Modifiable set of ESRI ArcMap-10 shape-lyr-style files implementing the Romanian color standard for soil type map legends
In order to use the Romanian color standard for soil type map legends, a dataset of ESRI ArcMap-10 files, consisting of a shapefile set (.dbf, .shp, .shx, .sbn, and .sbx files), four different .lyr files, and three different .style files (https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/map/ : saving-layers-and-layer-packages, about-creating-new-symbols, what-are-symbols-and-styles-), have been prepared. The shapefile set is not a “real” georeferenced layer/coverage; it is designed only to handle all the instants of soil types from the standard legend.
This legend contains 67 standard items: 63 proper colors (different color hues, each of them having, generally, 2 - 4 degrees of lightness and/or chroma, four shades of grey, and white color), and four hatching patterns on white background. The “color difference DE*ab” between any two legend colors, calculated with the color perceptually-uniform model CIELAB, is greater than 10 units, thus ensuring acceptably-distinguishable colors in the legend. The 67 standard items are assigned to 60 main soils existing in Romania, four main nonsoils, and three special cases of unsurveyed land. The soils are specified in terms of the current Romanian system of soil taxonomy, SRTS-2012+, and of the international system WRB-2014.
The four different .lyr files presented here are: legend_soilcode_srts_wrb.lyr, legend_soilcode_wrb.lyr, legend_colorcode_srts_wrb.lyr, and legend_colorcode_wrb.lyr. The first two of them are built using as value field the “Soil_codes” field, and as labels (explanation texts) the “Soil_name” field (storing the soil types according to SRTS/WRB classification), respectively, the “WRB” field (the soil type according to WRB classification), while the last two .lyr files are built using as value field the “color_code” field (storing the color codes) and as labels the soil name in SRTS and WRB, respectively, in WRB classification.
In order to exemplify how the legend is displayed, two .jpg files are also presented: legend_soil_srts_wrb.jpg and legend_color_wrb.jpg. The first displays the legend (symbols and labels) according to the SRTS classification order, the second according to the WRB classification.
The three different .style files presented here are: soil_symbols.style, wrb_codes.style, and color_codes.style. They use as name the soil acronym in SRTS classification, soil acronym in WRB classification, and, respectively, the color code.
The presented file set may be used to directly implement the Romanian color standard in digital soil type map legends, or may be adjusted/modified to other specific requirements.