Introduction¶

This document describes how to adjust the Symbology of the layers used in ArcGIS 10 map templates. You can always obtain the latest version of this document from: http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/comp/ac104/

Start a new Project/Map in ArcGIS as usual and choose the template that you desire:

Right-click on the Basemap group where it is listed in the Table of Contents.From the context menu that appears choose Ungroup:

You can now edit the Properties of each layer as usual. For example, to edit the Symbology used to display continents, right-click on its entry in the Table of Contents as usual and from the context menu that appears choose Properties:

Set the colour, etc as you desire and click OK:

Ta–da:

When you have finished changing the colours to meet your needs you can recreate the basemap layer group by right-clicking on the Data Frame name where it is listed in the Table of Contents and from the context menu that appears choose New Basemap Layer:

Name the new basemap layer basemap:

Select all those layers that constitute the base map and then drag them on to the new basemap layer:

As you were:

If you want to use this modified map as a template go to the File menu and choose Save. Save the document in C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcMap\Templates

In future you should be able to select your modified template when creating a new Project.

The basemap layer is described at: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00s500000017000000.htm