Welcome to the Ultimate Scalebar

The Ultimate Scalebar is a freeware ArcInfo scalebar drawing utility. It features an easy-to-use command line syntax, and offers a myriad of different bar, numbering, and unit styles.

The Ultimate Scalebar was developed at Waterways by . Special thanks to Rob Colless, Susan Norbom, and Ed Knowles for their help and support in this project.

Quick Start

To draw a simple scalebar onto your display, make sure that the scalebar AML is in your local directory or in a directory on your &amlpath, and type the following at the Arcplot prompt:

Arcplot: &r scalebar 1 1 6 .15

Depending on your current mapscale, you should see a scalebar with 5 intervals that looks something like this:

The "0" should be resting somewhere just above point (1,1), the bar will be .15 units tall and somewhat less that 6 units long.

Command Line Syntax

The basic syntax for running the scalebar AML is as follows:

scalebar <xpos> <ypos> <width> <height> {getsize}

Parameter	Meaning
xpos ypos	x,y coordinates of scalebar position point, in page units
width	The maximum width of the scalebar (Note that while the scalebar will not be longer than this width, it may be a bit shorter to ensure that it appears with nice, round numbers.)
height	The height of the scalebar itself, without considering any associated text
{getsize}	Adding getsize to the command line will instruct the scalebar AML to return the size and position of the scalebar graphic rather than draw it

There are also a number of global variables that can be used to adjust the appearance and positioning of the scalebar. These are summarized in the following table:

Variable	Meaning	Default Value
.scalebar$justification	Set the scalebar justification	left
.scalebar$textsize	Set the textsize for the scale units and numbers	Equal to bar height specified on command line
.scalebar$font	Font used to label the scalebar	Triumvirate Condensed
.scalebar$intervals	Number of intervals to be drawn on scalebar	5
.scalebar$validintervals	Allowed values for largest number on scalebar	1   2.5    5   7.5
.scalebar$units	Units in which scalebar will be drawn	Kilometers if mapunits are centimeters or meters, miles otherwise
.scalebar$barstyle	Bar style for scalebar	1
.scalebar$numstyle	Style for scalebar unit label	1 (numbers above the scalebar)
.scalebar$unitstyle	Style for scalebar unit label	1 (abbreviated unit following the final number on the scalebar)
.scalebar$scalestyle	Style for "Scale:" text	0 (not printed)
.scalebar$scaleradix	Radix for scale text	<none>
.scalebar$scaleround	Rounding factor for scale text	1 (rounds to nearest integer)
.scalebar$mapscale	Manual override for mapscale	Option not enabled

Advanced Topics

More information is available on the following topics:

• Selecting a Scalebar Style
  
• Positioning the Scalebar
  
• Specifying the Scalebar Units
  
• Displaying the Scale As Text
  
• Controlling the Number of Intervals Drawn
  
• Setting Text Attributes
  
• Drawing Scalebars With Multiple Units
  
• Adding a Wrapper to Your Scalebar
  
• The Scalebar Gallery (Lots of examples!)

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