Adding grids and graticules (reference systems)
Release 9.2 Last modified August 15, 2007

About adding grids and graticules

ArcMap contains several types of grids and graticules, or reference systems, that can be added to a map in layout view (they don't appear in data view). You can

• Place a grid that expresses location in geographic coordinates (degrees of latitude and longitude) by choosing the graticule type.
  
• Place a grid that expresses location using projected coordinates by selecting the measured grid type. Use a measured grid to place Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grids and state plane grids. ArcMap allows you to choose a coordinate system for the grid that is different from the underlying coordinate system for the data frame.
  
• Place a grid that divides a map into a specified number of rows and columns by choosing the reference grid type. Often, the row and column labels of a reference grid identify locations listed in a map index.
  
• Create a custom overlay reference grid. Custom overlay reference grids use the geometry of a polygon data source to define the grid lines and an attribute column in this same layer to specify the labels.
  

A custom overlay allows you to superimpose an irregular or specialized reference system including

• Boundaries of U.S. State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS) zone
  
• Boundaries of a World Geographic Reference (GEOREF) system
  
• Boundaries of the extents of Operational Navigation Chart (ONC) or Joint Operations Graphic (JOG) maps
  
• Boundaries of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quad sheets at the various scales at which they are produced (from 1:24,000 to 1:250,000 scale)
  
• Boundaries of the extents of International Map of the World map sheets
  
• Boundaries of world time zones and UTM zones
  
• The Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) includes the grid zones and 100,000-meter boundaries necessary to refer to a location using the MGRS. ArcMap MGRS grids can also be used in map layouts requiring the U.S. National Grid reference system.
  

View a diagram of key MGRS Grid components
Learn more about creating MGRS and US National Grid reference systems

How to add grids and graticules

Accessing the Grids and Graticules wizard

1. Click the View menu and click Data Frame Properties.
   
2. Click the Grids tab.
   
3. Click the New Grid button.
   

Tips

ArcMap may be configured not to show wizards. If this is the case, you can enable the Grids and Graticules wizard. Click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, then check the Wizard Mode option. At each step in the wizard, a preview appears in the leftmost part of the dialog box.

Adding a graticule

1. Access the Grids and Graticules wizard (see steps in "Accessing the Grids and Graticules wizard").
   
2. Click the Graticule option in the Grids and Graticules wizard.
   
3. Type a name for the resulting grid.
   
This name will appear in the list of grids on the Data Frame Properties dialog box.

4. Follow the steps in the wizard and click Next as you complete each panel.
   
5. Click Finish.
   

Tips

ArcMap may be configured not to show wizards. If this is the case, you can enable the Grids and Graticules wizard. Click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, then check the Wizard Mode option. At each step in the wizard, a preview appears in the leftmost part of the dialog box. You can specify the graticule intervals in decimal degrees or degrees and decimal minutes instead of degrees-minutes-seconds (the default). Intervals are specified in degrees-minutes-seconds with the wizard, but you can change to the other options by opening the graticule's properties once you have finished the wizard.

Adding a measured grid

1. Access the Grids and Graticules wizard (see steps in "Accessing the Grids and Graticules wizard").
   
2. Click the Measured Grid option in the Grids and Graticules wizard.
   
3. Type a name for the resulting grid.
   
This name will appear in the list of grids on the Data Frame Properties dialog box.

4. Follow the steps in the wizard and click Next as you complete each panel.
   
5. Click Finish.
   

Tips

ArcMap may be configured not to show wizards. If this is the case, you can enable the Grids and Graticules wizard. Click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, then check the Wizard Mode option. At each step in the wizard, a preview appears in the leftmost part of the dialog box.

Adding a reference grid

1. Access the Grids and Graticules wizard (see steps in "Accessing the Grids and Graticules wizard").
   
2. Click the Reference Grid option in the Grids and Graticules wizard.
   
3. Type a name for the resulting grid.
   
This name will appear in the list of grids on the Data Frame Properties dialog box.

4. Follow the steps in the wizard and click Next as you complete each panel.
   
5. Click Finish.
   

Tips

ArcMap may be configured not to show wizards. If this is the case, you can enable the Grids and Graticules wizard. Click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, then check the Wizard Mode option. At each step in the wizard, a preview appears in the leftmost part of the dialog box.

Setting up ArcMap to use custom overlay reference grids

1. If ArcMap is configured to show the Grids and Graticules wizard, this must be disabled before creating a custom overlay grid. To disable the Grids and Graticules wizard, click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, and uncheck Wizard Mode. If Wizard Mode is not disabled, you will not be able to select the grids you want in the Reference System Selector.
   
2. Run the ArcMap Advanced Settings utility, which can be found in the Utilities folder where you installed ArcGIS (the default install location is C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Utilities).
   


3. Under the System Paths tab, set the reference system path by navigating to the folder containing the reference systems you want to use to render the custom overlay grids.
   

A folder containing pre-created reference systems for custom overlays is installed as part of the ArcGIS setup.
Once you have set the reference system path on the Advanced ArcMap Settings dialog box, you are ready to create custom overlay grids in ArcMap.

Creating custom overlay grids

1. In ArcMap, you need to create a new reference system to contain the custom overlay grid you want to use. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   


2. Click your personal style on the left side of the dialog box.
   

Often you will decide to create the new custom overlay grids in your personal style, although you can create these in any style you choose. It is not recommended that you create them in the ESRI style or other styles that you may want to retain without modifications.


3. On the right side of the dialog box, right-click, point to New, and click Custom Overlay.
   


4. Specify the System variable by navigating to the folder containing the reference systems you want to use to render the custom overlay grids—this is the same folder you specified as the reference system path on the ArcMap Advanced Settings dialog box.
   


5. Specify the label field that will be used to label the axes of the custom overlay grid.
   


6. Specify any modifications to the labels and axes that you require. Note that changes made at the style level will affect the grid every time it is used on a map. To make modifications on a single map only, specify changes to the grid once it has been added to the layout.
   
A custom overlay grid is added to the Reference Systems folder in your personal style.

Adding a custom overlay grid

1. Click the View menu and click Data Frame Properties.
   
2. Click the Grids tab.
   
3. Click New Grid.
   
4. Click the custom overlay you want to use from the list of grids. This list now contains any new custom overlay grids you may have created. It also contains the reference systems in the ESRI style and in any other styles you may have referenced.
   
5. Click Properties.
   
6. Click the Custom Overlay tab. Here you can change the reference grid that you are using. Click the System drop-down arrow and click the data source that will define the grid lines.
   
If you change the source of the reference grid, you will also likely want to change the name of the reference grid, which you can set on the Grids tab of the Data Frame Properties dialog box.

7. If you want to change the label field used for display of the axis text, click the Label field drop-down arrow and click the field that will specify the values for the grid labels.
   
8. Click the other tabs to adjust properties for the axes, labels, and lines as appropriate.
   

Making modifications to these properties of the reference grid will not change the custom overlay grid in the style. If you want to save the changes in a new style, click the Style button, click Save, and specify the name for your new custom overlay grid.

9. Click OK to close all dialog boxes.
   

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