With the release of ArcGIS Desktop 10 comes the ability to create data driven pages. Data driven pages facilitate creation of multiple maps from a single layout. This means the layout only has to be created once. Referencing a layer in the map, data driven pages moves from one feature to the next, creating a new page for every feature. Once created, these pages can be printed or exported individually or collectively.
Believing experience is the best teacher, the rest of this post is a tutorial of how to use data driven pages. To be able to complete the tutorial, you will need a copy of ArcGIS Desktop 10 at any license level (ArcView, ArcEditor or ArcInfo). The data will be downloaded directly from ArcGIS Online as a map package. With the data in hand, you will create data driven pages, a page definition query, an extent indicator in a locator map and add dynamic text to the layout. Additionally, I am assuming familiarity with ArcGIS Desktop. As a result, details of tasks typical to using ArcGIS Desktop are not detailed. Only the unique steps of creating data driven pages are detailed.
