Layouts

Now that you know how to update the symbology on your layers, you can start working with layouts. Layouts are what you create to export your maps to files. They include layers and elements like the legend, north arrow, scale bar, title, and text. You can modify all of these layout elements using Python. In addition to modifying layout elements, you can also use Python to export your layouts to different file types, like PDF, JPG, PNG, and more. Exporting your map to a file is the final step in map production, as you can then print your map or insert it into a document.

In this section, you will see how to make additional modifications to the layers, like creating definition queries and changing layer names to make your maps more informative and easier to read. You will learn how to turn layers on and off in a map. Then, you will see how you can modify all the different layout elements and, finally, how to export your map. You will continue working in your Chapter7 project...