Grids and Graticules

The Grids & Graticules tool generates a grid or graticule based on a coordinate system (either of the current MAP View or a chosen one). Each type of grid or graticule has numerous options for customizing grid lines, line labels, and cell references. Three types of grids and graticules are available:

 

Index Grid	Divide the map into a grid of a specified number of rows and columns.
Graticules	Draw lines of latitude and longitude of a specified interval aligned over a specified location.
Measured Grid	Layout a series of grid squares of specified linear unit size, aligned over a specified location.

 

Requirements

Grids and graticules must be created on a MAP Legend layer. A new legend layer will be created automatically if one is not present in the document. In the case that there are multiple legend layers in a MAP View (and neither are selected), you will be prompted to choose one.

By default, Grids & Graticules use Arial 12 pt black or the Normal Character Style as the style for line labels. Custom character styles should be created (Window > Type > Character Styles) before using Grids & Graticules. Alternatively, use the Custom mode to change text appearances directly in the dialogue box.

By default, Grids & Graticules uses a default grid line style (black, 1 pt stroke width). Custom graphic styles should be created before (Window > Graphic Styles) using Grids & Graticules. Alternatively, use the Custom mode to choose the style options directly in the dialogue box.

The MAP View must have a coordinate system assigned in order to plot a grid. Graticules and Index Grids can be generated for any coordinate system. Measured Grids cannot be generated for geodetic coordinate systems.

Using Grids and Graticules

Click the Grids & Graticules button on the MAPublisher Toolbar or from the main menu Object > MAPublisher > Grids & Graticules. To edit an existing grid, select it and click the Grids and Graticules button on the MAPublisher Toolbar.

In the Grids & Graticules dialogue box, the left-hand panel lists the grid collection (grids and graticules created for a single object). Multiple grids can be created and edited in one collection. Three types of grids are available: an index grid, a graticule, and a measured grid (if the coordinate system is not geodetic). An option to load grid settings from an existing configuration file is available. When a grid or graticule is added or chosen, options will appear to the right of the list. Gridline, line label, and cell reference options will differ depending on the grid or graticule chosen.

Grid Line and Border Styles

Click the grid line and grid border-style links to open the Edit Appearance dialogue box. There are two modes to edit the appearance of grid lines: Custom and Graphic Style.

Line Labeling

The Coordinate Values along Grid/Graticule Border options affect the coordinate labels of the grids and graticules (X,Y for indexed and measured grids; Lat, Lng for graticules). In the label placement control, click a label indicator to change its status: disabled, X, Y or X&Y for grids; disabled, Lat, Lng, Both for graticules. When the mouse hovers over label indicators or label options, a green highlight appears to indicate its relation.

Click the label style links to open the Edit Text Appearance dialogue box. There are two modes to edit the appearance of grid labels: Custom and Character Style. Character styles must be defined in the Adobe Illustrator Character Style panel before use in this dialogue box.

 

 

Click label orientation links to open the Label Orientation dialogue box. Label offset and orientation can affect all borders at the same time, left-right/bottom-top, or individually (west, east, north, south).

 

For Line Tick Labels, click the Format links to open the Label Orientation dialog box (Graticules and Measured grids).

 

Click the Format links to open the Label Format dialogue box (applies to Index and Measured grids).

 

For a graticule, only these label formats apply:

Cell Reference Labeling

The Cell References options affect the indexing labels of grids and graticules. In the label placement control, click a label indicator to change its status: border labels (A, B or 1, 2) and center labels (A1, A2, B1, or B2). When the mouse hovers over label indicators or label options, a green highlight appears to indicate its relation. To swap the border alpha and numeric border label positions, choose either Alpha on left/right, numeric on top/bottom or Numeric on left/right, alpha on top/bottom. The Row order and Column order settings set the border labels in ascending or descending order. The position is relative to the top-left corner of the grid. Specify the border label distance from the grid border using the Place Labels off cell by setting—a negative value places labels inside the grid. Click the Center style and Border style links to edit text appearance.

Advanced Cell Reference Labeling

Click the Advanced button to access additional grid extents and labeling options.

To edit the first alpha or numeric value used for cell labels, change the Start alpha index at or Start numeric index at values. To omit certain alpha characters from cell references, enter them into the Do not use characters box. For example, it may be useful to omit the characters “I” and “O” for indexing purposes (when entering alpha characters to omit, separate characters with a comma). Enter a character into the Reference separator box. For example, a ~ separator will yield a label like so: A~1. The Reference label order can be set to either alpha-numeric (A1) or numeric-alpha (1A).

Generating and Editing the Grid

When all the options have been set, click the Preview button to display a preview of the result. The Grids and Graticules dialogue box can be minimized in the preview mode by clicking Hide In Preview.

Click OK to create the grid or click Restore to return to setting up the parameters. The grid is plotted on the legend layer using the entered parameters.

When the grid is added to the artboard, use the bounding box of the generated grid (View > Show Bounding Box) to resize it. Resizing grids horizontally or vertically will add, remove or resize (index grid) component cells in the grid.  All grids within a grid collection will be affected. Note that grids with specified bounds cannot be resized this way.

After transforming a MAP View containing a grid, the grid will be transformed and scaled within its current bounds (the physical extents of the grid on the page are not edited). The grid may have to be resized manually.

To change any parameter without generating a new grid, simply select the grid and click the Grids & Graticules button from the MAPublisher toolbar. This opens the Grids and Graticules dialogue box populated with the current parameters of the grid. All parameters can be edited, even the grid type selection.

Save grid settings

To save a grid (or a collection of grids) to configuration files, click the Save Settings button, then choose a folder to store the grids.

Two configuration files are created per grid: grid settings and label settings. Grid settings configuration files store information for all related grid options (e.g. ticks, intervals, offsets, borders). Label settings configuration files store information for all related label options (e.g. axis labels, fonts, styles), even for multiple grids. Label settings are saved with a _labelData suffix. The *_labelData.cfg file should not be renamed.

When loading settings from a file, choosing the grid setting configuration file will automatically load the label setting configuration file with the same name. If only the label setting configuration file is chosen, you will be prompted to choose the accompanying grid.

Graphic styles, character styles, fonts, and swatches that are used on one system may not be available on another system. A warning message will appear in the event that any of these are missing.

Once a grid or graticule is created, it can be resized dynamically using the corners of its bounding box anchors.

Important Notes

Manually editing grid text positions, fonts, and colours are not possible in its default custom art state. To manually edit a grid, it will need to be expanded (Object > Expand). However, this will prevent any opportunity to further edit the grid using the Grids & Graticules dialogue box. When expanded, grid cells are converted to both polygons (from index) and lines.