Creating a Map with ArcMap - Tufts University

Part 3 - Drawing a layer based on an attribute field
Some of your layers would look better if you could distinguish between types of features in the same
layer. The Parcels2004 layer, for example, shows property boundaries but doesn’t give us more
information when drawn with a single color. You can use an attribute field to symbolize your data to
reflect the field values.
Symbolizing parcels by land use
Suppose we want to color parcels by their major use. The attribute table contains relevant information in
this regard, but unfortunately, we have no metadata to explain each attribute column. Obviously, to know
what attribute fields are appropriate for use in symbolizing your data, you must be familiar with the
attribute table structure, its fields, and the possible values of each significant field. Sometimes this can get
confusing because there may be many fields, and the values in those fields are codes with which you are
not familiar. This is when metadata becomes very important. Without metadata, you are stuck trying to
track down this kind of important information about the data set. Still we can figure out some attributes by
looking at the Parcels2004 attribute table.
• Open up the attribute table for the Parcels2004 layer by right-clicking on the Parcels2004 layer
name in the table of contents and choosing Open Attribute Table.
• Scroll across until you see the Use_descri (Use Description) field. Note that there are a number of
uses in the parcel data layer.
• Close the attribute table.
• Next, right-click on the Parcels2004 layer name and bring up its symbology properties.
• On the left side of the Symbology dialog box, click on Categories, and then Unique Values.
• From the pulldown menu under “Value Field,” select Use_descri.
• Next, click on Add All Values - each unique value in the Use_descri field of the attribute table will
appear with its own color. Your dialog box should look something like this:
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