DMU Legend Generator

Description of Map Units → publication legend

Arizona Geological Survey

1 Map unit table

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Drop a DMU table here

Excel (.xlsx / .xls) or .csv · or click to browse

2 Layout

Columns

Column width px

300

Row spacing gap between entries

Column gap

Balance column heights

3 Boxes & type

Color box size px

Box opacity

100

Description text size pt

Description text style

Font

Add a font

Use a font installed on this computer, or embed a font file so it works offline and travels in exports.

Unit label font box symbols only

Geologic age symbols (FGDCGeoAge)

Set the unit label font to FGDCGeoAge, then type these keys in a Label to get the symbol. Click a key to copy. Other ages use their normal letters.

Show unit label inside box

Bold / italic in SVG export

Pro will not build a bold face out of font-weight, so bold is written into the font name instead ("Arial Bold"). Switch to the standard form if a reader wants it that way.

Outline text in SVG export

Converts text to vector paths so it looks identical without the font installed, and so bold and italic survive readers that ignore font-weight (ArcGIS Pro). Only embedded fonts can be outlined: add the file under "Add a font". Embed the bold and italic files too (Arial-Bold.ttf, Arial-Italic.ttf) and they will be matched to the family automatically.

4 Heading & title

Legend title optional

Title style

Heading text size pt

Heading style per level

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3+

Headnote style

Indent per level px

Keep heading with following units

Advanced label controls

Label color

Color mode

White when box is darker than auto mode

Click any box in the preview to flip that one (auto → white → black). Tip: set mode to All black, then click the dark units you want white.

Label style

Unit label style box symbols

FGDCGeoAge is a symbol font with one face, so bold and italic are faked by the renderer and will not survive outlining.

Label sizing

Reduce size for long labels

Apply when label is longer than characters

Reduction

Reduce label by 2 pt when over the limit.

Per-unit overrides

Color and size for individual unit labels. A = auto, W = white, B = black. The −/+ buttons nudge a single label's size. Clicking a box in the preview updates this list too.

Load a table to adjust individual units.

Legend preview Rulers Grid Transparency check

⛰

No legend yet

Load a Description of Map Units table to build a legend. The tool reads standard GeMS columns (MapUnit, Name/FullName, HierarchyKey, ParagraphStyle, Label, AreaFillRGB) and lays them out automatically.

Click Load sample to see it in action.