The Vector Color Classes dialog
is opened when you click the Classes
button
on the Map page of the Property
Manager for a vector map. The color classes operate similarly to hatch map coloring. Set the Color
method to Classes for line,
Classes for fill, or Classes
for line/fill to activate the Classes
button. You can categorize the data by color, and
these colors are plotted on the area prisms.
Edit classes in the Vector Color Classes dialog.
Data Classes
Number of classes specifies
the number of color classes (groupings) used for the variable. Up to 100
classes can be specified. Type a number into the box or adjust the value
by clicking the 
buttons.
Undefined Data
Color for all other magnitude is the color used for all areas without a corresponding data value and for areas that contain values that do not fall in the specified classes.
Saving and Loading Classes
Once the classes are defined, they can be saved for reuse in a class file [.CLS]. Click the Save Classes button to save the classes. To use an existing class file, click the Load Classes button. You can also save the class information to a data file by clicking the Save Class Info to Worksheet File button.
Classification Method
The Classification method is the method by which the class limits are calculated.
Equal Number calculates the class minimum and maximums such that an approximately equal number of data values fall within each class.
Equal Intervals calculates the class limits so that the interval between the minimum value and maximum value of each class is equal. The Increment box is displayed when Equal Intervals is selected, and this shows the range covered by each class.
User Defined allows you to create your own class definitions. Overlapping or discontinuous classes are not allowed. Double-click on the minimum and maximum values in the class list to define the classes after you define the Number of classes.
Standard deviation generates data classes based on the standard deviation of the data. When the Standard deviation method is selected, the Increment field appears. The Increment field allows you to define the standard deviation increment to establish the class ranges and number of classes. The Increment and Number of classes values are dependent upon each other, so changing one value automatically changes the other.
The Jenks' Natural breaks method creates classes based on the optimal natural breaks in your data.
Class Information
The Objects in classes group displays summary statistics and allows you to specify the properties for each class.
>=Minimum and <Maximum indicate the lower and upper limits for the class. If a data value is greater than or equal to the minimum value and less than the maximum value, it is plotted in the class. You can change these values by double-clicking on a minimum or maximum value to change it in the Class Limit dialog.
The % column indicates the percentage of linked data in the particular class. This value cannot be edited and is for informational purposes only.
The Count column indicates the number of data included in each class. This value cannot be edited and is for informational purposes only.
The Color column specifies the class's color. To change the color for a particular class, double-click the color in the list, and select a new color in the Colors dialog. To change the entire color spectrum, click the word Color at the top of the column and select a new color spectrum from the Color Spectrum dialog. Click the Custom... button in the Color Spectrum dialog to create a custom color spectrum in the Colormap dialog
The Name column indicates the optional class title used in the legend.
See Also