How to Create a Zoning Layer
Video Transcript
In this video I’m going to show you how to create a zoning layer for your map. We will first show you how to set up the layer, then how to assign zoning designations to each parcel. So, let's get started.
This technique requires that you have a parcel layer on your map. If you don’t already have a parcel layer, ask your county for a parcel shapefile for your municipality. Here is an example shapefile which is actually a SET of files. To import this into my map I go to the shapefile import screen, select my files, give the layer a name and import it. And let's change the appearance of this layer to make it a little less intrusive to our map.
Next let's make a copy of this parcel layer to use as our zoning layer. To do this click menu, then Select & Modify. Select your parcel layer and then click one of the selection tools to select all the parcels that make up your zoning area. On the action menu choose Change Layer. Change the action to Copy, and for the destination layer choose “Create New Layer.” Name the layer Zoning and click “Copy.”
You will now see a new layer in your list. Next let's make a few important customizations to this layer. Click on your zoning layer, then click More and “Add/Remove Fields.” Let's create a new field called Zone and set the field type to PICK. List here each of your zoning classifications.
Residential 1
Residential 2
Business
Industrial
You can type them as simple descriptions like this, or some people like to add a shorter code for each item which you can enter using a colon between the code and the description.
R1: Residential 1
R2: Residential 2
B: Business
I: Industrial
Click "OK” to add this new field. Although it's not required, I recommend removing some or all of these fields that we copied over from your parcel layer because we don’t need this information in the zoning layer.
I’m going to move my zone field up to the top of the list and then finish by clicking Apply Changes.
Now let's set up some color coding. go to the Settings tab and click classify next to fill color. Choose your zone field and then click Apply. Unlike our parcel layer we want to see the fill color on this Zoning layer so set the fill opacity to something like 40%. Click where it says, “Based on...” and assign a color to each zone classification. Be sure to also assign a neutral color to the empty entry. Click Apply and lastly click Save Display Settings.
That completes the set-up steps so now it's time to start indicating the zoning areas. First, I recommend turning off all layers except for the zoning layer.
To assign a zone to a single parcel just click on that cell, assign a Zone to it, and click apply. To assign a zone to several cells at once click menu, then select and modify, then select your Zoning layer, then click the feature selection tool and quickly select multiple parcels. Or you could use the rectangle selection button to draw a selection box. You will notice that it selects any parcels that are even partially inside the box. Use any combination of these selection tools to select all the parcels should be zoned the same way. When you are done selecting, open the action menu and choose set field value. Then click on the Zone field and specify the zone to assign to all of the selected cells.
If you have some remaining cells that have no zoning classification, then you can either leave them on your layer with their neutral color allowing you to easily assign them a zone in the future or can delete those cells altogether for a cleaner looking map.
By using these techniques, you should be able to create a good-looking and accurate zoning map. The last thing I want to mention is that you will probably want to make this Zoning layer available to the public. For instructions on how to do that go to our help page and lookup Making a Public Map.