Classifying numerical fields for graduated symbology Page 1 of 9

Classifying numerical fields for graduated symbology

ArcGIS 10.2

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When you classify your data, you can use one of many standard classification methods provided
in ArcMap, or you can manually define your own custom class ranges. This topic describes these
classification methods.
When mapping quantities, click the Classify button on the Symbology tab of the Layer Properties
dialog box.

The Classification dialog box opens, and you can choose from a number of classification
methods.

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Simply choose the classification scheme and set the number of classes.

Using Manual to define your own classes

If you want to define your own classes, you can manually add class breaks and set class
ranges that are appropriate for your data. Alternatively, you can start with one of the standard
classifications and make adjustments as needed.
There may already be certain standards or guidelines for mapping your data. For example,
temperature maps are often displayed with 10-degree temperature bands, or you might want
to emphasize features with particular values, for example, those above or below a threshold
value.
Set the classification method to Manual, then click to set breaks and move class breaks.

Click to select a class break (the blue lines). The class breaks turn red when you select them.
You can move them and right-click to get a shortcut menu.

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You can manually highlight and update class break values in the graph or enter values in the
right-hand Break Values box.

In the right-hand panel, click the Percent button to work with the percentage of
observations that fall in each class.

Standard classification methods in ArcGIS

Equal interval
Equal interval divides the range of attribute values into equal-sized subranges. This allows
you to specify the number of intervals, and ArcGIS will automatically determine the class
breaks based on the value range. For example, if you specify three classes for a field whose
values range from 0 to 300, ArcGIS will create three classes with ranges of 0–100, 101–200,
and 201–300.
Equal interval is best applied to familiar data ranges, such as percentages and temperature.
This method emphasizes the amount of an attribute value relative to other values. For
example, it will show that a store is part of the group of stores that make up the top one-
third of all sales.

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To set up an equal interval classification, set the classification method to Equal Interval and
specify the number of classes.

Defined interval
Defined interval allows you to specify an interval size used to define a series of classes with
the same value range. For example, each interval will span 75 units. ArcMap will determine
the number of classes based on the interval size and the range of all field values. In the
example below, the interval size is specified as 4 percent.

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To set up a defined interval classification, set the classification method to Defined Interval
and specify the interval size.

Quantile
Each class contains an equal number of features. A quantile classification is well suited to
linearly distributed data. Quantile assigns the same number of data values to each class.
There are no empty classes or classes with too few or too many values.

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Because features are grouped in equal numbers in each class using Quantile classification,
the resulting map can often be misleading. Similar features can be placed in adjacent
classes, or features with widely different values can be put in the same class. You can
minimize this distortion by increasing the number of classes.
To set up a quantile classification, set the classification method to Quantile and specify the
number of classes.

This quantile classification illustrates the problem that can occur where some class ranges cover a broad
value range, such as the class on the far right, while other classes have a very narrow range. This can
incorrectly imply that some values are the same when they are not, while other similar values appear to
be quite different.

Natural Breaks (Jenks)

Natural Breaks classes are based on natural groupings inherent in the data. Class breaks are
identified that best group similar values and that maximize the differences between classes.
The features are divided into classes whose boundaries are set where there are relatively big
differences in the data values.

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Natural breaks are data-specific classifications and not useful for comparing multiple maps
built from different underlying information.

This classification is based on the Jenks' Natural Breaks algorithm. For further information,
see Univariate classification schemes in Geospatial Analysis—A Comprehensive Guide, 3rd
edition; © 2006–2009; de Smith, Goodchild, Longley.
To set up a natural breaks (Jenks) classification, set the classification method to Natural
Breaks (Jenks) and specify the number of classes.

Geometrical interval
The Geometrical Interval classification scheme creates class breaks based on class intervals
that have a geometrical series. The geometric coefficient in this classifier can change once
(to its inverse) to optimize the class ranges. The algorithm creates geometric intervals by
minimizing the sum of squares of the number of elements in each class. This ensures that
each class range has approximately the same number of values with each class and that the

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change between intervals is fairly consistent.

This algorithm was specifically designed to accommodate continuous data. It is a

compromise method between equal interval, Natural Breaks (Jenks), and quantile. It creates
a balance between highlighting changes in the middle values and the extreme values,
thereby producing a result that is visually appealing and cartographically comprehensive.
One example for using the Geometrical Interval classification could be with a rainfall dataset
in which only 15 out of 100 weather stations (less than 50 percent) have recorded
precipitation and the rest have no recorded precipitation, so their attribute values are zero.
To set up a Geometrical Interval classification, set the classification method to Geometrical
Interval and specify the number of classes.

Standard deviation
The Standard deviation classification method shows you how much a feature's attribute value

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varies from the mean. ArcMap calculates the mean and standard deviation. Class breaks are
created with equal value ranges that are a proportion of the standard deviation—usually at
intervals of 1, ½, ⅓, or ¼ standard deviations using mean values and the standard
deviations from the mean. A two-color ramp helps emphasize values above the mean (shown
in blue) and values below the mean (shown in red).

To set up a Standard Deviation classification, set the classification method to Standard

Deviation and specify the proportion of a standard deviation to define each class range.

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