Display an arrow pointing North using a choice from various compass arrow styles.
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Show north arrow |
Check to display north arrow. |
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Align |
Positioning of the north arrow: Left Bottom, Left Top, None, Right Bottom or Right Top. If None, the north arrow can be dragged to different locations. |
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Style |
Choose from various graphical styles. |
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Bearing |
Rotate the arrow by the given number of degrees. Very unwise to do except in special situations. |
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Size |
Size in points. |
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Colors |
Foreground and background colors for the north arrow. |
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Font |
Font control for N, S, E and W letters that appear in some styles. Use this button to change the font used, the size of the font, etc. |
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Halo Text |
Surround text letters with a halo of background color. Useful to provide a contrasting aura of color that allows letters to stand out no matter if the map behind them is light or dark. |
Once a north arrow has been added to a component window, we can right click on it and choose Properties from the context menu to change the above settings.
The Tools - Options - Font dialog allows setting the default font to be used for those styles that include letters.
Legends, north arrows and scale bars can be copied and pasted between components. Copying a particular style of north arrow from an existing component and pasting it into a new component can be significantly faster than configuring a new north arrow from scratch.
Bearing Option
Manifold components are always displayed "North up" based on the assumption that they have been created that way in a geographic context. All correctly georeferenced components will always be "North up" so for every correctly georeferenced component the North Arrow should use a Bearing of 0 degrees.
On rare occasions we may work with drawings or images that are not georeferenced, for example, such as a factory diagram imported from AutoCAD DXF format, and which have not been drawn with "North up." In such cases and only in such cases if we know the correct orientation for the North Arrow, we can use the Bearing value to provide a North Arrow that is not aligned straight up. Instead, the North Arrow will point to North at whatever Bearing rotation has been specified (with the default 0 degrees pointing straight up).
Note that changing the Bearing value does NOT rotate the drawing or map or other component in which the North Arrow is displayed: it simply rotates the North Arrow. Therefore, use of values other than 0 for Bearing is always a mistake for components that are correctly georegistered.
Adding a North Arrow to a Print Layout
See the Legends, Scale Bars and North Arrows in Layouts topic.