ArcMap best practices

Note:

ArcGIS Desktop is in mature support and will be retired March 1, 2026. There are no plans for future releases of ArcGIS Desktop, and it is recommended that you migrate to ArcGIS Pro. See Migrate from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro for more information.

The following sections describe best practices for preparing vector data and labels in ArcMap for editing in Illustrator.

Point data in ArcMap

There are several ways to symbolize points in ArcMap: 3D character markers, 3D markers, 3D simple markers, arrow markers, character markers, picture markers, and simple markers. For transferability, it is best to style point symbology as simple marker symbols, even when using graduated or proportional symbols. With character markers, you must have the same Esri character fonts on your system when using Illustrator. Additionally, these symbols will be downloaded to Illustrator as text, which is problematic should any additional cartographic editing be required. If you use the Picture Marker Symbol option in ArcMap, your data will become pixilated at download. If you use the Simple Marker Symbol option, your data will be downloaded to Illustrator as editable vector paths.

Image 6—For transferability, it is recommended that you style point symbology as Simple Marker Symbol, even when you will be using graduated or proportional symbols.

Single symbol example

To symbolize a point data layer where each point uses the same single symbol, choose Single Symbol in ArcMap (see Image 7). If you have a specific RGB or HSV value that your organization uses for the data that you are symbolizing, you can edit the color of this point symbol at this time. This color will carry through to the imported map in Illustrator. Symbol color can be edited in Illustrator. If you give this symbol a fill color and an outline color in ArcMap, the resulting artwork path in Illustrator will have a fill color and a stroke color that matches the color set in ArcMap.

Note:

If you intend to use the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud Custom Symbols process to replace simple marker symbols with symbols from an Illustrator symbols library, and you will be symbolizing by class or category, it is recommended that you also symbolize by category in ArcMap. See the classed symbology example section below.

Image 8 shows a point symbol data layer for hospitals in Minneapolis, Minnesota, using the above guidelines for Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud download to Illustrator. Remember that the aesthetics for these point symbols may not be ideal for your finished map’s appearance, but the intent is to optimize the data so users can efficiently apply cartographic enhancement in Illustrator.

Image 7—When all points in your data layer will be symbolized identically, choose Single symbol.

Image 8—Minneapolis area hospital point symbols styled according to optimization guidelines.

Note:

If you're publishing an .mxd file that has labels on a layer, there are some labeling considerations to be aware of.

Categorized point symbols (classed symbology) example

Across ArcGIS, you can take advantage of categorizing your symbology based on classes (categories) and ordinal values (quantities), which will all be honored in the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension and in your downloaded maps layers in Illustrator. The extension has been designed to recognize categories that you create for data layers in ArcGIS Pro and hosted services and web maps. In the .mxd file in Image 8, there is also a North American Cities layer. This point data layer has a field that indicates the cities’ size. Each of these sizes (2–5) have been symbolized differently, and their categories (2–5) have been renamed to names that reflect their city type. These categories will become sublayers in the North American Cities layer and will contain the corresponding points in Illustrator when using the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension. This is true if you are adding the layer as a shapefile to the extension and if you are adding it as a feature service or a layer in a hosted web map. See Images 11 through 14 below.

Note:

If you change symbology on hosted feature layers and web maps, your newly updated symbology will be applied to the final downloaded artwork in Illustrator.

Image 9—Each symbol category has been given an appropriate name in the Label column. These category names, and the symbols that fall within those categories, will become sublayers in the North American Cities layer in Illustrator when using the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension.

Image 10—If you choose to share the data layer in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, it will contain the same symbology that you applied in ArcMap if you followed the above guidelines. You can change the symbology online, but be aware that this will become the symbology that your points will have in Illustrator.

Image 11—The North American Cities layer has been added to the extension. You can view the contents of the map by clicking the View Layer button. This reveals that the categories and symbology for the cities have been carried through to the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension.

Image 12—When following the guidelines in this section, downloading or syncing a map from the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension containing this layer will result in the Illustrator layer structure shown in the above image.

Linear data in ArcMap

Use Simple Line Symbol in ArcMap for data consumption in the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension (Image 15).

Image 15—Choose to style linear data with the Simple Line Symbol type.

Image 16 below shows the result of using a hash symbol pattern. This map shows a rivers layer, where one of the rivers is selected. Notice that in the Layers panel, with this one river selected, each hash is its own separate path. Therefore, editing or changing this river’s appearance in Illustrator will be cumbersome. If this were symbolized as a Simple Line Symbol, the river would consist of one path in the synced map, making editing in Illustrator straightforward.

Image 16—Lines symbolized with a hash pattern before syncing will be broken by the symbol pattern, making any editing in Illustrator difficult. To streamline editing line patterns, use a solid line in ArcGIS and apply the line pattern using the Stroke window in Illustrator after syncing.

Labeling considerations in ArcMap

When publishing an .mxd file from ArcMap, keep the following considerations in mind before publishing any service and using it in the ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension:

• If an .mxd file has certain labeling configurations, such as Halo, Position, Text Background, Character spacing, or Shadows, make sure to remove them first.
• You can retain the cartographic details of road shields, but they may be difficult to control, as they are categorized as text background.
• When labeling roads using shields, keep the position as horizontal.
• When labeling other line features, you can use vertical or horizontal for the orientation.