
    both=arcpy.da.TableToNumPyArray(thePagesLayer, (fld,"OBJECTID"))
    for row in both:
        diction[row[0]]=row[1]

    Page_Names=[row[0] for row in both]
    del both
    #Reference page layout elements
    for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd):
        if elm.name == "TABLE":
            tableTxt = elm
            x=elm.elementPositionX
            y=elm.elementPositionY

    for pageID in range(1,ddp.pageCount+1):

    ##  for pageID in range(1,3):
        ddp.currentPageID = pageID
        baseName=Page_Names[pageID-1]
        OID=diction[baseName]
        query='REL_OBJECTID = %s' %str(int(OID))
        with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(aTable,'DATA',query) as cursor:
            for row in cursor:
                binaryRep = row[0]
                textB=binaryRep.tobytes()
            if len(textB)>0:

                tableTxt.text = textB
            else:
                tableTxt.text = "            "
        tableTxt.elementPositionY=y
        arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
        ddp.exportToPDF(folder+os.sep + baseName + ".pdf","CURRENT")
        arcpy.AddMessage('Exported %i %s' %(pageID,baseName))
except:
    message = "\n*** PYTHON ERRORS *** "; showPyMessage()
    message = "Python Traceback Info: " + traceback.format_tb(sys.exc_info()[2])[0]; showPyMessage()

    message = "Python Error Info: " +  str(sys.exc_type)+ ": " + str(sys.exc_value) + "\n"; showPyMessage()

In above example points are labelled by SectionID and table provides perfect reference.

This couple saved me weeks of time...

I am using 2 scripts because formatting is a hard part, so I run first script with only 2 layers - points and pages on a very basic mxd. Second works fine and I run it on the map with multiple layers, symbology sorted etc

This is an upper right corner of one of the output pages: